Cinque Terre

Spent the best Easter weekend away in Cinque Terre. There was glorious sunshine, delicious seafood and lots of hiking to burn up all those calories!

I stayed in the last village of Cinque Terre in Monterosso. Woke up bright and early and thought I would catch the train to Levanto and hike back to Monterosso on a trail that wouldn't be overrun with tourists. I got caught up with a hardcore Austrian hiking family when I lost my way up a mountain ridge between Levanto and Monterosso. The patriach of the family was training for his 6 week solo hike through Corsica, yes that type of hardcore! He insisted I take a shortcut with the family. Alarm bells should have been ringing when he traced a non-existent trail on my map. So off I went, slipping and sliding down the valley with the path being cleared by said patriach wielding pruning shears. Must say it was exhilarating not following the usual tourist path. So after 4.5hours, I finally made it back to where I started in Monterosso! I grabbed a quick bite to eat on the train and thought I would go to the first town and walk through as many of the villages as possible. After another 4.5 hours I walked the trail connecting Riomaggiore (first town) to Vernazza (fourth town) and called it a day. It was so nice to be outdoors, soaking up the sun and Vernazza, the most picturesque of the five villages was the best place to stop for the day and watch the sunset whilst having dinner in an outdoor cafe.

The next day was likewise beautiful, I finished the rest of the trail between Vernazza and Monterosso and explored another trail to Levanto and ended up at a look out point where I could see all 5 villages along the coast. It was gorgeous.

So I finally put up some of my snapshots of my travels. Yes it's taken a while and I would have kept procrastinating if not for my impending move. My new place won't have internet connection set up yet so am making the most of it right now =)

So here is the link if you want to browse my snapshot collection -
http://web.mac.com/paulinebanh/iWeb/Wanderlust/