Italy Spring Break . Day 6 . Cinque Terre

3/30/2023

Since we were already in La Spezia, we got up early, but not that early since we didn’t have to drive from Florence. The rain had cleared and there was a beautiful day ahead of us. We walked down to the train station and since Mike had purchased Cinque Terre tickets months in advance, we hopped on the train and took it to the last stop, Monterosso. It was great, because there were very few people there and we started our hike up the long ascent into the vineyards. The views were wonderful and the sea a mesmerizing mixture of blues. The air was fresh and the trail gorgeous. It was rather steep, and Abby started having second thoughts about being part of our family, but she dug deep and did wonderfully. Emma and Madeline raced each other from time to time. Madeline has an amazing ability to just go with the flow and never complain. She is a wonderful little hiker and did the entire ten miles without muttering a peep. Maybe the gelato and treats helped, but I think she would have been fine either way. The first town we came to was Vernazza. It was right out of the movie Lucca and the locals knew it and there were opportunities to capitalize on it. We grabbed some lunch (which turned out to be unbelievably delicious) and ate down by the waterfront. It was wonderful. From there, we hiked up the alleyways toward the next town. There were grapes starting to come forth on the vines, and lemons on the lemon trees. Spring was well underway, and it was a wonderful day to hike. Mike even got to speak French to some hikers and take their pictures for them. He enjoyed speaking Italian, French, Portuguese, Chinese, and Japanese on this trip. It was fun to watch him talk to people in their native language.

The next town we came to was Corniglia. This was the town where we got gelato and looked out over the water and enjoyed the creamy goodness. Having completed the hardest two parts of the hike, we were ready for the easy route, but they were closed due to landslides, so we had to take the train to Manarola. This was a very picturesque town and is the most photographed of all the towns in Cinque Terre. It didn’t have the same charm on its main street as Vernazza, but it did make for great pictures and the views from the point just north of town were spectacular of the rest of the coastline. We bought Nutella biscuits here and devoured those. We had to keep everyone’s spirits up. After Manarola, we stopped in Riomaggiore and walked down to the rocky beach and threw rocks in the water for a while. It was a magical way to end a wonderful day of hiking. We could throw rocks in the water for days and be happy. It seems to be one thing that all of our children love. Everyone was pretty tired, so we took the train back to La Spezia, picked up pizza for the girls, then Mike and Sara headed out to watch the sunset in Manarola and take nighttime pictures. It was pretty magical. Once the sun had disappeared and all the pictures were done, we headed to La Roma, a restaurant in La Spezia, and had a quiet dinner with the most unusual and delicious cheesecake of all time. It was the perfect ending to a wonderful and magical day. Thank you Cinque Terre, Gratzie Mille!