Italy: Cinque Terre

Following an afternoon of train-hopping from Venice, we arrived to Riomaggiore, Italy, one of the five small, coastal villages that make up beautiful Cinque Terre on Italy‘s northwestern coastline. The train stop at Riomaggiore is mostly inside a tunnel, so we emerged from said tunnel to find ourselves on a high bridge overlooking the Mediterranean Sea and a classic pink-sky sunset -- the village sloped steeply behind us. It was outstanding, and that pretty much set the tone for our Cinque Terre visit. Staying in Riomaggiore, or any of the other villages for that matter particularly in the off-season, is like going back in time 60 years. Everybody in town knows each other, shops close whenever they want to, laundry hangs from every other window and the pace of life is slower than molasses. We fell right into step with this pace, chomping on pizza shortly after our arrival and watching the friendly locals go about their business.

The highlight of any trip to Cinque Terre is exploring Parco Nationale delle Cinque Terre (Cinque Terre National Park). There are a lot of footpaths and bike routes to explore, although most tourists check out the fantastic 9km walkway called the Blue Trail. This pathway, which can take 5 or so hours to complete and varies from easy street to steep and strenuous, connects the five villages (Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza, Monterosso) and provides an awesome way to see the dramatic coastline up close and personal. We spent a full day walking along the Blue Trail and stopping at each of the 5 villages. It was a great place and an excellent close to our time in Italy before moving on to the Cote D’Azur in neighboring France.