Maria and Rebecca's Europe Trip March 2017: Cinque Terre

Cinque Terre was a magnificent day and hike! Here is a link to the walkabout tour that we took yesterday: http://www.walkaboutflorence.com/tours/cinque-terre-trek
The hiking wasn't as bad as they describe in terms of strenuous. There were handrails and I never felt in danger. There was a lot of up and down! Our guide was Martina and she was absolutely wonderful and knowledgeable. She used to be a journalist and decided that it wasn't for her; she is native Florence, Italy. She, and so many others, speak flawless English. Multilingualism is the norm here...

We started off from La Spezia and walked a switchback up, up, and up to get to first stop, Corgnelia.
We ate lunch in Corgnelia at a great terraced restaurant overlooking the Mediterranean. The restaurant's proprietor is 91, Mom! We were serviced a first course of octopus, clams, squid...I tried it and loved it. The second course was pesto pasta. Both delicious, and bread, every day every meal delicious bread. My clothes still fit, we are walking miles every day, especially today! LOL

THEN the big hike between Corgnelia and Vernazza. It was a bit strenuous but the views were stunning!
We took a train between Monteroso and Rio Maggiore. We started our day at 7:30. Got back to Florence at 8:00, GOT LOST for awhile then found out "Old Bridge".
We ate dinner at a restaurant on our same street as our hotel, utterly exhausted. The restaurant was lovely and delicious. Many of the restaurants are very small, seating only maybe 15 to 20 tables. This restaurant was called "il Borghetto" I had a relatively light dinner, minestrone and lemon chicken with salad. They dress all of their salads, you do not order salad dressing. They are usually some version of olive oil and then whatever they add to it. As you can imagine the olive oil is delicious all by itself. Between the gourmet food and the wine, I have been utterly spoiled! The prices in Florence are reasonable, probably because the competition is fierce. A couple of restaurants each block at least. We turned into our hotel, a few doors down, at 10:00 or so. A very full, fabulous, day! Hiking heaven!!!

An example of the trail. LOL! We earned all that pasta and bread!