Vernazza & Corniglia

Today was our final day in Cinque Terre! Time really flies by! We had the two final towns of Corniglia and Vernazza to visit today. 

We checked out of the B & B and took the bus to the station where we found a locker to place our luggage for the day. 

Our first stop of the day was Corniglia! I had low expectations for Corniglia just since there was not a lot of information about the town on the internet. Everyone spoke highly of the other towns and there was just no information about Corniglia. The only things I knew was that the ferry did not stop there since it was perched on a hill and that you had to take a bus to the city. 

You didn't have to take a bus to the city since the towns are connected by the Blue Trail. Therefore, we just hiked up some steep switchbacks but compared to yesterday, it was nothing and actually easier than it looked. From the top of the hill, you then walk down to the village below. Corniglia is the smallest of the five villages and it is relatively inaccessible since it sits so high on the cliffs, there were less tourists.

The town was charming. I will give it that. The main street was filled with cute little shops selling souvenirs and gelato. Off to the side there was a marina walk which we took. The views from the walk of the coast were so beautiful. The lighting and colors were just so pretty. The stairs went all the way down to a harbor where some boats were docked and a few people were swimming. The waves were rather rough and came crashing against the rocks making it less safe than the other swimming spots we had seen previously. 

From the marina we walked back up to the main road in the village to see if we could get a view of the houses. Sadly, since the village is perched so high up you can't actually see the houses because you are walking among them. I am sure if we did the hikes on either side we would have gotten a better view. The main road leads to a restaurant at the end of a cliff overlooking the ocean but you still couldn't see the houses. We decided after that we had seen the whole village and took a new route to get back to the station. Corniglia offered pretty views of the ocean but there wasn't much to do or see. It wasn't the classic Cinque Terre view we were after. 

Next, we headed to the town of Vernazza! Vernazza is the town that inspired the Disney movie Luca and they even have a restaurant called Luca. The town was very crowded but also was easy to get around as it wasn't that big. The train station was at the top of a hill and you just had to walk down from there. At the pier, there is a sandy beach which many people were swimming in. Like the first two villages, Vernazza had many of the pastel colored houses on a hill sloping down to the water. There were many alleyways to explore that led to various lookout points. 

When we just arrived we sat at the edge of the greenish water just admiring the view as we decided which lookout points we wanted to climb to. But first, we decided to eat lunch. All of the restaurants except for one had horrible reviews. We decided to save the one with good reviews for dinner since it was also a takeaway place. Holly had heard of restaurant Luca which was right on the water so we decided to give it a try. Let's just say I gave it a 2 star review since the pasta was awful. It was mainly bad since it wasn't homemade and I really didn't come to Italy to eat pasta that has just been boiled from the box. There wasn't much to the sauce either. 

Following lunch, we climbed to the ruins of Doria Tower. The tower was situated at one of the highest points of the village and had some pretty spectacular views. You could see all of the village down below framed by the vineyards on the hillside. There was an additional tower with a very windy staircase to get to the tippy top!

The next viewpoint we walked to was actually the start of the trekking trail. We had purchased a trekking card but hadn't actually used it since it was not necessary for the trail we did. So we put it to use. They were stricter than I thought and checked that we were actually wearing shoes and checked our tickets as well. I guess they want tourists to know it's not a walk in the park. 

The hiking viewpoint was very pleasant. It was opposite the tower so we got to admire the other side of the town. Vernazza was indeed pretty cute! We walked up and down the shops browsing the little shops and stopping to just relax and enjoy the moment. Before leaving, I decided I had to eat something after my unsatisfactory lunch.

The pasta from Pippo de Vernazza slapped so hard. It was so incredibly delicious and both the pasta and pesto were so fresh. Homemade pasta just hits so much different. Holly told me she couldn't tell the difference but I 100% can. Fresh pasta is just so much more tasty and tender. There is no comparison. I ate the whole container of pasta so fast it was so good despite not even being that hungry. Twas my last meal in Italy and I truly went out with a bang! I was a little sad that I didn't have any tiramisu while I was here though. 

Overall, I loved Cinque Terre! My favorite village was Manarola and I am glad we ended up there twice as it was the most picture perfect village. Manarola was the postcard from Cinque Terre. My second favorite village was Riomaggiore as it was also very picturesque. I mean you come to Cinque for the view of the houses. After that it is Vernazza, Corniglia, and then Monterosso. Monterosso ranks last as it was just a beach that had an admission fee. If we were planning to just spend the day at the beach it would have been more of our vibe. If I were to do Cinque Terre again I would definitely do all of the hikes between the villages because I definitely think there are some views I missed out on.