Cinque Terre- Hiking!

Today was a wonderful, sunny day! We had a great time hiking from town to town.

We woke up this morning a little after 8 and had breakfast at this place...

It's owned by 2 twin Italian brothers, and it is the best place EVER! We had dessert there last night and it looked like this...

I can't remember what this was called, but Jaren and I both loved it! Seriously, it was the most delicious dessert! Heavenly!

Anyway, our breakfast was delicious! We both tried a different pastry, I should have taken a picture! Yum! And the hot chocolate was SO thick! I did get a picture of that (don't mind the messiness)...

Afterward we set out to hike the 5 towns of Cinque Terre. We started out at Vernazza, the town we are staying in and hiked to Corniglia. From Corniglia we hiked to Manarola. From Manarola we hiked to Riomaggiore. From Riomaggiore we took the train to Monterosso al Mare. From Monterosso al Mare, we hiked back to Vernazza.

Here's a map...

We wanted to take the coastal trail the whole way, but 2 of the trails were closed from storm damage. (One of them has been closed for 7 years and is still not repaired! Life is at a much slower pace here, I guess.) Because of the coastal trail closures, we had to take the longer, more difficult way up the mountains. (One of the routes we took went through Pignone.) It was strenuous and there was a LOT of elevation gain, but it was so beautiful and totally worth it! The views were amazing! I was surprised at how many older people were hiking these difficult trails... There were people who looked like they were in their 70s who were hiking! Awesome!

Vernazza (the town we are staying in)...

Corniglia...

Manarola...

Riomaggiore...

Monterosso al Mare (the biggest, most touristy, and "beachiest" of the 5 towns)..

And back to Vernazza...

We stopped for lunch in Manarolla and ate a slice of pesto pizza. When we got back into town we showered and rested before going to dinner at il Pirata delle 5 Terre (the same place we had breakfast). Yum! We LOVE that place!

All-in-all we hiked over 17 miles!

We absolutely love the Cinque Terre. It is so gorgeous here and the town epitomizes what I imagined Italy to be like! We had fun stopping in and exploring each little town. They are all very similar, yet so different at the same time. I'm glad we are staying in Vernazza, it is definitely the prettiest of the 5 towns!