Cinque Terre

Waking up bright and early we arrived at our hotel in Cinque Terre early in the morning. We had an hour or two before we headed out to Monterosso so we wandered the tiny town of Levanto for a while. It was very cute but not at all what I was expecting. A sleepy sea side town with only a few restaurants and cute little stores catering to tourists.

A little after noon we headed to Monterosso where we explored for a bit, got lunch and climbed on top of a giant rock until it was time to leave for the next town. The owners of where we got lunch were so nice! We asked “senza glutine?” and they said “If the store has it then yes” and ran to the store to see if they could buy us gluten free pasta. It ended up being delicious food J

The rock we climbed! We got a great view but Taylor had just seen someone fall off it and get hurt so it was a little nerve racking at the top.  

This store owner was so friendly and kept telling us that we could taste anything! And that we would be dancing by the time we left. We didn't end up dancing out but my roommates bought some stuff and we had lots of samples which were very good. 

After a few hours they herded us back on to the train and took us to Manarola where we were left to our own devices. I spotted this small store that had “senza glutine” on its sign and we wandered in. Turns out they had an entire section of GF food and treats freshly made! We got several and enjoyed them while we walked down to the beach then on the way back we got more! We enjoyed the beach for a while before catching the second to last train to Levanto. The town is so small that the only thing there really was to do was to go out to eat, which we did.

We were only a tad excited.... 

We hung out on the rocks for most of the time and stuck our feet in the ocean! 

Then next day the trains were on strike and it rained. We decided to go on a hike since that is basically all we could do being stuck in such a small town. The hike was beautiful though and I adored being able to hike again! I ended up hiking for much longer time than my roommates while they turned back to get food. There were a lot of nice people on the trial and even though I was a little disconcerted by just how many people were hiking the same trail (I’m used to the UP where if you see more than two other people your entire hike it’s a busy day) I enjoyed it a lot.

Levanto is in the background

I came across this vicious dog on my hike. Honestly the cat looked scarier and glared at me for much longer. 

It wasn’t a long trip or very high stress but it was a good break.