July 18th, Monday
Lauterbrunnen was magical. Of all of the places on the tour that I thought I'd want to spend more time in, I had no idea that it would be Switzerland that I might think of the most fondly. Maybe because I had no idea of what to expect or maybe because Lauterbrunnen wasn't a city that was ever on my bucket list previously? It's on my return bucket list now (though, to be fair, all of the other places we've been are on my list too).
I used to think that I'd check off boxes of places that I wanted to see once I'd been to them. But, what happens is that I fall in love with each place and want to go back some day to experience it all again. It appears that the more I travel, the longer my list becomes... it's getting quite unmanageable...
I used to think that I'd check off boxes of places that I wanted to see once I'd been to them. But, what happens is that I fall in love with each place and want to go back some day to experience it all again. It appears that the more I travel, the longer my list becomes... it's getting quite unmanageable...
Today's drive is supposed to be the longest. It’s really the only “all bus” day. And my kids, at least, are looking forward to some laziness after yesterday’s all-day hike. We expect about 7 hours of drive time (and with time off for our bus driver and lunch, the plan is to be on the road for about 9 hours). But... we run into traffic in Switzerland. When a lot of cars are on the road, they make everyone stop at freeway stop lights and clog everything up even more. We lost about two hours to traffic, but it’s even more than that.
The laws for bus drivers are strict and mean that the delay will result in another mandatory stop. So instead of arriving at 4 or 5 we will get in closer to 7. By the end we were all ready to get to the Cinque Terre.
After a few hairpin turns and some tricky bus driving (including some close maneuvers around other busses occupying lanes that were far too small for that nonsense) we were dropped off at the train station. The bus erupted, more than once, in clapping for Hilde today as we recognized the skill.
A mere 10-minute train ride later we were departing at Monterosso al Mere to this glorious view of the Ligurian Sea, which is part of the Mediterranean.
A mere 10-minute train ride later we were departing at Monterosso al Mere to this glorious view of the Ligurian Sea, which is part of the Mediterranean.
The first order of business was to go straight to our hotel and unpack.
Because of the traffic in Switzerland, we are missing the group dinner tonight (it has been rescheduled by our "problem solver" tour guides to tomorrow night) and instead, we will have free time for the rest of the evening. Grace is my roommate for the Cinque Terre.
Look at our cute little room with the strangest balcony ever (you go up a little foot stool and out the window). We love it. Dan and Abby's room is cool too. AND a local cat visited their balcony, so Abby's in love. If you look off the deck and down the street, you can see the Mediterranean (through a very small peek-a-boo view). This hotel is only a 5-minute walk from the train station in a great location in the newer part of Monterosso.
Because of the traffic in Switzerland, we are missing the group dinner tonight (it has been rescheduled by our "problem solver" tour guides to tomorrow night) and instead, we will have free time for the rest of the evening. Grace is my roommate for the Cinque Terre.
Look at our cute little room with the strangest balcony ever (you go up a little foot stool and out the window). We love it. Dan and Abby's room is cool too. AND a local cat visited their balcony, so Abby's in love. If you look off the deck and down the street, you can see the Mediterranean (through a very small peek-a-boo view). This hotel is only a 5-minute walk from the train station in a great location in the newer part of Monterosso.
We found a spot to eat just around the corner. So much fresh seafood... Chris ordered a beer and we've been joking that he wanted the large one (look at that glass) and Abby is now completely in love with gnocchi (I support that obsession).
We are tired and hungry after basically doing nothing in the bus all day. We're super happy to be here and can't wait for tonight when we are 100% swimming in the sea. Tomorrow should be equally amazing - we have the whole day to do whatever we want. And we want to see all five of the Cinque Terre towns.
We are tired and hungry after basically doing nothing in the bus all day. We're super happy to be here and can't wait for tonight when we are 100% swimming in the sea. Tomorrow should be equally amazing - we have the whole day to do whatever we want. And we want to see all five of the Cinque Terre towns.
A twilight view from the sandy beach on Monterosso, the largest of the five towns that make up the Cinque Terre, and our base while staying here. You can see all four of the other towns in the distance: Vernazza is the closest and second largest city, Corniglia is the next one (up on the hill), Manarola, and lastly Riomaggiore. There is a hiking trail that links all five towns, but you can only hike the portions of the trail between Corniglia (the hill town), Vernazza, and Monterosso. The flat sections between Riomaggiore, Manarola, and Corniglia are currently closed.
July 19th, Tuesday
Just look at this beautiful sunrise! Our plan is to beat the heat and the crowds and see all five of the Cinque Terre towns.
But first... coffee in Monterosso while waiting for the train. We will go all the way to Riomaggiore and work our way back. Dan is thinking about trying to taste coffee in all five of the towns. We’re not entirely sure he’s going to survive today, with that much caffeine. We’ll see how this goes…
Coffee and pastries in Italy are not expensive. For three drinks and two pastries at breakfast it's like $11. Also - in Italy, they charge based on where you consume your food. So, if you drink coffee at the counter, it's one price. If you sit inside or outside it's a different price. It's the same with restaurants. Depending on where you sit, and whether you have a waiter or waitress, it changes the price of your food. That's why most people consume their drinks while standing at the counter. We consume the drink outside- just staring at this view.
Coffee and pastries in Italy are not expensive. For three drinks and two pastries at breakfast it's like $11. Also - in Italy, they charge based on where you consume your food. So, if you drink coffee at the counter, it's one price. If you sit inside or outside it's a different price. It's the same with restaurants. Depending on where you sit, and whether you have a waiter or waitress, it changes the price of your food. That's why most people consume their drinks while standing at the counter. We consume the drink outside- just staring at this view.
Riomaggiore
The furthest town from us, its colorful houses and picturesque wharf with sailboats were all just waking up when we arrived. Walking down the mosaic lined tunnel from the train we hiked up the hills while sanitation workers were out dumping glass and spraying down cans and streets in preparation for another day. This town is known for its wine and there were a ton of delivery workers with supplies delivering to the shop workers who were opening their stores. One of the most populous of the towns there are lots of hotel options here. We hiked up to a church and lookout with inspiring views (this town dates back to the 13th century)- it’s so beautiful. I would have loved to spend more time here. Dan got coffee (superb) and we moved on to a smaller town, Manarola.
Manarola
We didn’t explore as much of this town. We went from the train down to the wharf where we swam in the most beautiful water. There’s no sand here, just large rocks and deep water- and fish!! It was refreshing and the joy of swimming in this area with the locals who come every morning (while it’s still quiet and the sun is still low on the horizon)- such a great experience. We loved the too-short time we spent in Manarola and we didn’t get to explore much of the town, which was too bad. It looked lovely. Dan went for the fresh squeezed orange juice here, instead of more coffee and he felt pretty good about that decision.
Corniglia
This is the smallest of the five towns. It’s on a hill, so it has no water access. (I mean- if you walk down the mountain and fling yourself off of a cliff, you can get to water but this town is not on the sea, like all the others). The difficulty of getting to this town makes it the least visited and made it one of my favorites- it was so different from the others. You get off the train and go up 382 stairs to get to the village. It’s hot now and we collected quite a bit of sweat on our way up the stairs so…. there’s no pretending we’re beating the heat any longer. We're smack dab in the middle of the heat. We might actually be on fire. We enjoy some cold beverages (Dan goes with the lemon slushy, which was unbelievably good in the heat. It was the right decision. Coffee may have meant his demise.)
I absolutely love this town. I cannot believe how small it is. The main town is really just one main alleyway with shops and restaurants lining it. It's only about two blocks long, though it looks like the town has spread a bit to the other side of the street as well. I sincerely wish we had a full day here - just to be local and watch the sun set from this cliff. We got focaccia bread here (thanks to the recommendation from Rick Steves). It was so good we go back for more. We do a little shopping and admire the views.
You can hike the trail between villages here (from Corniglia to Vernazza). We are IN!! I have wanted to hike this trail for years. We fill up our water bottles with luke warm water from the public fountains at the start of the hike.
I absolutely love this town. I cannot believe how small it is. The main town is really just one main alleyway with shops and restaurants lining it. It's only about two blocks long, though it looks like the town has spread a bit to the other side of the street as well. I sincerely wish we had a full day here - just to be local and watch the sun set from this cliff. We got focaccia bread here (thanks to the recommendation from Rick Steves). It was so good we go back for more. We do a little shopping and admire the views.
You can hike the trail between villages here (from Corniglia to Vernazza). We are IN!! I have wanted to hike this trail for years. We fill up our water bottles with luke warm water from the public fountains at the start of the hike.
Hiking Corniglia to Vernazza
This trail is all up and then all down. At 2.1 miles it’s considered relatively challenging (taking an average of 75 minutes, which -is like 55 minutes up and 20 minutes down). It is now after 12 and 100+ degree heat- so, obviously, we planned this well. But none of us are willing to miss out on this for anything and so we climb and climb and when we get to the top of the hill and just when we have lost the will to live (just kidding- it was a hard hike but I just felt so thankful to be on it), we come to the most picturesque views AND a little cafe- on the TOP OF THE MOUNTAIN. And they have lemonade slushies!! I almost wonder if I’m hallucinating. I’ve done many hikes- many, many... many hikes. But never, have I ever, when I’ve reached the top of a climb, stumbled upon frozen drinks. This is the best thing to ever happen to anyone. We are SO HOT and SO THIRSTY- I love this whole experience so much. We hand out drinks and sit in the shade in the little outdoor cafe section at the very top of the mountain and look out over the Mediterranean and we can see the towns of the Cinque Terre and it is so wonderful. I am not leaving slushy-ville, EVER.
Vernazza
We hike downhill into Vernazza. The town is PACKED. It’s 1 million degrees and everyone in Italy is here- in this one street town. So we are no longer avoiding heat or crowds- we are celebrating both heat and crowds. We decide to swim in the harbor- because the thought of not being this hot is incredibly delightful. The harbor is beautiful but the time of day and number of people make this my least favorite town (and I’m not sure if that’s fair to Vernazza). I think my opinion has more to do with me than the town because it’s a great town. The buildings are colorful and beautiful, the swimming beach is great, the whole thing is picturesque. But it is super crowded and hot and we're hungry. So the girls and I have lunch in a cafe that serves delicious food (with super friendly staff despite the fact that they are working in intense heat). These people must have super powers- the super power to create gnocchi that is exactly the pick me up we needed after the day’s adventures getting here.
Dan isn’t here. He’s clearly lost his mind but he’s not about to give up on the opportunity to hike the rest of the trail between Vernazza and Monterosso (he admits later that it’s super hard in the afternoon heat but totally worth it)- so he’s out there soaking in the experience and we are quitters who quit things and we are so happy with our life choices and our cold (semi-cold) beverages.
Dan isn’t here. He’s clearly lost his mind but he’s not about to give up on the opportunity to hike the rest of the trail between Vernazza and Monterosso (he admits later that it’s super hard in the afternoon heat but totally worth it)- so he’s out there soaking in the experience and we are quitters who quit things and we are so happy with our life choices and our cold (semi-cold) beverages.
Monterosso
Back to home base around 4 in the afternoon! We return to Monterosso so hot and sweaty and super happy (and tired) having experienced a very small piece of all four of the other towns of the Cinque Terre.
We should have started in Vernazza, hiked to Corniglia (gone DOWN the stairs to the train) and then explored the last two towns, which hopefully wouldn't have been quite as crowded. But, having no idea, we did what we did and thoroughly enjoyed it. Another significant day in a very long line of significant days. This tour is amazing, just so amazing, and we are so thankful to be on it.
Monterosso at night is enchanting. I love the glow from the shops and restaurants. We get a pesto making demonstration at dinner along with a lovely plate of great food and we explore the shops in the older part of town in the evening heat. And then we take one final dip in the Mediterranean to end the night.
We should have started in Vernazza, hiked to Corniglia (gone DOWN the stairs to the train) and then explored the last two towns, which hopefully wouldn't have been quite as crowded. But, having no idea, we did what we did and thoroughly enjoyed it. Another significant day in a very long line of significant days. This tour is amazing, just so amazing, and we are so thankful to be on it.
Monterosso at night is enchanting. I love the glow from the shops and restaurants. We get a pesto making demonstration at dinner along with a lovely plate of great food and we explore the shops in the older part of town in the evening heat. And then we take one final dip in the Mediterranean to end the night.