Cinque Terre (Five Lands)

Cinque Terre consists of five fishing villages that cling on to the steep cliffs, seemingly unreachable. It's hard to believe how farmers and fishermen chose to live and work here centuries ago. And then as I start hiking through the trail that connects all the towns, I take in the beautiful surroundings, breathe in the warm, moist air and understand why. The first and smallest Cinque Terre town from the south is Riomaggiore. All the houses were painted in bright pastel colors, a trademark of all five towns.I bought the Cinque Terre Pass that included the entrance fee to the hiking trail (since it is a National Park) and also unlimited train rides between the towns. At first I was wondering where the train tracks and stations could be. The cliffs were so steep! And there it was, down close to the water at 'town level', connecting the towns through tunnels cut into the cliffs. The trails pass through terraced hillsides of olive groves and vineyards. I saw an old couple harvesting olives from their trees. Here is the town of Manarola.Below is a view of Manarola on the way to the next town, Corniglia.
A view of Corniglia on the hike over to Vernazza. You can barely see Manarola in the distance.The hike from Corniglia to Vernazza got me hot and sweaty. My jeans were not a good choice, but at least I had on good shoes. There were ladies on the trail that were wearing heels! The climate here is quite moderate, despite it being in the north of Italy and almost November. I noticed that the vegetation was really lush. I even saw a hibiscus plant growing in someone's yard. And finally Vernazza comes into view...And my reward, a delicious gelato, enjoyed while looking at the colorful buildings and boats on Vernazza's waterfront.

The last town was Monteresso, which I did not visit. It was getting late and it looked nice enough from a distance.