Hiking the Cinque Terre...

The Cinque Terre consists of the coastline, five villages, and the surrounding hillsides.

It's noted for its beauty and now we know why! Terraces have been built on the rugged, steep landscape right up to the cliffs that overlook the sea. Paths, trains and boats connect the villages....

Lots of umbrella pictures today. :D The one day it rained on our trip and we had planned to hike all day. We decided to use those umbrellas we lugged all over Europe and go despite the rain. We're glad we did. Even though it was one soggy hike, it was gorgeous!!!

We started out from the hostel in our favorite of the five villages, Manarola...

First we hiked to Corniglia, climbing 380 steps to finally reach the village.

Escargot anyone? :P













Next was Vernazza...By that time we were hungry for more pizza, gelato and pastries! Yum! :D

After hiking for a while and getting soaked we took a boat ride to the next village, which was Monterossso.

Lemons!!!

The beach at Monterosso...The water is incredibly beautiful... the beach just rocks, but they were beautiful too!

Coop is the place to go for groceries. We took the train to Riomaggiore, where we grabbed some olives, cheese and bread for lunch. Then found a relatively dry spot to stand and eat it. By this time I was cold and ready to be in a dry warm place!

Where we stopped to get warm on the way back to Manarola.

The hot chocolate in Italy is the best ever!!! It's so thick that when you blow on the spoon it piles up into a mound. Wow! And it totally hit the spot on this beautiful, wet, cold day...

Okay, here was dinner... I ordered fish soup. I wasn't expecting to get what looked like a scoop of the bottom of the sea... Well, it wasn't the best meal I ate. :)