Day 4 - Cinque Terre Towns 3, 4 and 5

Once we got to Corniglia we walked around town for a little bit and grabbed a bite to eat for breakfast. We were all getting a little hungry and it was only like 10 in the morning at that point so we decided a little something would work until we got to the next town.

This was a look at one of the stained glass windows of the church from the outside

The front of the church

This was some of the fruit outside the place we had breakfast ~ and that is not the biggest lemon I have seen

Some of the many vineyards around Corniglia

A look at Corniglia

A close up of some of the grape vines

While we were eating we decided we would go ahead and do the next trail that day. We had originally planned on stopping here and taking the train to one of the last two towns and lay on the beach, but since it was still so early we figured we would just go ahead and go for it. This path was getting much harder than the last two but it still wasn't that bad.

The path from Corniglia to Vernazza was 4 km long and was not paved through any of it. There were a lot more steps along this path and it was a lot narrower than the last too. We were also hiking through vineyards through most of it instead of along the coast line. The plus to walking through the vineyards was that it was a lot more shaded than walking along the edge of the mountain so the sun wasn't beating straight down on us.

Imitating the paintings on the wall

This was part of the path at the begining

Looking at some of the vineyards along the hike

There were so many stairs on the last two paths

Looking back at Corniglia

She was already getting tired

I just loved looking at the water that color never gets old

Yes, there is a beach way down there

Walking through I don't know what

There is the path to get down to the beach

There is the road we could have been on had we taken the bus

Getting a little more tired after the stairs

We hit 1,000 stairs ~ that was not even starting from the beginning, that was about half way through the 3rd hike and that was counting going up and down

Another shot at the path

That is the train tracks

We could finally see the 4th town of Vernazza

Once we made it to Vernazza we walked around the town for a little bit to see what all there was, then decided it was time for a break. The hike took us close to 2 hours so was getting close to noon so we figured stopping to eat for lunch was a good idea. We ate at this little restaurant along the main road and it was really good. Well, I don't know if it was as good as we thought or if it was just because we were all hungry but all three of us ordered spaghetti and there was nothing left on any of our plates.

Walking around Vernazza

By the time we made it to lunch we had gone up and down 1,435 stairs

The first beach that actually had sand

Some of the boats out in the water

Looking back at Vernazza

This little contraption is what the workers of the vineyards use to go up and work in the fields

After lunch we only had one more path to go so we figured we might as well go for it. It too was 4 km and took about 2 hours. This hike had even more stairs than all of the last 3 path combined. It was by far the hardest of the paths but we are glad we went in the direction we did. At the end of the path we went down over 500 stairs in about 20 mins so I could not imagine starting off the hike for the day having to climb up all of them.

Looking back down at some of the stairs we just climbed

After climbing this was the look back down at Vernazza

We hit 2,000 stairs fast

This is where we where hiking too, still a long ways away

This was a random house in the middle of the vineyards on the side of the mountain, not sure how the owners got to and from all the time

Getting closer to the 5th town of Monterosso

The metal going through the middle of the picture is the track for the contraption that takes them through the vineyards

We hit 3,000 stairs even faster

Once we made it to Monterosso we were all pretty exhausted from the hike but Bri and I were super excited to go for a swim. All I have to say is it is a good thing we had been hiking for 5 hours and were really hot because that water was absolutely FREEZING. As hot as we were and wanted cold water it still took us a little while to get used to the water.

Monterosso

We counted 3,200 stairs and that wasn't even all of them

Bri and I swimming in the Mediterranean Sea

We were out on the beach for a couple hours then decided it was time to head back so we could catch the bus back to the hotel before it got super late. We did however, decided to take the train back, there was no way we were about to hike all that back. So while we waited on the train we ate a little Gelato and relaxed.

Once we got back to the hotel we all showered and changed and just headed up to the hotel restaurant for dinner. The restaurant wasn't the best and it took forever to get our meal but the views and the sunset were beautiful.

The pretty sunset