Cinque Terre

One year ago on September 23rd, David and his parents left France and flew to the U.S. for our wedding a few days later. 

This year on September 23rd, David and I drove to Italy for a long weekend to celebrate our first anniversary.

This will (likely...) be our only anniversary where we live road trip distance from Italy, so why not?

Being only an hour from the Italian border has been one of my favorite things about living in southern France. I've loved getting to explore more of this beautiful country with the best food in the world. Driving to Italy for us is like driving to Illinois from Milwaukee.

Cinque Terre is a destination that's been on my bucket list for a while. In Italian, Cinque Terre means "Five Lands." It's made up of 5 small villages, mostly each with a population of just around 1,000 people. The villages are so picturesque due to their location on cliffs overlooking the Ligurian Sea, and for their colorful buildings.

The famous thing to do in Cinque Terre is actually hiking, believe it or not. There is a famous trail that links all of the towns and can be hiked in about 6 hours. I had 0 desire to hike and most portions of the trail are currently closed for restoration anyways, so I was very happy to discover that Cinque Terre can still be thoroughly enjoyed by those to refuse to wear comfortable/ugly shoes.

We drove just 4 hours from Cannes to get to our Airbnb in La Spezia, a neighboring city that is much larger. It's not really possible to drive into Cinque Terre, so we decided to park in La Spezia and take the 5 minute train ride to the closest village: Riomaggiore.

I was able to find a walking tour online, and by following those directions we were able to do a circuit of the whole town. The weather was cloudy and foggy (yay fall!), and I thought that kind of added to the ambience. It was definitely a night and day difference from the nearly 100 degree weather in Naples just a month ago.

Church in Riomaggiore in fall

Riomaggiore

Flowers in Riomaggiore, Italy

Train station, Riomaggiore

Streets of Riomaggiore

View of Riomaggiore



View of Riomaggiore, Italy

View of Riomaggiore, Cinque Terre

Backpacking in Cinque Terre


The views kept getting better the longer we walked! 

We finished the night with pesto pizza (me), fried calamari (him), and gelato (both!).

The next day, we took a little break from Cinque Terre to visit another beautiful place in Italy: Tuscany. Click here to read about our Tuscan road trip!

On the last day of our long weekend, we made it to 2 more Cinque Terre towns. First on the agenda was Manarola. I was impressed immediately after stepping out of the train station.

Manarola, Cinque Terrre


There was a walkway along the water that led to a stunning view of the whole town. I didn't want to leave this spot ever.

Stunning view of Manarola, Cinque Terre

Colorful houses in Manarola, Cinque Terre

But there was more to see, so we continued along the trail. In the distance we could see the next Cinque Terre town, Corniglia. We skipped going there because it has less to see, but at least we caught a glimpse.


The water was a beautiful turquoise color. We walked down to the waterfront to see it up close.



Since we had no desire to leave Manarola, we found a restaurant for lunch even though it was a bit early. We sat outside and people watched the hordes of tourists and a handful of locals. Even though I'm sure they make tons of money from said tourists, I almost felt bad for the locals that their small towns are constantly overwhelmed.

Our last destination before heading back to France was Vernazza. 

In Vernazza, we were greeted once again by colorful buildings surrounded by mountains on one side and the sea on the other. We enjoyed popping in a small church, browsing the shops, and getting one last gelato.


Vernazza, Cinque Terre


Photobomber.


When we saw everything there was to see, we picked up the car in La Spezia and headed back to France. Even though it was a great weekend, we were both a little sad to head home to real life. We expected to be back in America by now and since that process is dragging on... it was a breath of fresh air to forget about immigration frustration and just really enjoy being in Europe together.

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