Italy - Cinque Terra (6 Jul 2011)

We woke up at 7:30am and found ourselves to be the first guests at breakfast - this was a first, cos we are usually the type who would sleep in and rush off for breakfast before it ends in 15min. 

The breakfast spread looked sumptuous, and we were served excellent freshly squeezed orange juice. But after having scrambled eggs with sodium-overladen bacon (not uncommon in Italy I suppose - just the day before, A had really salty ham with his foccacia) I was left craving for a good American breakfast.  Waffles are my top breakfast choice, but it looks like I'll have to live with cold continental breakfast for the next week.  But I'm not complaining as the breakfast table looked really yummy, though not suited to my Asian palette.

After breakfast, we headed to the train station and took a train to Monterosso, the first of five Cinque Terra towns, and the start of our trekking for the day.  It was a 90min trek to Vernazza, apparently the prettiest town of all.  The trek was relatively easy, and I survived the upslopes thinking of the calories I was burning and the health benefits from the exercise I was getting.  The scenery became prettier when we neared Vernazza - and that is the excitement from trekking - the sense of jubilation and relief when one nears the the destination, and the ability to take in breathtaking views one can't get elsewhere except from taking the trodden path.  

Vernazza is indeed a picturesque town with brightly-colored buildings and a small beach area lined with boats and rock cliffs.  There is also a popular Gelato shop there and we couldn't resist some Gelato on a hot sweltering Italian afternoon.  There was also a public tap in the middle of town which everyone used to fill up their water bottles.  Afer resting for an hour or so, we started on our second trek towards Corniglia.  The trek was shorter at slightly over an hour, though the walking in blistering heat was a challenge itself.  We finally made it and when we were there, realized how far the train station was from Corniglia's town centre.  

The trekking route between Corniglia and Manarola was closed due to a landslide so we took a train to Manarola instead.  We also later took a train from Manarola to the final Cinque Terra town of Riomaggiore.  Between trekking and taking the train, I found that I could better appreciate the towns I trekked to, and could also take nicer pictures of the towns from a distance.  In contrast, my impression of the last 2 towns were pretty vague, though these towns had their beauty in a similar but unique way.