Cinque Terre – 5 Lands

After the festival, we decided to take some time for a bit of R and R.  Cinque Terre is one of our favorite places, so why not go back for a third visit?  Since the path to CT (from Vienna) is the Florence airport, we might as well spend a couple of days in Florence too.

Corniglia is our favorite town of the 5 Lands.  We stay in one of Lidia’s apartments everytime we visit and this visit was no exception.  At 95 Euro a night and town and sea views, who could ask for more?  Corniglia has 250 residents and sits high up on a rock above the Mediterranean.  The tour boats can not dock here so the town is never over run with visitors/tourists.  I can’t say the same for the other 4 towns.  For this post, I will show the picture and annotate below each shot.  This is truly a fabulous place for hiking along the sea, between the towns (there are no cars allowed) and far up into the hills covered with vineyards.  After the first two pix, all photos are taken while hiking.

The view from our deck and rooftop.

The view in the other direction overlooking the town.

The view of Corniglia from up on the mountain side.

Hiking above Vernazza.

Approaching Vernazza from the other side.

Where the boats come in.

Wine tasting in Groppo.

I can’t remember which town this is.

The organ in the one of the town churches.

Approaching Monterosso Mare, the only town with a real beach (and very overcrowded).

 

We hiked to the Southern most part of CT.  This view covers the span of all five towns.  You can see Riomaggiore up front and the farthest away cove is Monterosso.

We hiked two 6 mile days and one 10 mile day.  It was quite a work out but as you can see, well worth it for the views.  Each day we climbed down the 1000 foot rock face from town and swam in the sea.  It was a magical 4 days.  See you in Florence!  Ciao!