Cinque Terre - Riomaggiore

Italia is the one country that I have a special bond with in my heart. It was my first backpacked European country and I also studied at University of Siena as an exchange student. The following summer after graduation, I took my parents back to Italy as their 25th wedding anniversary celebration. And now, my husband and I went back as our honeymoon. Staying in Tuscany, we decided to take a spontaneous day trip to Cinque Terre.

These lovely towns along the coastline is uniquely colourful and breathtakingly beautiful. As one rides the trains in transiting between the 5 villages, the scene of sparkly water with sunlight reflecting is something you can never forget. My husband literally dropped his jaw at this majestic scenery.

On my first visit to Cinque Terre, in wanting to capture it all, I had hiked the whole way between 5 villages. This time, I wanted to skip the national park, and got off on the third village, Corniglia. Turns out, all the short trails between the villages, including the "amore trails" were closed for safety! We went straight back to Riomaggiore in slight disappointment. 

The above photo was our lunch from a small shop called IL Pescato Cucinato. My Ryan, who loves trying new food, had already googled the "best place to eat in Riomaggiore." The fresh fried seafood including anchovies, calamari, shrimps, & mussels, is local delicacy one must try. It would have been even better if the weather was more summary to enjoy while sunbathing on the beach - still it was just perfect. 

It took 2.5 hours from Firenze and for €25 a ticket (refer to www.trenitalia.com for updated specifics!). From La Spezia Station, you are to take the regionale train to get to Cinque Terre which is along the coastline. The trains between the villages may/may not be ran frequently, so I recommend checking the next trains to avoid coming to the station and to having to wait an hour (which....we did). Or take a copy of the free train schedules before leaving the station in excitement! 

The journey between the villages only takes a few minutes:

• La Spezia – Riomaggiore 9 minutes
• Riomaggiore – Manarola 2 minutes
• Manarola – Corniglia 4 minutes
• Corniglia – Vernazza 5 minutes
• Vernazza – Monterosso 5 minutes
• Monterosso – Levanto 5 minutes

Cinque Terre is crazy beautiful and you can also try many other homemade Italian food (that are somewhat different from other fancy restorante's would offer...bit lumpy and definitely homemadey?). I shall return another day! For more travel posts from Natalie's Kira-Kira, please follow the link: http://www.natalieskirakira.blogspot.ca/search/label/travel 

Thanks for reading :-) happy travelling!