Cinque Terre

Day 3: Cinque Terre

Technically we arrived in Cinque Terre on day 2 but we arrived rather late so there wasn't much to do or to be seen at that time of night. I soon realized at this location that there REALLY is a reason they call it "off season"...there was no one there and few restaurants and bars open. But it didn't make it any less beautiful and fun to walk around.

A sign (literally and figuratively) from Jesus... we arrived to our village after dark where there were no restaurants or business' open and had no map of where our hotel was (my fault, oops!) This sign says the name of the street (which happened to the street with our hotel)

A text I received from my dad while on my trip, ha! 

Our first views the next morning walking to the train station

This was the only hiking trail open this time of year. Bummer, but it was still fun!

We sat on this bridge and had a snack, bruschetta, my favorite thing to eat on this trip.

I can only imagine how beautiful this place is on a sunny day if its this beautiful
on a crappy weather day.

This is on the middle village, the only village not on the water. You had to walk up a very windy,
steep hill or up a load of stairs to get to the town. We walked past dozens of lemon trees and olive trees. 

This is the furthest north village, also the most touristic and the most deserted, in my opinion. 

An elderly man in the last town we visited who only spoke Italian but really
wanted us to take our pictures with him. He was too cute. 

For those who don't know, Cinque Terre is a cluster of 5 fishing islands on the coast of Italy about 1 hour from Pisa or 2 hours from Florence. It has become a major tourist destination in the summer and I had the views are breathtaking so of coarse I wanted to stop here on our tour of Italy. What I hadnt planned for was a deserted island. Since its mostly a touristic destination these days and most people aren't going to go to the beach duirng the winter, most businesses, restaurants and bars were closed. During the day they were open but we arrived on a Sunday night which didn't help our cause. We had a great time exploring the villages and taking pictures before it start raining and got too cold. I definitely recommend this place if you ever are in Italy and want a low-key experience. Although I am not so sure it will be as low-key if you go during the summer, but the views are worth it. We visited all but 1 island and that is because I accidentally had us get on the wrong train which took us to the completely wrong train station and the sun set way too early. This was how I spent my Valentines! Not too shabby!

Early the next morning we were to head off to start Day 4: Pisa!

Ciao