June 8: Cinque Terre

Today was definitely the best day that we've had in Italy so far. We took a semi-guided tour of Cinque Terre ("Five Lands"), five small towns linked by 6 miles of hiking trails, or in our case, trains. Each town was so beautiful and colorful. It was one of those places I'd seen tons of pictures of, but didn't really know where to go. It's so picturesque, and it was the perfect day to visit. This is really the most beautiful place in the world.We took a train to Riomaggiore (#1). We walked from town #1 to town #2, Manarola. We skipped town #3, and took a train to town Vernazza, town #4, and my favorite town. The first thing we did here was jump in the water. It was so awesome, especially after walking around in the heat all day. We got lunch at a cafe on the water in Vernazza. The region is famous because it's where pesto originated, so pretty much everything has a pesto option (pesto pizza, pesto lasagna, pesto pasta, etc.). We took the train from #4 to #5 instead of hiking the hour and a half walk to the next town. We spent the afternoon swimming in the Mediterranean and walking in the town. 


The only Italian word that I've learned from experience is the word for jellyfish, and it's actually been useful multiple times. Today, lifeguards pulled out three round (larger than a dinner plate) jellyfish from the water, right after a woman had been stung several times near where we were swimming.


Sorry that there are so many repetitive pictures. I took 277 today, so the fact that I only posted this many is really amazing. 

 The view on the Via dell'Amore between Riomaggiore and Manarola. 

 This is part of the Via dell'Amore. Couples place locks with their initials on the fence.

 The water was so blue! Someone said "I feel like we're swimming in Windex!"

In Manarola (town #2)

Stonework in one of the squares in Manarola.

 The bay in Manarola.

 The view from Vernazza (town #4)

Cinque Terre suffered earthquakes last year, and it really damaged Vernazza. A lot of the colorful buildings are still damaged. 

 This was our view from the cafe where we ate lunch.

Standing on the dock that we jumped off. 

 Almost every restaurant has a separate section on the menu where they have three or four different kinds of bruschetta. It's great!

 The beaches are all rocks, so no sand! I loved it!

 Monterosso (town #5)

Cassie, they have geckos at the beach here, too! We saw tons, and most of them are really big. I saw one that was almost twice as long as the ones at home. I took this picture just for you!