cinque terre

Okay, I have Phil to thank for this, because I had never even heard of it until he mentioned it to me on the internet. It was absolutely gorgeous, with stunning views. Cinque Terre is a cluster of small villages on the edge of some mountains, and they are linked together through a hiker's trail. We started in Monterosso, on the far end of the cluster, and began with the toughest hike which took around 2 hours. Extremely hilly and very, very hot. We arrived in the second town, Vernazza, and ate at a lovely little lively lunchspot. We then realized we probably weren't cut out for the WHOLE hiking trek, as the first round had basically slaughtered us, so we cheated and took the train to the next stop (to our credit, it was all uphill and it was to the highest point of the whole journey). Corniglia. We then walked the rest of the trail, from Corniglia to Manarola and finally ending in Riomaggiore (the end walk being the nicest). This was an amazing place to see. I recommend it for anyone who is coming to Italy in the future... this is not to be missed.