Cinque Terre,
Italian Riviera,
Italy
Monday, June 9, 2008
Today we took the train out to Cinque Terre. Much of the Cinque Terre area became a national park in 1999 and there are lots of hiking trails, beaches, etc. We did the hike through the 5 towns (about 4-5 hours of hiking). This area is beautiful. The hike is one of the most scenic hikes I have ever been on. Much of the hike goes along the coastline (except you are high up in the mountains). It sure was a workout, but we did enjoy it!!! Unfortunately, a thunderstorm started while we were about halfway through the hike. We had raingear, but because we still had to finish hiking to the town (nowhere to hide for cover) we were pretty much soaked by the time we made it to the 3rd town. We killed some time there while the rain died down, and then finished the rest of our hike sloshing around in our wet shoes in the cloudy weather. Good thing about that is that there weren't as many people on the trails after the rain so we almost had the trail to ourselves.
Of course, around 5:30pm when we were waiting for our train ride home, the sun came back out and it was beautiful outside then. Oh well, at least it wasn't a hot hike!!
Loved the Cinque Terre, and wished we could have stayed a night or two there. Maybe next time!!!!
