Italy - Day 5 (Cinque Terre)

On our 5th day, we took the train from Pisa to the Cinque Terre. The Cinque Terre, literally meaning "five lands", is a group of five towns that cling to the cliffs of the Italian Riviera. There are no roads connecting the towns, only a single train line and hiking trails.Our hotel, La Toretta, was located in Manarola (the 2nd town from the bottom). We dropped off our bags and headed out for our hike around 11am. We were determined to complete the hike through all five towns before sunset.

We started our hike in Manarola, heading south to Riomaggiore. This section of the hike is the easiest, the path is fully paved and relatively flat. It is named the Via dell'Amore for its history of being a meeting point for lovers.

This is the starting point of our hike on Via dell'Amore looking back at Manarola.... A small cafe on the Via dell'Amore . This turned out to be the only stop on the trail besides the five towns themselves.....

Made popular by an Italian teen novel, young couples now place locks along the Via dell'Amore.....The southernmost town of the Cinque Terre, Riomaggiore. From here, we turned around and began our trek to the northernmost town.Manarola viewed from the south......Manarola viewed from the North...
(in this photo, our hotel is in the upper left part of the town)The first sighting of what would turn out to be a very popular "warning" sign in Italy.
"Stop or I'll attack you with my laser beam eyes!"....Climbing the stairs to the hill town of Corniglia.....
By this time, we were so hungry and thirsty, we decided to stop for lunch. The day was much warmer than we expected. We didn't think we'd experience 85 degree temperatures in October, especially near the ocean. We had lunch at a small cafe with a beautiful view.We enjoyed an octopus and potato salad, a slice of pizza, a slice of lasagna and a big bottle of water. It was our first octopus and potato salad, which we found to be a very common dish in Italy.
We continued our hike and quickly gained enough elevation to get this view looking back at Corniglia....Vernazza, with Monterosso al Mare in the distance....And yet another break. This time for gelato in Vernazza....
In the following three photos, you can see how hilly the trail is by how high we get above the towns.... Finally, we arrive in Monterosso al Mare. Monterosso is the largest town in the Cinque Terre, and the only one with a sandy beach. It's unfortunate we didn't have our swimsuits, the water was beautifully clear.We wanted to take a boat back to Manarola, but we missed the last run by 20 minutes. Instead, we took the train. When we got back, we saw our room for the first time....and what a view. At 110 Euros, this hotel was one of the best deals of our entire trip: the service was great, the room was small but nice, and did I mention the views.

Here's the hotel's entrance with the tiered farmland and vineyards in the back....Sunset view from our hotel room window....Dinner at Bar Ristorante Aristide in Manarola....Sunrise view from our room....