Walking the Cinque Terre-Riomaggiore to Manarola

One of the highlights of the Cinque Terre was walking from Riomaggiore to Vernazza. We caught a boat from Monterossa to Riomaggiore. The boat ride lasted about 40 minutes and only coast about 8E each. Cheap entertainment that came with a seat and a nice view.

All five towns are connected by a walking/hiking trail. We walked four of the five towns on the trail, and resided in the fifth town. The center three towns are, in tourist theory, cut off from civilization unless you walk, catch a boat, or catch a train. Isolation is the key word.

Early in the morning (11AM) at Riomaggiore. Steve was feeling a little too optimistic with a belly full of cappuccino and pastries. "God willing and the Creek don't rise, we'll bang this out in no time!"

The first portion of the walk, Riomaggorie to Manarola was a cake walk. Nice wide open paths. Crisp, fresh air. It's called the "La Via dell'Amore", or "Path of Love". It was divine and very easy to understand why it's a National Park. We walked on a path high above the ocean.

This is the chair of locks. Don't carve your initials on a tree, lock in your love by leaving a lock behind. It's good luck!

We forgot about taking a lock, so we had nothing to lock in our love except a kiss!

Manarola was only about a 30 minute walk from Riomaggorie. We stayed true to the cause and continued our walk and didn't spend a whole lot of time exploring this town. Manorola was kind of a point of no return. The next town had no transport in or out other than our feet, so we needed to keep moving so that we could finish the day with enough time to catch the last boat out of Vernazza.

(Even on vacation, there are still schedules that must be kept.)

We have some night shots (postcards) of Vernazza that are just amazing!