The Beautiful Cinque Terre

As the most photogenic city we had traveled to yet, I took an unreasonable amount of photos of the five cities that make up the Italian Cinque Terre. I just couldn't help it! Thankfully, several of our friends advised us to visit Cinque Terre on the Italian Riviera. If you have the opportunity to travel to Italy, we definitely recommend taking some time to visit these gorgeous cities.

The five cities that make up the Cinque Terre are Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza, and Monterosso. We decided to make Riomaggiore our home base and leisurely travel between the other towns.

We took a train along the coast to Riomaggiore. The ocean was absolutely spectacular and made up of the most fabulous colors of blue.

We got off the train and walked into the delightfully charming town.

Everywhere we looked was breathtaking. 

Riomaggiore is the southernmost of the Cinque Terre.

The reviews of out hotel were really good, except for the complaint of having to hike all the way up a mega-steep hill. Before getting here we thought, eh, we will be fine even with our luggage.

It turns out the complaints were legitimate. Even worse- I was way too preoccupied with shooting photos that James snagged all of our luggage and continued by himself. With all that weight! I have such a serving and loving husband.

We finally made it to our bed and breakfast! Then we found out that our room was up another hill. The hills never stop in these towns! (I'm not sure what I expected though because each town is perched high up on a hill.)

Although Italy was scorching hot, it was super windy. James engineered my hat to have a cute little string to keep the hat form flying off in the wind.

View from our balcony

Italians really like their Nutella.

The entrance to Riomaggiore

The beautiful town

We decided we better get into the sea while we were in Italy so we made our way down to the beach.

I loved the pebble beach and the wonderful sound the pebbles make when the water moved them around.

The Cinque Terre claims to have some of the best coastal hiking in the world. We first took the trail closest to the water called the Via dell'Amore (Lover's Walk). 

The path led us from Riomaggiore to Maranola, the next village.

The lovers' locks

Maranola

These colorful windmills were sprinkled all throughout the village!

We continued on the hike to the next town, Corniglia.

Then we needed a gelato break.

Looking back on the previous villages

(Hopefully one of these pictures is similar to the puzzle my sister, Julie, bought for my mom last year! What do you think, mom?)

At this point in or hike, the hiking path was closed due to landslides so we turned around and headed back the way we came.

Sunning is a favorite past-time here in the Cinque Terre.

Hillside vineyards used to make the special Cinque Terre wines

Lovely local lemons

We made it back to Riomaggiore just in time for a tremendous water show and the sunset.

Sciacchetrà with dessert biscuits was a lovely way to end the evening.

I had to take just one last peek of the town before we jumped on the train to Rome!