Day 10 - Only one day in the Cinque Terra? I'll have to come back someday!

Well we didn't get much sleep last night, but what a treat we had in store for us today.

We were very ready for the sun to come up and put the night in the car behind us. As the sun was peeking over the hills we were slipping past the still sleeping town of Levanto and sliding into Monterosso. Luckily, this beautiful, small fishing village on the Gulf of Genova wakes up earlier than many other parts of Italy. Though the shopkeepers were a little surprised to see 3 bleary-eyed, rumpled American tourists waiting for them to open their market. That state of mind was quickly wiped away friendly faces and a couple stiff cups of cappucino.

We made the wonderous 2 hour hike along The Blue Trail to Vernazza, passing along the terraced cliffs with grape vines, lemon trees and various other agriculture. This was a refreshing, beautiful and charming hike (and a little strenuous). The town of Vernazza turned up the charm another notch, if that is possible. It is a small quaint and quiet town perched on the side of a rocky cliff forming a natural anchorage. We felt like we were walking into a fairy tale.  There is no road access to Vernazza, so you must hike. Well, OK, you can take the train or ferry. But, really, you should do the hike if at all  possible. We strolled around town for a while visiting a few shops and getting a snack to eat. We were approached by another American traveler (was our nationality so obvious?) and enjoyed exchanging our vacation experiences with her.

Because of time constraints, we were only able to visit two of the five Cinque Terra towns. I would really like to return someday and hike to each town, spending several days in each. This would be a relaxing vacation full of the charm of rural Italy.

We purchased tickets and waited a few minutes for the ferry to take us back to Monterosso. Here we purchased and ate our last Italian style lunch on beach and even went for a very brief swim. The water is not too warm in the month of April.

Then we had to press on, back to Milan. We did have a chance to make a quick visit to the main Duomo before locating a quaint hotel in Gallatare, near the airport, where we spent our last evening in Italy. Tomorrow we return the car and fly back home.