The 5 towns- Cinque Terre

When we set off on the train to Cinque Terre, we were greeted with a freak snowstorm at La Spezia and they were even cancelling trains! So much for hiking between the 5 beautiful coastal towns. But we didn’t let the bad weather dampen our spirits as we checked into our cute little apartment over looking the ocean and marina. We really felt like we were living like the locals. Being a Sunday, pretty much everything was closed, so we had wine and dinner at one of the few restaurants that was open.

The view from our apartment 

Beautiful little cove near Riomaggiore 

The next morning we woke up and the sun was shining! We headed to the information centre and were told the famous coastal track was closed because of landslides and recent rain and it was ‘not a good day for hiking’. 
But lady, this is what we came to Cinque Terre for! What are we meant to do now? 
Leah was very disappointed as we hopped on the train to the next village, Manarola. The guy at the information centre there seemed a little more optimistic, informing us that the red tracks that went towards the mountains were still open, so we set off on our adventure to hike to the next village, Corniglia.

We looked like him at the end of our hike..

snowy vinyards

About 30cm thick snow, so much fun

So high up with nothing but flimsy grape vine stakes in the ground 

Leah looking for deer for daddy. ( your looking the wrong way)

We found ourselves trudging through the snow-capped vineyards on the side of the mountain with the most beautiful panoramic views of the ocean, cliffs and mountains. At times, we were walking on 1m thin tracks with nothing but rocks to break our fall below and the only indication we were still on the track was the red a white paint on the rocks every so often.

We felt safe as long as we could still see these markings.

As we set off up the mountain and we began to walk through snow we were following two sets of footprints, which gave us a sense of security. We questioned ourselves when the footprints left the red and white track and headed up to a near by road. Nevertheless we continued on the track. We later saw the suspected owners of the footprints, two ladies, hitching a ride back down the mountain. What wusses! Leah was trusted with the map *insert rolling of eyes here* and often doubted if we were still on track.

Leah with a map. Its so cute

Arvi lead the way on thin paths and over trees that had fallen with the weight of snow. Sliding down a hill through knee-deep snow was a good test for our nerdy waterproof hiking boots, which kept our feet nice and dry. Take that fancy fashionable travellers in your high heel boots and converse sneakers!

We were greeted at Corniglia with 700+ steps down to the train station. Shaky McShakesten legs! Once back in Riomaggiore we cooked ourselves a delicious bowl of locally made pasta and pesto, yum yum.

Monterosso panoramic 

The next day we had much nicer weather. We travelled by train to Monterosso, the last of the 5 villages. We decided to do another hike there, up another mountain of course! But this hike was a lot less treacherous than the previous day and we didn’t get any snow. We got to the top of the mountain and decided to continue on to the next town along from Cinque Terre, Levanto. Here we bought some bread, cheese and ham and had a feast on the promenade before catching the train back to Riomaggiore.

We just kept on walking and walking

And got higher and higher

With a lot of stairs

We made it around the top

And were greeted by another amazing view

We both really loved Cinque Terre and while it would be great to come back in warmer weather to swim in the crystal blue water, we were also thankful we avoided all the summer tourists and got to see what Cinque Terre is really like.