Europe 2012 Day 12, Italy - The Cinque Terre (part 2)

We got up this morning, had our cappuccino and headed to the harbor.  We were thrilled to find the ferry was  running and bought a ticket to Monterosso.

We weren't exactly sure where the ferry boarded. And as with all things Italian, the directions didn't quite give us the best idea of where to wait.  So of course we were in the wrong location.   But we scoped out the situation and were able to make the ferry no problem.

The views of the five towns were, as we expected, amazing from the sea.
 
Rio Maggiore and Manarola from Ferry (Rio Maggiore is on the right):

Corniglia from the Ferry.  Note the location of the train station at the bottom right.

 Vernazza from Ferry:

Monterosso from Ferry:

The ferry dropped us off in Monterossa.  From what we had read, there wasn't much to see there- as it was mostly (these days) a tourist town.  So we immediately hit the trail. 

This is the trail marking.  I often touched it as we went by.  I'm not sure why.  Perhaps in hope of returning again and again to this trail.

First look back on Monterossa:

Close up of the beautiful blue of the water:

Hiking higher up...pass through vineyards:

Last look at Monterossa:

Looking ahead to Vernazza (see it peaking out on bottom?)

Over looking Vernazza:

Getting closer:

We went into town.  Vernazza was a very beautiful place.  We ate our snacks (peach and plum that we bought in town) along the path by the beach.  Then we hiked onward toward Cornilla.

Looking back at Vernazza:

Back on the trail from Vernazza to Corniglia:

View of Corniglia and Manarola (in the distance) from the trail:

Looking back toward Monterossa:

Overlooking Corniglia:

We hiked into town and stopped to take a rest at the courtyard near the church just as we entered town:

Because the trail was closed between Corniglia and Manarola, we decided to take the train.  Remember the picture of Corniglia with the train station at the bottom.  Well, we had 12 minutes to get to the bottom, buy our ticket and catch the train.  Trains usually run late in the Cinque Terre.  But today, the train ran on time and we ran into the station just as the train pulled away!  We had to wait for the next train.  So, we walked down to the beach, found some shade and just chilled. 

We took the train to Manarola, and grabbed a late lunch/early dinner there. The food was fabulous.  Then we walked back to Rio Maggiore.  

We had a fabulous "last night" in Rio Maggiore.  I'll write about that later.....