For our one year wedding anniversary, my husband and I decided we wanted to travel to Northern Italy.  We had no idea what we were in for, as neither of us had been to Europe, but we were ready for a trip of a lifetime.  I took over 1700 pictures during our trip so I decided to do separate posts for each location we visited, otherwise it would have been the longest post to produce then read in one sitting!! So… I will be posting (hopefully) each Thursday (even though today is Friday) for a Travel segment on recent travels starting with our Italian getaway.  Here goes for the first installment!

The last area we visited on our Italian getaway was Cinque Terre, specifically the villages of Vernazza & Monterosso.  I think Cinque Terre was my favorite location to photograph (tied with Venice) because the colors are just unreal and these pictures do not do it justice.  For those who are unfamiliar with Cinque Terre, as I was prior to the trip, it is a portion of the Northern Italian coast lined with 5 colorful seaside towns built along the cliffs and stuck in the days of the past.

There are three ways into the towns, by boat, train or hiking in. We decided to take the train  and left from the station in La Spezia to make our way in to Vernazza. Once we arrived we followed our AirBnB’s guidance to find our apartment for the night.  After hiking up nearly 300 steps we reached our flat which held the most breath taking view and made the ridiculous hike worth it.Vernazza is a sleepy little seaside town filled with quaint souvenir shops, gelateria’s and trattoria’s who serve the most delicious, ‘straight from the sea’ dishes.  The town has a tiny beach area that is separated from the main strip by a small cave that then opens up to the water.  We piddled around on the beach for the afternoon and then grabbed dinner and walked around the town until we called it a night.On day two of the trip we decided to brave the Via dell’Amore over to Monterosso.  This trail is not for the faint of heart. Good grief!!  However, with all the eating and drink we’d been doing it was a welcome challenge.  I have no idea how many miles we did… maybe 3?…but it was 3 miles of ups and downs and hundreds, HUNDREDS of stairs.  Anyways, we finally made it to Monterosso and what a view. The town is 3x the size of Vernazza with two large beaches but just as many beautifully colored building stacked on top of each other.

We caught the train back to Vernazza so we could enjoy the rest of the day by the ocean before we had to head to Milan.  We jumped off the massive rocks and played don’t step on the sea urchin and just soaked in the Italian sunshine.

The photos throughout are just a handful taken while in CT.  If you’re ever in Italy, I highly recommend spending time in one of these stunning little towns for a few days to relax and enjoy the best pesto you’ve ever had.

Ciao!

Lane