Cinque Terre... heaven on earth!

We started our mini vacation in Cinque Terre, which is quite possibly heaven on earth. I'm going to warn you ahead of time, I fell in love with Cinque Terre. True, unconditional love. This love led to way too many pictures, of which I had a hard time choosing between, as you can tell. So there is your forewarning, I repeat, a complete obsession with Cinque Terre and way too many pictures of it!

With that said...

I'll give you the quick Rick Steves' rundown of what the Cinque Terre actually is: "The Cinque Terre, a remote chunk of the Italian Riviera, is the traffic-free, lowbrow, under-appreciated alternative to the French Riviera. There's not a museum in sight. Just sun, sea, sand, wine, and pure, unadulterated Italy." Rick Steves just says it so much better than I do! :) Basically, there are 5 little towns all consisting of pastel-colored buildings, built into the cliffside. To get between the towns you can hike, take a train, or take a boat. 

We stayed in Vernazza, which is said to be the jewel of the Cinque Terre, and I would have to agree. :) Jordan booked us a great place to stay, right on the harbor. The hotel he booked was full, so they put us up in an amazing, spacious apartment. Here was the view from our balcony...

Not only was the setting of Cinque Terre incredible, but then you have delicious authentic Italian food to boot! :) We ate at a little outdoor cafe for lunch the first day, and ordered "two glasses of house white wine" which apparently means "a huge liter of house white wine" in Italian. :) We were dying laughing when our waiter brought it to the table.

We found out that pesto originated in the Cinque Terre, so we took full advantage of it! I have never had more fresh or authentic pesto in my whole life. We ordered pesto and tomato bruschetta for an appetizer... it was incredible!

We heard it was worth it to hike the trails between the towns, so we went for it. Little did we know that two of the hikes were 90 minutes long, and mostly uphill. The views were definitely breathtaking. Here is Jord overlooking Vernazza, where we stayed, on our first hike out of town.

The view of Vernazza from a little higher up. And yes, I assure you, this place is real. :)

I loved this shot of Jordan looking out at the ocean. These were the views we got on the hike, so I guess you could say it was worth it. :)

We hiked to the town farthest north the first day, called Monterosso. It is a beautiful little town with big sandy beaches.

I can't even tell you how happy we were to have the town in sight after 90 minutes of steep hiking! :)

Since 4 out of the 5 towns in Cinque Terre are on the water, they all have a small beach town feel to them. Notice how the boats are actually in parking spots on the road?! :)

We decided to splurge a little on our first dinner in Cinque Terre. We found this amazing little restaurant literally on the side of a cliff overlooking the ocean in Vernazza, which served Tuscan style seafood and pastas. We had THE MOST AMAZING appetizer -- specialty cheeses dipped in honey -- and we are officially addicted to it. :) 

Can you even believe this view??!!?! Yes, again, I promise this is real!

The next day we decided to hike to the other 3 towns south of Vernazza. Here is the other side of Vernazza, which, as you can see, forms a natural harbor.

I am not exaggerating when I say that the hiking trails were steep, narrow, and NOT easy! There were a few flat spots, and like I said, at the end of the day, we were both glad we hiked them. 

I have never been to Hawaii, but from some of the pictures I've seen of the remote areas there, I felt like these views had a striking resemblance. The water was SO blue...

We finally reached the first town south of Vernazza, called Corniglia, which is the only one of the 5 towns that is not right on the water. 

Oh, did I mention the weather was amazing?! It was between 75 and 80 degrees each day -- tank top and shorts weather... finally! :)

We made a point to stop in each town and wander a little bit (and sample the gelato...)

The next town we came to was Manarola. Besides Vernazza, this was my favorite! I simply could not get enough of the pastel buildings!!

We managed to find someone to take our picture in front of Manarola. I always get a little snobby about strangers taking our picture because I want it to be just right, but you kind of just have to deal with what you get. :)

Seriously?! The buildings? OBSESSED. I told Jordan I want to build a house like that someday. :) It might stand out just a tad in Spokane...

We wandered through Manarola, and it felt so authentically Italian. I could not get enough!

Finally we reached the last city, Riomaggiore. Again, the Italian charm mixed in with the beach town aura was absolutely perfect.

I found myself taking a lot of pictures of Riomaggiore. I think the way the buildings in this town are stacked one on top of the other all the way up the harbor makes it so unique.

Since Riomaggiore was the last city, we decided to take the boat taxi back to Vernazza, partly to skip the hike back but mostly because we thought it would be cool to see the cities from the water. :)

Here is a wider view of Riomaggiore, taken from the boat taxi...

Manarola, as seen from the ocean...

I love the way Corniglia looks nestled into the mountains from this view...

We made it back to Vernazza, and we were beat, so we spent the next few hours laying on the beach. :) Once we showered and got cleaned up, we decided to get some takeout -- pesto pizza and wine -- and eat dinner on the private terrace our hotel offered to its guests. We didn't really know what the terrace would be like, but how bad could it be, right?!

Absolutely AMAZING! We had the whole terrace and this view all to ourselves...

Once it started to get dark, we walked back to the harbor and this sunset greeted us. It was the perfect ending to one of my all-time favorite days...

So there you have it. My new favorite city, the Cinque Terre. If you haven't been there, go. If you have been there, go again. I don't know that I've ever felt so relaxed and content in my whole life as I did in Cinque Terre. Jordan and I loved our honeymoon, but we both agreed this would be an absolutely incredible honeymoon destination! It is relaxing, romantic, fun, beautiful, charming, sunny, remote... I could go on and on... and I didn't even mention the food. :)

I don't think Jordan and I said a word to each other the whole train ride out of Cinque Terre, we were both so sad to leave. But I know that someday we will go back, maybe for an anniversary trip or something. Yes, Jord, this is me dropping hints! :)

If you've made it this far in the post, I'm impressed! I seriously could not limit down my pictures, so there are two Cinque Terre photo albums. If you want to check them out, click on the links below:

Click here for Cinque Terre photo album 1

Click here for Cinque Terre photo album 2

More posts coming soon on the rest of our trip, Florence and Pisa... stay tuned! :)