A full day exploring Cinque Terre! Hiking is a huge part of being in Cinque Terre and it is possible to hike between the villages of Monterosso, Vernazza, and Corniglia. Jon had advised me that the most beautiful hike though was from Levanto to Monterosso so we took the train up to Levanto to begin our hike.
Catching the bus from our hotel was a struggle as usual and we watched two buses fly by us as we stood on the wrong side of the road. Eventually, we walked a short distance away and caught a different bus. The public transit struggles prevail. Getting around Cinque Terre has been the most frustrating part as both the buses and trains are always delayed. The trains also come very infrequently and often don't stop in each of the towns. Today we waited nearly 45 extra minutes due to delays as well!
The hike from Levanto to Monterosso was more intense than anticipated. It was a rough trail and there were a ton of uphill parts. We just kept climbing and climbing in the heat. At many parts you could look out and see the ocean below and the skyline. I will never get over how beautiful the ocean looks. The hike alternated between sections of forest with ocean views. The hike was a little over 5 miles and we completed it in about 3 hours. I thoroughly enjoyed the hike. I can't say the same for Holly though. I think she thought it would be a stroll along the coast. Some of the things she said along the way though were hilarious! At one point she said "I hate nature", "this is not fun" and "why do I have to climb up to climb down". The steps were by far the funniest things as some of them were so high they were almost as tall as here. I felt bad that she did not enjoy the hike as much as I did but she can now say she has been hiking, hiking in Italy too.
By the time we arrived in Monterosso we were very thirsty and hungry. Everyday we find ourselves trying to find a restaurant close to 3pm when they close to take a break. Fortunately, we found an upscale pasta restaurant right on the famous beach Fegina. At the restaurant we befriended this Canadian couple next to us who were asking us where we were from, what we were doing for the day, etc. They were very sweet and fun to talk to. The woman apparently owned a house in Italy too. For lunch I ordered spaghetti with mussels in a cream sauce and Holly had pesto spaghetti. The homemade pasta hits different. It was so perfectly cooked and was very tasty. I enjoyed it! At the end of the meal we got a pleasant surprise that the couple next to us had already paid for our meal! How nice of them! We later ran into them while wandering the town and thanked them for their act of kindness.
Monterosso al mare was the most popular town and also most famous for its beach Fegina. To swim there though, you have to make a reservation in advance. It was probably the most crowded village we had been to so far. Everyone was walking around in a bathing suit or on the beach. People came there for one thing - the beach. The Fegina beach was lined with striped umbrellas and chairs. The waves looked very fun as this village actually had a beach compared to the others. From what I understood I thought Monterosso al Mare was going to be the prettiest village. However, it had none of the classic hillside slopes with the houses that Cinque Terre is known for. There was a bridge that separated the old town from the new town so we decided to explore both. In my opinion, there was nothing much in Monterosso except for the beach which we decided we didn't really have any interest in since we didn't want to get sandy without towels and a place to shower. We walked up and down the tiny cobbled streets and alleys to say we saw Monterooso but there was nothing much too it.
I really wanted to be on the water on either a boat or kayak. A kayak seemed rather difficult in the open ocean so we opted to take the boat to Vernazza. As we waited for the boat we dipped our toes in the cool water by the pier. The water was so clear we could see the fish below. We joked the small fish were the ones that eat your feet but we were too far to actually test the theory.
The boat to take us to Vernazza was packed with a tour group from whom we got the memo to sit on the left side for the best views. The boat was a mid-size and was so rocky. It rocked back and forth so much. Vernazza was only an 8 minute boat ride away and we were never really sure if we had docked or not. There was no announcement and by the time I realized that was our stop, the boat was back out in the ocean. It was so funny how we just were sitting there the whole time not realizing that was our stop! To our defense though they did not announce the stop nor did a single person from the upper deck move so we assumed the boat had not yet docked.
Due to our silly little mistake, we realized we probably wouldn't get to Vernazza today. The boat didn't stop at Corniglia since it was high up on a cliff so we took it to Manarola instead. I have decided that Manarola is my favorite village. I just love the houses and how picturesque the hillside is. The first thing we did was get gelato at a different place than yesterday. I even got different flavors this time too - lemon and stratiactella.
Gelato in hand, we took some more touristy photos from the viewpoints and wandered around until we decided it was time to go swimming. Manarola has one of the best swimming spots for casually hanging out as the water in the cove is so clear and such a pretty turquoise color. It was surrounded by rocks which people were cliff diving and jumping off of which looked very fun. I kicked my feet back and just floated listening to the sound of the waves just relaxing. The water was cool and so refreshing from the heat and sweat we had endured earlier in the day.
It was one exhausting day today and being able to rewind in the water was just what I needed. For dinner we tried to fried seafood cone. I kept seeing dishes with anchovies so I knew I had to try them eventually so now was my opportunity. The fried anchovies were kind of tasteless honestly and very tough to eat so I wasn't the biggest fan. I much preferred the calamari. Manarola was just as perfect as last night and I loved being able to come back to it to swim. I knew I still had two more villages to visit but I think the cliffs of Manarola had my heart.
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