Thankfully, we took a MUCH easier hike today. But we were no less sweaty.
This is us simply waiting at the train station for the train to Riomaggiore. We barely got out of the hotel and he already looked like this!
Well, you can tell by Todd's phone that we didn't exactly get up super early on this day (yesterday was exhausting!) So we hopped on the train and rode it all the way down to Riomaggiore. We were staying in Monterosso which is the most northern/western of the five towns, and Riomaggiore is the most southern/eastern of the towns.
Riomaggiore is a little more hopping - about 1,300 people live here and of course, there's always many more during the summer.
Oh THAT'S the reason they grow bamboo up in the hills! To support the tomatoes!
Follow me, let's go find a church or a castle!
The views in Riomaggiore are just as stunning as everywhere else in the Cinque Terre!
There's even cactuses (cacti?) here on the cliffs! Side note... did you know both cacti and cactuses are acceptable plural forms of cactus?
The town seems to go on forever into the hills behind it. You can see the Church of San Giovanni Battista of Riomaggiore on the left.
We did not go in because they were having Sunday mass at this Catholic church that was founded in 1340.
Down below you can see the start of the Via dell'Amore that winds around the mountain along the coastline between Riomaggiore and Manarola.
Riomaggiore had a peak population in the 1920s before steadily declining. People can't afford to live in the Cinque Terre these days, especially since the dramatic rise in tourism has priced them out. It's too expensive to build new buildings here - so people either sell them or rent them out to tourists.
We went up to the Castello di Riomaggiore and walked around - part of it is cordoned off as a place where they clearly have parties and receptions.
Construction on this castle started in 1260 but wasn't completed until the 15th/16th centuries. Back then, they used it to defend the town from pirates.
There are no pirates these days though! We had some time to waste before our timed entrance to the Via dell'Amore so we stopped for a cold one at this restaurant with an amazing view!
Fan, Diet Coke, light beer, water. In that order.
From this restaurant, you can watch the trains go by on their way down to La Spezia.
Look at that water! And look at the Macigno, which is the sandstone used to build almost all of the stone terraces and many buildings in the Cinque Terre. As one of the placards said along the Blue Trail, "Between Monterosso and Riomaggiore, we can see a peculiar member of this formation, the so-called "Arenarie zonate di Riomaggiore" where the interchange of subtle sandstones and dark gray siltstones for tens of meters of thickness gives the cliffs and rocky outcrops the typical striation which represents a unique natural feature of the Cinque Terre."
Ok, let's walk the Via dell'Amore, shall we? Good to know we aren't the only sweaty people here.
Well this looks infinitely easier than what we hiked yesterday!
The fact that this is a relatively flat trail from Riomaggiore to Manarola is probably the reason you have a time entrance (and need a ticket) to hike it. More people have the ability to hike this, although we did not really encounter crowds on this walk. I think many people (mostly Italians) came to the Cinque Terre this week to cool off from the brutal heat. Only the crazy Americans thought hiking was a good idea.
Well, I'm glad they have fencing here because there was a rock slide in 2012 that injured some tourists. It took FOREVER to secure the money (12 million Euro) and the engineering work done to reopen the Via dell'Amore, which didn't happen until 2024!
Am I in the Caribbean? It's so beautiful!
This isn't Bologna with it's porticoes but it was certainly nice on this hot day to have a little shade when we walked to Manarola.
Plenty of porticoes for shade, beautiful sea views, fencing to keep you safe... this is literally not at all like the Blue Trail between Monterosso to Vernazza!
That's a view! I like the rocks they tossed down there as a way to absorb the breaking waves in storms.
That storm in the distance looks pretty cool! And that's Manarola right there in front of us!
Manarola, this way.
Manarola was cute, and was definitely even a bit more bustling than Riomaggiore, even though it's the second smallest town population wise.
But the highlight is the little swimming hole known as the Marina Harbor.
We'll be back to swim, but first we wanted to get some lunch. So we walked all the way around to the Piazza degli Uccelli Morti. Although the place we wanted to go to for lunch wasn't open yet, the little walkway provided some stunning views of Manarola!
Isn't that just lovely!?
But, we just couldn't get into the one restaurant we wanted to go to, so we found this place, La Scogliera which had an air conditioned room upstairs and we wound up having an excellent lunch!
Pesto! Grant had Bolognese, I'm sure that will surprise everyone!
After lunch it was time to head down to the water. People just leave their belongings here and hop into the water!
Grant and I went first because I just wanted to cool off and then get back out - the concrete was boiling hot so we had to wear our shoes down to the water.
Hi honey, the water is so refreshing! Never mind I slipped on a rock and cut up my ankle, I'm fine!
Grant and I swimming in the harbor where it was surprisingly deep here!
Then I got out of the water and Todd got in and they swam off and disappeared for like 30 minutes!
Eventually, they popped up behind me in the water!
You can stay entertained all day by watching people jump off of the cliffs. No thanks, I'm good. Is this guy doing a belly flop? Thank goodness this is a deep water area!
After our swim, we walked back through Manarola to head to the train station.
Everywhere you look there are cute little streets and alleyways.
Goodbye to Manarola!
I love these little towns! They're just so cute!
Meanwhile, back at the ranch... errr, I mean, the hotel... I got cleaned up while Todd sat outside in front of the lobby and had a beer.
And for dinner, we went to Al Pozzo for another delicious dinner. This wine bottle is SO cute!
It's a pasta party!
My oil and vinegar is very surprised to see me!
I got the gnocchi because I hadn't had any yet and it was awesome!
Wait... did Grant get the Bolognese? Why yes. Yes he did.
Family dinner in Monterosso!
Dessert (Crème brûlée - Grant's choice) was equally amazing!
Limoncello after dinner is always the highlight of the meal though!
After dinner, Grant did his Grant thing and went back to the hotel. By evening (on any trip, not just this one), he's just done with the world and wants to scroll on his phone in peace and quiet before falling asleep. So we sent him on his way!
And Todd and I decided to go explore the other part of Monterosso! There are really two halves to the city. We stayed in the eastern half, but this was our first time exploring the western half (on the other side of the tunnel, where the train station was).
Of course I had to get some mint chocolate chip gelato!
And Todd had to enjoy a beverage without me.
Ahhh nope, there I am!
We had fun watching people do a little nightswimming.
We didn't walk as far down as the Giant Statue (made of concrete and iron from 1910) but we did enjoy the nice cooler evening air.
One more day in the Cinque Terre and then it's on to Venice!
