Cinque Terre ~ "The Five Lands"

From Munich we took another night train (a much better experience the second time) to Italy. We stopped in Florence for a few hours, and then took the train to La Spezia. Cinque Terre or "The Five Lands" comprises five villages west of La Spezia: Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza, and Monterosso al Mare (from closest to farthest). This charming area of the Italian Riviera, along the Mediterranean Sea gets its appeal in part, from the lack of visible "modern" development.

While I certainly wouldn't consider myself a girly-girl, and am by no means "high maintenance", one of my conditions for the trip was that we had a private room with a restroom at each place we stayed as some hostels in Europe are sort of dormatory style or have "public" restrooms. For the most part, we stayed in hotels, and so I was a little nervous about our first (and only) hostel experience in La Spezia, but it was the most adorable little room ever. It ended up being nicer than a few of our hotels!

One of the many wonderful things about Cinque Terre is that you can hike along the cost to and from each city. If you start in Riomaggiore, the village closest to La Spezia, the hikes get progressively more difficult. The first two stretches are very easy, and so beautiful.

This picture is looking back at Manarola from the hiking trail. We learned that the villages have official government commissioners that control the pastel colors, so don't get any crazy ideas about painting your house green or anything!

The water of the Mediterranean was so blue! It was beautiful!! We met a couple from Acapulco along the hike that took this picture for us. We also swapped email addresses because he rents out several apartments on the beach in Mexico. Yes, we have the travel bug!

Looking down on Vernazza. Known for being one of the truest "fishing villages" on the Italian Riviera.

We ate at a cute little pizzeria behind the tree on the right. You haven't lived until you've had trofie al pesto in Cinque Terre. It is nothing like pesto here. It was AMAZING. We also sampled the locally made Cinque Terre wines, including Sciachetra, a dessert wine made from grapes that are almost raisins. MMMMMMM!!

Finally.....our mouths got their first taste of gelato in Vernazza.....and they'll never be the same! :) According to Wikipedia, I just learned that gelato has a lower fat content than ice cream...SWEET! My favorite flavors were cappacino and Bailey's. I'm guessing our gelato consumption throughout our stay in Italy put a nice little dent in the European economy. It's unexplainable...you must go to Italy for the pesto and gelato!!!