During one of our days at the villa, we made a day-trip to Cinque Terre. Cinque Terre is a portion of the northwest Italian coast, and it’s made up of five different villages. Cars must be parked on the outside of the towns, and from there you can travel from village to village by train or hiking trails! The lack of cars driving around made it all even more charming! It really felt like stepping back in time there.
We got to visit two of the five towns — Manarola and Vernazza — We simply did not have time to see them all, but I’ve heard that some people stay there for days and hike from village to village! I’d like to think that would be fun, but honestly… I’ve never seen cliff-sides so steep! That would make for some very intense hiking, and I don’t know if I’d be up for it!
We had a driver take us from our villa in Tuscany to Cinque Terre early one morning. I honestly wish I had gotten photos of the views during our drive up. But with the way that Italians drive, we were speeding up steep mountains on very winding roads… And we were all just focused on making it there alive and not getting carsick! LOL but I seriously enjoyed the drive despite the crazy driving. (The Italians drive this way at ALL times, by the way! It’s nuts!)
Manarola
I don’t have much to say other than the fact that this is one of my favorite places I’ve ever visited because I loved how colorful all the old buildings were. No two were painted the same color! A rainbow of buildings sitting on top of a cliff surrounded by vineyards and the sea… It doesn’t get much more magical than that! SO amazing to see in person!
I have this next photo printed REALLY BIG and framed in my living room because it’s one of my favorite views I’ve ever seen in all my travels!
Vernazza
We got confused with the train situation and ended up a little bit lost on what should have been a short train ride from Manarola to Vernazza (Who knew the foreign language thing could really cause some problems? LOL) So we didn’t get to spend as much time in Vernazza as we hoped! But it was just as charming and colorful as the first village. The sun ended up coming out, and we got to see just how beautiful and BLUE the water can be! I wish we could have spent another day here to visit the other three towns, because I’m sure they would be just as fun! We absolutely loved our day spent in Cinque Terre!
