Cinque Terre - Vernazza

After all that hiking yesterday I slept so well last night - not even the train which runs up and down the coast between the villages woke me up and it goes past our little hotel. We awoke to sunshine, and after a lovely breakfast we set off to walk from Monterosso to Vernazza. 

The distance by train between these villages is about 4 minutes, but to walk them takes about 1,5 to 2 hours as it is straight up the one side of the mountain and down the other. The paths are very steep with steps all the way, and quite narrow at times. My calves were feeling very sore as I am not used to climbing so many steps, but today's hike was a little easier than yesterday's as there were a few sections where the path levelled out. Beautiful coastal views fragmented by the perfume from the wild flowers, it was quite delightful and worth pushing the sore legs even more! It was sunny and quite hot, and I regretted wearing long sleeves to protect me from the sun.

Vernazza is another charming little town. I have decided that Italy is my favourite country - give me Rome over Paris, Tuscany over Provence, and the Italian Riviera over the Cote d'Azur. The people are so friendly and welcoming, the food is excellent and the weather is good. The train service is surprisingly good with better trains than our SW service in England.

We had a salad for lunch and then were undecided whether to walk to the next town or not, but a storm came up and we had a rainstorm. We caught the train back to Monterosso and relaxed at the hotel for a short while before going out for a drink on the beach - by now it was sunny again, and life does not get much better than drinking a refreshing mojito on the beach in the sunshine in Italy!

This is a view of Vernazza, I have also added a mono version, and a view of the town from the top of the castle - you can see the rain clouds rolling in. Plus another charming street scene.

Tomorrow more hiking, the poor legs are taking quite a punishing!