J As we got off the train at RioMaggiore we turned around to find outselves staring at the Mediterranean ocean to our right, and green hills to our left. It was a beautiful day and we didn't waste it, we dumped our packs at the hotel and went hiking! Cinque Terre or Five Terraces is a beautiful area right beside the ocean, the little towns are now part of a national park (since 1999) and are connected by vineyards. We walked on the nicely paved path from Riomaggiore to Manarola, from there had to take a small green bus to the top of the hill as the path from Manarola to Corniglia was washed out just the day earlier (while we were being washed out in Siena). So we were off hiking the vineyards between the two small towns.
As the area is a national park it was fairly well maintained although we often had to carefully lower ourselves down embankments or watch our footing, but because of the way the hill had been flattened for maximum vineyard area it was never more then a 3 meter fall that we had to worry about. Several times we thought we had walked off the trail as the vegitation started to set in, but then moments later we would see the red and white symbol of the park on the side of a tree or rock letting us know we were still on our way. Although we had been sightseeing and walking a lot in recent months, we throughly enjoyed an actual hike!
We finally arrived in Corniglia and after exploring the town we waited at the nearby train station and watched the sun go down on the ocean. We took a train at that point to Monterosso, and walked along the beautiful beach, which for some reason was empty! Silly italians think 10°C in winter is cold I guess. We had dinner at a little tavern back in Riomaggiore where we treated ourselves to a bottle of wine and fresh seafood! The small cove with rowboats pulled up on shore, an old man fishing, and the town of Riomaggiore hugging the cliff walls around it was picturesque.
The next day we explored the town of Vernazza and Monterosso, enjoyed a latte macchiato and a tea while looking out over the ocean from the balcony. Then we jumped on a train and headed for Rome! So our time in Cinque Terre was short, sadly, but it was refreshing to see nature and enjoy the sunlight in such surroundings, we promised ourselves we would return again, maybe during spring or fall to enjoy slightly warmer weather and more time to leisurely hike the other trails surrounding the 5 perfect little Italian towns by the sea.
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