Had a fabulous day here in the Cinque Terre. We woke up to beautiful skies, nice and clear. This was a day for hiking. There are walking trails between most of the 5 towns and we thought we would try at least one of them out. The is another town called Corniglia that is just 1km away, sounds pretty easy. Just 1km. So we loaded up with water and snacks and off we trundled. First of all, you must know that this is the land of steps. From the photos I've posted you can clearly see that the area here is very hilly. Plus the buildings are multi-storied. That all results in steps, lots and lots of them. So, it wasn't a complete surprise that the beginning of the trail started with steps. Up and up we went until we were far above Vernazza. The bonus is the incredible views you encounter. We walked through terraced hillsides and past olive trees. After a bit we found a nice clearing under some olive trees for our first rest stop. The trail was pretty quiet, not too many other folks about. A young couple passed us and said it it was about a 30 minutes to Corniglia. Is that all? Feeling pretty good about ourselves, off we went. After more steps and switchbacks we came across a small collection of buildings perched high on the hillside, and a small bar! As it was only around 10:00 am or so, we opted for fresh squeezed OJ with ice and lime which we enjoyed on the terrace. I took the opportunity to chat a little in Italian with the nice lady at the bar. She mentioned her son is an architect, trained in London. He was thinking about moving to Canada looking for work, could I give her my contact info? Sure, why not. It's a small country. When we left we noticed a sign stating we're 1/2 way to Corniglia. The lady said it's about 30 minutes away. Hmmmmm...

After we rounded a bend we saw Corniglia in the distance, a mirage perhaps? A pretty little town sitting on a flat plateau. The only Cinque Terre town not on the sea. We picked up our pace, sensing we were closer. As we neared the outskirts of town we passed through terraced vineyards. We entered into the small village and I noticed another sign saying the distance to Vernazza, where we had just hiked from, was 1km away. It had taken us about 2 hours! We had a little rest in their small piazza and then explored around. Unfortunately the trail to the next town was closed due to a landslide that happen a year or two ago, so we hopped a train to the next town, Manarola. A little similar to Vernazza in size and amenities. We strolled down their little Main Street towards the harbour. Beth and I split an order of fresh fried calamari, served in a paper cone. The best I've ever had by far.

We had noticed that there are boats that go back and forth between the towns, and that seemed like a great way to make our way back to Vernazza. Headed down to the dock only to see that they weren't stopping at Vernazza for that day. Crap! So back to the train station. Still pretty early in the day, we thought we would go past Vernazza back to Monterosso, the town with the mini Riviera feel. Found a bar on the beach and sat under umbrellas in the shade having a beer and relaxing.Wonderful afternoon.

Back in Vernazza for the evening, we bought tickets for a small opera presention performed by some students from Milan. It was performed in the small church built in 1750. Followed that up with our last dinner here, had a grilled swordfish and mixed salad, along with the vino della casa of course! Back to our rooms to pack and then we head to Tuscany tomorrow.