Cinque Terre, Italy

I've been dying to write this post. The pictures from the few days we spent in Cinque Terre are some of the best of our entire European adventure. It is incredibly picturesque. 

Cinque Terre is a string of centuries-old villages on the Italian Riviera coastline. They are connected by train or for those more adventurous you can travel to each via hiking trails.

Getting to Cinque Terre is an adventure all its own. We arrived in La Spezia and got on the final train to Deiva Maria. We all decided to stay outside of the actual Cinque Terre villages to save a few extra bucks. I may or may not advise that for any future travellers because you do have to pay quite a bit to get to and from Deiva Maria and Cinque Terre each day. But it worked out well. We had a spacious apartment to come home to each night.

Our first night we made our way over to Nessun Dorma for dinner. This is the absolute best spot to take pictures of the Manarola village. 

We got there right at sunset and grabbed a great table to enjoy the views. 

We ate our fill and watched the sky turn into a deep blue blanket. 

The next day we made our way over to the other villages. We stopped along the way to grab a gelato, people watch at the Monterosso beach, and eventually ended up in Vernazza.

We took our time taking pictures as the lighting was perfect and the setting incredibly memorable.

We hiked up to Ristorante al Castello to enjoy fantastic views and a delicious meal.

The next day was hands-down one of the best days we had. After some research I decided it would be best to rent our own boat for a half day to see the 5 villages from the water.

Collin was our captain and toured us from La Spezia all the way to Monterosso al Mare. We stopped along the way to have a picnic and cool off with a swim. 

Renting a boat gave us the freedom to explore while enjoying the beautiful Mediterranean water.

It was an amazingly colorful few days. We enjoyed it immensely but beware the crowds are intense. The cruise ships drop off their lot in the morning and they descend on the towns. But after around 3 p.m. they leave and the streets are much more tranquil. 

It was a place I could only dream of.