Monterosso al Mare

Sunday
The best way to experience the Cinque Terre and travel between the villages is hiking the coastal path, so today we hiked from Vernazza to the larger village of Monterosso al Mare. The first section was quite a stiff climb, and it was already really hot by mid morning. However the views made the effort worthwhile - I’ve put a couple of views in extras - the first one looking back along the cliff to Vernazza, and the second looking ahead to Monterosso. By the time we were approaching Monterosso, the sight of people swimming in the turquoise waters was sooo appealing! We had lunch and a long cold drink in a waterside cafe, in the shade of big yellow umbrellas, and enjoying a little bit of breeze, then found a little square of “beach” to lay our towels and jumped in the water! Most of the beach area is taken up by sun umbrellas to rent, which we didn’t want to spend money on, so we were at one edge, where it was stony, and the rocks were burning hot in the sun! Monterosso is unusual amongst the Cinque Terre villages in having a wider expanse of beach - the other villages cling to the cliffs, and access to the sea is often from rocks, or down a metal ladder from the rocks. After a cooling swim, and a little time to rest and dry off, we went off to explore more of the town, enjoying a delicious gelato along the way! We returned to Vernazza by train, which follows the coast, largely in tunnels through the cliffs.