Cinque Terre is located along the coast of Italy, near the town of La Spezia.  We had Eurail passes and popped in and out of it.  Cinque Terre translates to Five Lands and consists of five small villages, Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza and Monterosso.  The area is a resort and vacation destination in Italy that has more recently become popular for backpackers to explore as well.  Reaching back far for an old trip report here – this was my first time in Europe, done in 2003.  Perhaps I’ll post pics from old trips on Thursdays, and this will kick off a Throwback Thursday series…

My buddy Joe above, about to foolishly begin the hike between the town with me.  There’s a train to shuttle people between the 5 villages, although with amazing hiking paths along the coast they need to be done at least once!  We began our hike with no place to stay and wearing our packs.  In late June.  In the middle of the day.  This was Not A Good Idea.  We got partially through a trail when we decided to head back to town and jettison our backpacks.  Hostels seemed full and less common here – we ended up renting an apartment for two nights.  View from our 3rd floor balcony later that evening:

Back to the trail, starting from a much better position!

The towns are all worth exploring, with most giving the feel of narrow streets and buildings just built on top of eachother all over.

Sadly no pictures, but we eventually had a great dinner this night along the coast, with a cute girl we met from Texas there by herself who had just finished spending a couple months in Spain to learn Spanish.