We left our house on a Saturday and drove about 9 hours south through Switzerland to this village called San Maurizio in Italy. This is about 90 minutes north of the Cinque Terre and was a MUCH cheaper place to spend our first night and that was about it... I thought. It turned out to be a wonderfully isolated little guesthouse with fantastic views.
This is looking out from the front patio.
Of course, the kids liked this view even better. Peppa Pig is somehow more tolerable when dubbed in Italian.
The next morning we drove down some CRAZY windy, narrow roads to the Cinque Terre. Rob may have been white knuckling it at times, but I was hanging out the window trying to take pictures of the incredible views. We've decided that our scariest driving scenarios in the past few years have been in 1. Idaho, 2. Ireland, and 3. Italy.
We arrived in Riomaggiore which would be our home base in the Cinque Terre and parked the car in a garage. Most of the 5 villages that make up the Cinque Terre do not allow car traffic, and a few were only accessible by boat or train until recent years. Or by foot.
We strolled around Riomaggiore and ate at a couple of different restaurants. The pesto bruschetta was pretty tasty. (Expect more food pictures than usual from me in these posts- Italy has some fantastic food, and my sister Melissa specifically asked for photo documentation.)
The villages are built onto the sides of very steep hills and cliffs. The kids loved to run down the hills toward the water, but weren't as thrilled about climbing back up them after dinner.
The next morning we set out early to hike the Cinque Terre. Sadly, the coastal trail was closed. We walked up to the Via Dell'Amore (Lover's Lane) at the edge of Riomaggiore to check out the views anyway. Then we went back to the train station and bought a day ticket to move freely between the 5 villages.
Here are the kiddos at the start of the coastal trail, which was fenced shut. They don't look too disappointed, do they?
We got off the train in the next village of Manorola.
With our handy dandy Rick Steve's book, I was able to find a hike that would take us through the vineyards of Manorola, around near the coast, and eventually back to the train station. The vineyards smelled great- with rosemary, olive trees, grape vines, agave plants, and so on, and gave us really neat views of the village below.
It was warm once the sun came out full force!You can see behind Rob our planned route for the day heading north along the Italian Riviera coastline.
Heading down from the vineyards toward the sea.
This is actually a cemetery perched on the edge of the sea. If you can see it in this photo, there is a playground just behind the cemetery. Well, our kids saw it.
Here is the view of downtown Manorola from the cemetery.
And of course, we stopped at the playground and had a snack.
The remainder of the trail back to the train station was an easy downhill path along the coast.
It was a really lovely place to walk, and as you can see, it wasn't very crowded at all in the morning hours.
Our next stop along the train route was in Corniglia. The train station is right near the coast and we chose to walk up into town via these 365 steps rather than take a (very crowded) shuttle. One for each day of the year! Ha! More people seemed to show up each hour as the day progressed.
On the way up I mentioned to Rob that if someone were selling slushies at the top they could make a killing! So when we saw a shop in town selling slushies, we had to buy six. These were not your average slushie though! They had two flavors, lemon and orange, and they were made from freshly squeezed lemon or orange juice. They were amazingly refreshing!
At the top lookout point from Corniglia.
Then it was all the way back down the steps and back on the train. It only took about 3 minutes to get between each village on the train.
The next village we came to was Vernazza.
In Vernazza we headed downhill from the train station to the sea and "beach."
The kids loved climbing on the rocks and discovering little hermit crabs, tiny jellyfish, and sea snails.
Jake was incredibly proud to make it out to this rock and asked me to send this photo to Grandma. You can see the train tunnel to the next village just above him.
After enjoying some panini and hot dogs by the shore, we headed up to the Castello on the peak.
Charlotte, Toby, and I relaxed while Rob, Jake, and Amelie climbed to the top of the Castello.
Looking back at the route we've come so far.
And looking ahead.
(That village on the coast behind Jake is Monterosso, our planned ending point.)
I love this guy.
After a brief rest, we headed back to the train station and went on to Monterosso.
When we came out of the train station in Monterosso, we saw the beach! Well, a pebble beach anyway, with umbrellas and lounge chairs, and we knew it was time for some relaxation. We rented a spot for the afternoon and just enjoyed the Mediterranean.
For some reason, I didn't pack swimsuits for this trip... a major fail on my part, but that didn't keep the kiddos from enjoying a swim. They were the only kids on the beach most of the time we were there and LOVED collecting rocks and splashing and playing. Europeans aren't shocked by kids swimming in whatever (or nothing at all.)
The New Town side of Monterosso is the most resort-y area of the Cinque Terre and reminded us of Ibiza.
After everyone dried off we strolled over to the Old Town side of Monterosso to get some dinner. We passed by the old castle ruin that dates from the middle ages, when pirates were a serious problem along this coast, and the Nazi pill box below the castle from WWII.
We found a restaurant and enjoyed some caprese, melon with prosciutto, and pasta... but there was a crepe stand across the street, so we got crepes with nutella after dinner as well. We had all worked up quite an appetite!
We really enjoyed the Cinque Terre, especially in the mornings and evenings when it was quiet and uncrowded. We weren't able to hike the coastal trail, but my phone recorded that we walked 8 miles on our hiking day anyway! We all slept like rocks and then packed up and headed to Pisa in the morning.
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