Cinque Terre

Today, the four of us set out on a hike of the Cinque Terre! We were going to spread the hikes out across 2 days but we ended up doing them all in one big (sweaty) day! It was a wonderful day!!

The trail from our town, Riomaggiore, to the next town, Manarola, was closed and so we caught the train to Manarola and started from there.

We explored the harbour of Manarola, which is a pretty town similar to Riomaggiore and, of course, took a few photos! We then attempted to hike to the next town on what we believed would be a 45 minute (not too difficult) hike. However, it turned out that hike was closed and we ended up doing the 2.5 hour hike up through the mountains and a town called Volastra to get to the next town, Corniglia!

We finally made it to Corniglia after taking in some incredible views! We were very hot and tired and knew we needed a break and some fuel so Daniel, Alex and Nicky had foccaccia and Gab had a basil and lemon favoured gelato (which was actually very good!!) The town is very nice with cute narrow streets and stores. However, it was very packed and filled with tourists so it was a bit harder to get around!

We then continued our hike for the next leg to the town of Vernazza. Half way through the hike, we quickly stopped into a café off the edge of a cliff for a lemon slushie and watermelon juice takeaway to help us cool off. The views were great but the sun was very hot and we were very sweaty!! After about 1.5 hours of hiking, we arrived at Vernazza which is a lovely town with a beautiful marina with plenty of space to swim off the concrete area. People were everywhere but we all went for a swim off a ladder and some rocks into the harbour. Ah so refreshing!!

After drying off (which didn't take too long), we were were all starting to get very tired for the last leg of the hike but enjoyed the view as we descended onto the last town, Monterosso, and the conclusion of our hike! This leg also took us around 1.5 hours as well. We went for a quick dip in the ocean (in a public area which took us a while to find because almost all of the beach here is private and you have to pay for a spot!) This is by far the most touristy and overcrowded town out of the five towns.

We had all built up a big appetite so we found a place for dinner (even though we weren't exactly dressed for a nice dinner in our sweaty hiking clothes and wet swimmers!) We had a delicious dinner and enjoyed some beer. Gab had seafood spaghetti in an aluminium bag (shaped like a swan) and Daniel had seafood risotto. The seafood was very fresh and so amazing!!

We caught the train back to Riomaggiore to our place and arrived back home around 9pm after a long day!もっと詳しく