Picture of the Day, Cinque Terre

Cinque Terre, Italy -- September, 2011

Cinque Terre is five little coastal towns connected by trails (and also by a train, and I think a road also, but the point is, you go to walk the trails between the towns). While we were there, the trail normally used between two of the towns - Corniglia and Manarola - was closed, so you could either take the train between the two, or take the longer, higher, less-traveled trail. We debated a bit, but since we had made such good time on the previous legs of the journey, we decided to try the long trail, and it was probably our favorite section. The previous portions had been a little bit crowded, but this one was practically deserted (there was a Venezuelan family that we met several times during the day, and they also did this section - the kids were absolute troopers!) . And once we got past the long ascent up into the hills, it was relatively easy going. And the views were beautiful!