Cinque Terre Again

Our next day in Cinque Terre we took a train to the farthest north town Monorosso. It has a larger more sandy beach and we grabbed some lunch and hung out on the beach. People watching in places like this is really interesting. Sometimes you see older women walking around or sitting on benches gossiping loudly in Italian. Other times you see older men yelling at each other in Italian, and then there are the gypsies trying to give you a foot message and the tourists with their children swimming in the sea. We dipped out feet in the sand, and the water and took a nap before getting a coffee and starting our longest hike to the last city on our list Vernazza. We knew this hike would be about an hour long so we were prepared for it. Along the way there is this very well kept path that leads off into the valley hills, and along vineyards and lemon tree farms. You are literally walking on a cliff the path had no hand rails and was at alot of spots only about a foot wide. If someone was coming the other direction one party would have to stop and let the other by because there was no way two people were going to squeeze without someone falling off. There were dozens upon dozens of steps, steep steps leading farther into the valley hillside, when you turned around and looked back you got this unreal picture esque view of Monterosso nesseled into the valley well hidden from the 15th centrury pirates that would often come and pillage these towns, and the beach and sea with all the little dots representing people enjoying their afternoon. We finally made it to Vernazza and I would rather not repeat myself with a description of the town for it was similar if not identical to the other four but it has a hook of a harbor wich we sat an enjoyed a gelato on before taking the train back to Riomaggoire and then off to Roma.