Day 4 - Cinque Terre Towns 1, 2 and 3

June 25
Bri, John and I all talked about what we wanted to do in Cinque Terre and we all decided that we wanted to complete the hike. I had also been told that a couple of the towns had some really good beaches so to take our stuff to layout and mess around in the water. So we came to a final decision that we would hike the first couple towns the first day then go lay out at the beach the rest of the day and take the train back. Then we would wake up our last day and take the train back to the final town we hiked to and finish the hike. One reason we came up with this idea is because I read that it takes around 5 hours to complete the hike and we wanted to break it up some.

So Friday morning we decided to wake up and catch the first bus from the hotel to Riomaggiore that way we could get on the trail before it got to hot or crowded. Well, we that plan worked out great, when we started there was hardly anyone on the trail and it was nice and cool, almost kind of cold.

The path from Riomaggiore to Manarola was nice and easy. It was a paved trail the whole way, but is only 1 km and took us about 30 mins to finish. This path has some awesome views and is also named Via dell' Amore or Lovers Lane.

Some more of the pretty flowers, this was on our way to the start of the path

The entrance to Via dell' Amore

A look at the path

They had plaques all along the path but this was the only name I recognized and thought it was appropriate for the path

Some more of the path, we walked through the upper part

Bri and I ~ taking a break to enjoy the views and snap a few pics

The water was so clear and blue

Towards the end of the path (going in the direction we were walking) there is an area that is full of pad locks. Legend has it that you and the one you love are supposed to go to this area with a pad lock and lock it around something in this area, (part of the cable, another lock etc.) then throw the keys in the ocean. Then since you can't every retrieve the keys to unlock the pad lock, your love with never fade.

There were thousands of padlocks ~ this is just half of them there is another side

John and I in front of the bench of lovers ~ no we didn't do a pad lock I had read about it before we left then completely forgot about it till we were on the path

The other side of the bench

She is still looking

And more padlocks ~ there were everywhere along the path

Looking over the side of the railing

He was a little nervous the floor stuck out over the edge and was not solid

Looking at Manarola

Bri trying to climb the side of the mountain

Bri with Manarola in the background ~ this was right before the old ladies yelled at her to get down

Once we got to the 2nd town of Manarola we walked around for just a little bit, but it was still really early and nothing was opened up yet. All the stores were just starting to set up for the day. We took a few pictures then headed back out on the next trail.

Walking through Manarola

The vineyards on the mountain side

A look at the "beach" area and the path

The trail between Manarola and Corniglia again was pretty easy, it wasn't paved like the one before but there was only a slight incline for a little bit and then it leveled back off again. The trail is 3 km and took us a little under an hour to finish. There were parts of the trail that were a little bit scary but not bad at all, it gets kind of narrow in places and the railing is a little sketchy. It wasn't very stable and was even broken in a few places.

After setting off on the trail we got this view of the town

Look how blue the water is ~ no there is no photoshop done to these pics

Manarola

The path along the cliff side

An old boat ramp

Here is where the railing gets a little sketchy ~ it was wobbling when she touched it

And here is where it is broke ~ you can't really tell from the picture but you could tell where something or someone hit the wire part, it was bulging out towards the ocean

Her butt was already starting to burn and it was still early

Looking at the 3rd town of Corniglia through an arch of leaves

Absolutely love the water

An old bridge we had to walk across

They didn't really like it to much

But it wasn't bad at all

Having a little fun before moving on

Corniglia

Grapes that will be turned into wine in a couple more months

The hardest part of this path was at the very end when we had to climb up all the stairs to actually get into the town of Corniglia. Bri and I kept our minds occupied so that we were not thinking about our breathing and counted all the stairs. Once we finished and realized how many there were we really surprised with ourselves at how fast we were able to finish it.

A look at all the stairs we had to climb

Looking up from the bottom ~ and we thought this was bad little did we know what was in store for us

We counted them all and there were 381