Cinque Terre

Thursday morning we woke up in Genoa. We disembarked with the girls and headed for the train station. We jumped on a train to the Cinque Terre ("CT"). CT is a series of five villages right on the rocky coast of the Mediterranean. They're gorgeous. Our train rides went pretty smoothly with only minor confusion. We got to the first village we'd visit, Manarola, and it did not disappoint. It was simply gorgeous. We watched folks jump off of rocks into the gorgeous water with envy. We explored and visited little shops before settling in for our first real Italian meal. It was SO, SO GOOD. We all got some form of pasta, obviously. The biggest difference is the way the pasta is cooked (less than we do) and it is served saltier. It is amazing. Also, you pay for water at the table. There is no free refill on anything and nothing is given for free. If you want bread for the table, you pay for it. It takes getting used to each time we travel outside of the United States.

The morning view

On the train

Hello from Cinque Terre!

The village

A lot of Petefish

The girls

Swimming lagoons

My favorite exploring buddy

Perfection.

Petefish.

Get more adorable, CT.

Jackson loved this sailboat.

Authentic Italian meals

SO GOOD!

We finished lunch and grabbed a ferry to go down two towns to Vernazza. The ferry ride was gorgeous. The rocky hillside villages are just so incredibly colorful and unique. There is a hiking path that connects all 5 villages in the CT, but we opted to just do one part (the hardest part) from Vernazza to Monterosso. The hike was one of the more scenic adventures we've ever done. It was quite strenuous. Susie pulled up the rear and Gracie lead the whole way. I tried to keep up with her but she's about half my age so it didn't work as well as I'd hoped. A genius farmer had a lemonade stand on a particularly tough part of the climb and I just threw 10 euros at him to keep the fresh-squeezed lemonades coming for Gracie, Jack and me. I still love that man.

Waiting on the ferry

Looking back at town 

Narrow streets

The beginning of the hike

Views back down to where we started

Italy isn't ugly.

Whew! This is no easy hike.

Susie was exhausted!

Onward!

Keeping up with Grace was no easy task!

Almost done?!

Wow.

GENIUS! A lemonade stand!! YES!!!

Vineyards up the mountains

We eventually finished the hike and made it to the beach. Jackson put his feet in the Med Sea finally and I peed in their pay restroom without paying because the attendant was on her phone and distracted. Ha! I'd been looking forward to peeing for hours!!! The girls got gelato and we finished the hike to the train station to get back to the ship.

Feet in the Med.

We were rebels and took an earlier train than we paid for just to get to the station and see our connection was delayed. Oh well. We eventually made that train and got back to the boat with ample time to spare. Whew! I was the most nervous about this day because we were acting as tour guides, something we'd not done before. It turned out just fine, though. 

 

Dinner with a view

Leaving town

We ended up just dining in the buffet area that night because getting fancied up was not happening after that day of adventure. We were pleasantly surprised that our stateroom was next to the onboard laundry so I left dinner and got our now gross clothes in the wash. The onboard laundry was yet another thing we could use our credits for and it was something our last cruise did not have. If we had known about laundry we could have packed considerably less. Such is life! We had a pretty chill evening watching a movie and doing laundry before letting the rocking of the ocean lull us to sleep after a big day. Cinque Terre should certainly be on everyone's list! It was just gorgeous.