Cinque Terre

After Lake Orta, we spent three nights in a small Wimdu flat in the "new town" section of Monterosso, the northernmost town of the Cinque Terre. The other four towns, heading south, are Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore.

Cinque Terre is the land of humongous lemons. There were lemon trees in yards all over Monterosso, and giant lemons for sale in many stores. E and I shared the world's best lemon granita from a shop near the church in the old town (secret ingredient: copious amounts of lemon zest).

A private beach in Monterosso's Old Town

Phone cables hanging outside our apartment

On our first full day, we arose early and hiked from Monterosso to Vernazza and Corniglia along the Cinque Terre National Park lower coastal trail. We started too early to purchase a trail pass, but when we emerged in Vernazza after the first leg, the trail monitor told us to forget about it, since we wouldn't be using that part of the trail anymore. The second leg, between Vernazza and Corniglia, wasn't officially open yet, so we didn't need a pass for that either.

The amazingly clear Mediterranean 

Lizard

Prickly pear

Looking back at Monterosso

Poppies

Europe grows big snails

On the rugged trail between Monterosso and Vernazza, we encountered some homeless and clearly unloved cats.

"Please, use the food inside this container to feed these homeless and unloved cats. Thanks!"

A homeless, clearly unloved cat on the trail

Another homeless, clearly unloved cat

Coming into Vernazza

There were homeless, clearly unloved cats in Vernazza too

Vernazza pigeons

Coming into Corniglia

A street in Corniglia

Steps from Corniglia down to the train station. It's a long way down. 

Sweaty menfolk

Floods and rock slides made Manarola inaccessible by the lower trail, so we viewed it from afar from the Corniglia train station and headed back to Monterosso.

Manrola, from the Corniglia train station

Back in Monterosso, we took a midday break; then S and E went to the beach.

This public beach in Monterosso had mostly cleared out by late afternoon. E is building a sandcastle.

The second day, we took a ferry from Monterosso to Manarola, then hiked an upper trail back to Corniglia. We got a late start, so it was a mighty hot hike, but the views were spectacular.

Corniglia, from the ferry

Manarola

Heading up and out of Manarola

Vineyards helped protect Manarola from the floods that devastated Vernazza and Monterosso in 2011

Looking toward Corniglia

Water awaited us in Volastra

Mid-trail, looking down

Mid-trail, looking up

Up and up and up

The trails skirted the edges of vineyards

Shady woods were welcome

Heading down into Corniglia

We met lots of people on the trails. We were shy about talking at first, since we speak only minimal Italian, but it quickly became clear that pretty much everyone on the trail was a tourist, and 80% of them were English- or German-speaking. The three northernmost towns seemed mostly occupied by Americans, British, Australians, New Zealanders, and Germans, while Manarola was preferred by the French. We never made it to Riomaggiore, since the lower coastal trail (Via dell'Amore) was closed, and we couldn't easily hike there. Maybe that's where the Italian tourists go.