Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Cinque Terre

After being in two bustling cities and lots of New Years drinks, we were ready for the beautiful coast.  I first learned about Cinque Terre when Liz suggested it as a honeymoon destination. Of course back then tickets were over $2000 just to fly to Italy, so we knew it just wasn't in the cards for us.  As we were planning our trip this time we knew it was a place not to be missed. In fact it was the place that Josh wanted to go the most.

Grumpy Josh was gone once he saw the beautiful blue ocean water out the train window.  We booked a room in Vernazza, the 4th of the five towns.  I think I just have to let the pictures descibe the town.




Heading to our room (136 steps).


The walk was worth it for our view.  This is probably the cleanest air I will ever breathe. 


Quick rest and we were off hiking. 






Breathtaking isn't it?

All of this travel and hiking made us hungry.  Our hotel was run by the owner of a local restaurant so we decided to just head down there for dinner. 


I'm so glad we did, we had the best pesto ever! I kid you not, it was so good that I mmmmmmmmmmm'd with every bite.  I'm not sure if it was the fresh trophie pasta or the freshly made pesto, but the combination was killer!




The ocean was angry that day and decided to come flood the town a bit.  The locals were just sitting outside drinking and shooting the breeze as the water crept up to their doorways.

The next morning we awoke to an absolutely beautiful day!  In the morning we hiked up to the top of one of the surrounding mountains (not Colorado style mountains more like hills). 






We stopped for lunch and Josh found out that the sign in the restaurant about the toilet being a hole in the ground wasn't a joke.  Now tell me, how is a woman supposed to use that?  Eek.  I avoided public restrooms our entire trip.


After lunch we took the train to Riomaggiore, the first of the five towns.  From there we strolled along Lovers Lane to get to the other towns.






I'm amazed that anyone settled here.  I mean who thought that the side of cliffs looked like a good place to settle and farm?  Crazies I tell you.  That or they are smarter than the rest of us.  It seems such a relaxing lifestyle.


Our last night we headed to one of the only other open restaurants in town.  Our table was right by the side of the cliff where they attached the building. There was even a tiny stream of water running down it. 


Josh got a local dish of sardines.  When in Rome...or Cinque Terre, right?


The sun set on our trip to the coast.

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