The last 2 stops on our Cinque Terre tour were Manarola and Riomaggiore.
Manarola was the only village in the Cinque Terre that we did not spend a night in. We took a train from Corniglia to Manarola and had breakfast down by the marina, then walked around the side of the cliff to get some amazing pictures of the village. The reason why we didn’t hike to these two villages was because the Sentiero Azzurro was actually closed for those 2 legs, and we would have hiked an extra 2 hours per village through the vineyards to get there. We decided that, with our heavy packs, it was just going to be too much and we wouldn’t get to spend much time in the towns themselves if we hiked. Plus, we were freakin’ exhausted from the first 2 hikes! One of the best parts about Manarola was the shopping. There were a bunch of really cute and inexpensive clothing stores. If you’re into that kind of thing, I definitely recommend doing your shopping in Manarola out of all the villages of the Cinque Terre.
Riommaggiore was one of our favorite towns! However, it was the town where we had the…incident. Basically the day started out with us arriving in Riomaggiore from Manarola and getting some drinks at a little bar right outside our AirBnB. After we were able to check in, we headed straight down to the beach, where Amy dived in and IMMEDIATELY got stung by a jellyfish! After that, none of us were brave enough to get in the water, especially as we could see the other naive swimmers getting in, getting stung, and getting right back out. But, we definitely got some good lounging and sunbathing in!
That night we had even more wine and played cards on our stoop while listening to some live music from the bar next door. Colleen went to bed after the bottle was finished, but Amy and I decided to be spontaneous and go skinny dipping down at the harbor…well, that was a big mistake! Amy fell on her booty while trying to get in to the water (in front of a couple of Spanish girls who were also there swimming), and I cut my foot on a piece of metal sticking out from the pier.
I promise though, Riomaggiore was one of our favorite villages! It had some really fun bars and we met a bunch of other Americans who were traveling around Italy! We stayed in an AirBnB that was in the perfect central location.
So all in all, the Cinque Terre was absolutely beautiful and truly a once in a lifetime experience! I am so grateful that I got to see it with my two best friends! But now we’re off to La Spezia and then on to Florence! Talk to you guys on Monday!
xo,
B
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