I'll admit that I'd never heard of Cinque Terre before Rebecca mentioned it, and I have no idea how I missed it! It was beautiful. I seriously considered just staying.
We had planned to hike between a few of the towns. We got up at the crack 'o dawn to take an early train. We dressed in layers and headed out. We also were hit up in our first scam attempt by super aggressive "petition girls" outside the Santa Maria Novella train station. They are AGGRESSIVE. They follow you and say "but it's for against drugs!" I think I actually shouted NO! at one them. It was really aggravating, especially so early in the morning.
We had to switch trains in La Spezia, which gave us a moment to recaffinate. I realized that the purple of my jacket clashed *just so* with the purple of my dress, giving me a colorblind clown effect. Luckily, it warmed up throughout the day and I looked better as I peeled off more and more layers. We both regretted not bringing our bathing suits today.
The train ride was uneventful. We decided to start at the furthest city, with plans to hike back part of the way, and catch the train for the rest. However, we did not get that far! We stayed in beautiful Monterosso al Mare the whole time.
 |
| All my purples, minus the jacket. |
We could not believe how stunning it was. It was right out of a movie.
 |
| So dang pretty. |
 |
| The views were amazing. We could hardly believe they were real. |
 |
| The beach was beautiful! |
We hiked up a trail- pretty much straight up- and found a church and a graveyard.
An attempt to show how we feel via facial expression- I still have most my layers on!
Outside the church
The St. Francis statue was beautiful, but the views were even more spectacular.
We watched the people enjoying the water.
Rebecca gave the water a try- it's REALLY cold here. Really, really cold. We could not believe how many people were prancing around in the freezing cold water in bikinis.
Cathy in the water, minus most of her layers.
Lots of people had climbed up this rock and were jumping off.
We were actually kind of worried about the girl on the left- but she jumped off with no problems.
Standard feet in the sand picture.
Here's the train we were on- you can see the city to the left! We were not able to hike along the beaches, at the trails were closed for the season.
Another amazing view.
The standard selfie.
We passed a gate with love locks on it.
After we came down from the hill, we decided to have lunch. Rebecca's Gluten Free Italy book saved the day again, and led us to the most delicious restaurant we'd eaten at thus far, and that's saying something. If you ever have a chance to eat at Miki, just do it. It's worth it. It was amazing.
Rebecca's gluten free appetizer.
We split a cheese course. The cheeses were local.
Rebecca's gluten free pasta and monkfish.
This is sea bass ravioli. The crust you see was set on fire and rolled back by the waiter. It seemed that most things here arrived in flames.
For example, Rebecca's gluten free dessert. We also found the dishes everything was served on beautiful!
We went from broke (heh- almost literally. This meal was astronomically expensive) and got dessert- this is chocolate mousse with dipping areas!
We went back to the hotel full of beauty and delicious food!
