May 6, 2018 - A Tour of Italy with the Griners - Cinque Terre

We are currently in London, where we will be for a few days.  On May 24th we will head north to Derby, where we will spend the next three months.  We will write more about all of that, including some about our rather harrowing trip from Rome to London soon, but we still need to finish our glorious trip with the Griners.


We have dreamed of going to Cinque Terre ("Five Lands") for years, and it did not disappoint!  We apologize in advance for all of the pictures, but it was extremely difficult to decide what to cut out.  We drove from Cassagna to La Spezia, where we parked and took a train back to Monterosso al Mare.  You cannot drive in the Cinque Terre, so train is a great way to travel between them.  There are hiking trails between all five towns that are spectacular! We hiked between Monterosso and Vernazza.  We took a train from Vernazza to Manarola (We skipped Corniglia because we did not have enough time, and it is not directly on the sea.), and then another train from Manarola to Riomaggiore.  Finally, we caught a train from Riomaggiore back to La Spezia.  We stayed in an apartment near La Spezia in the small town of Ceparana.  Here are some maps to help:






This part of Italy is known for its foccacia, so we had to start the day off with some!  Yummilicious!








The clear, emerald-blue water beckoned too strongly to resist a swim!






The rocks are made for fun exploring and diving.










Monterosso al Mare






The hike to Vernazza.







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 The hike wound through beautiful terraced olive orchards and vineyards. We passed some people out tending their crops, on the steep mountainside. One guy was out selling lemonade at the corner of his field, to hot and thirsty hikers.








That's Monterosso in the distance behind Mark.


 



Vernazza is in the distance behind Derek.






Vernazza 


















Manarola




Easily one of the best meals we had in Italy.  Gnocchi al pesto, lasagna al pesto, lasagna ai frutti di mare, and an arancino.






















Riomaggiore








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