Cinque Terre
A stretch of 5 small fishing towns on the west coast in Northern Italy. They are beautiful and rugged little towns that sit straddling the blue Mediterranean and stark cliffs of the Italian Riviera. To get from each town you have a choice of hiking the coast, or taking a train the cuts through the mountains, so we chose both. If you’ve already noticed Cinque Terre is our cover photo above, and needless to say its impossible to over romanticize this place, because it’s beauty speaks for itself.
Riomaggiore
Our personal favorite town where we stayed, it sits in a little marina, and the town and shops build upward from there.
Focaccia, homemade salty bread with fresh pesto, just perfect.
Fresh seared tuna from the Mediterranean
Monterosso al Mare
The only little town that has a beach, and not much of a beach at that, beautiful view but rocky, very rocky sand. ouch!
More Focaccia, a Cinque Terre specialty
Hike from Monterosso to Vernazza
1 km straight up hill, 4 km total. Still a beautiful hike hugging the mountain side, the ocean never straying too far from our right.
Vernazza
We made it to Vernazza, then it started to pour.
Corniglia
The only town not on the coast. Corniglia sits on a cliff inland from the ocean but gives a beautiful panoramic of the coast and neighboring towns.
Doesn’t look like much, but the best gelato we have had.
Manarola
Cinque Terre is known for their fresh pesto, and I can attest that nothing will ever compare.
Twice the Wanderlust 