Stairs.

Today was our second day in the beautiful Cinque Terre. I've heard good things about this place, in fact, I've heard great things, but I was not at all prepared for how overwhelmingly awesome this place would be. We are staying in a town called Volastra, which is a 15 minute drive up the hill from Manarola, one of the "five towns" that give the Cinque Terre its name (Cinque means "five", terre means "lands"). When we arrived, we knew we had to catch the bus up the hill to our hotel, but were not really sure what to expect... we climbed into the tiny eco-friendly bus which took us up the winding tiered hills hoping to goodness that we were going to the right place. The one way streets winding through the mountain led us to a tiny town, where you can only get around by foot, and we found our adorable bed and breakfast. Nothing beats the moment when you open the shutters of your room and stick out your head to see the hills and ocean below!

View from our room!

The weather has been on and off with rain showers, but the sun manages to peak out enough that it has not slowed us down! It's kind of fun to wake up in the middle of a cloud! We've visited each of the towns in the past two days by hiking some of the upper trails and the lower trails. The Cinque Terre suffered last October when there were horrible mudslides and flooding, mainly affecting the towns of Monterosso al Mare and Vernazza, and shutting down many of the trails. Today was the first day trail number 2 was opened between those towns and we decided to give it a shot. What we didn't know, is that this "trail" is mostly stairs, so many stairs. People all hike the trails between all the towns in one day, but I think this is a vicious rumor spread to make us feel bad about how hard one leg is. It was no simple romp through the woods! However, every time we needed a water break we were able to stop and stare at the beautiful Mediterranean below us... ok, maybe it wasn't SO bad!

Some of the great things of the Cinque Terre include:

Staying in a Bed and Breakfast with predominantly French families.
Seeing sweeping views of the ocean every time you turn around.
The bright colors of the buildings in each tiny town.
The incredible take out pesto pasta we got from a tiny shop near our B&B.
Foccaccia with potatoes and rosemary on it.
German hikers who think I'm German too (I just love fooling people into thinking I'm not American, it's really difficult).
Cute dogs and kitty cats everywhere.
Napping and going to bed early.
Pulling off my hiker pants, tye-dye shirt, and tennis shoes because everyone else is dressed the same as me.

Clearly I can't eloquently express how cool this place is so here are lots of pictures.

First hike between Volastra and Corniglia! 

Really, this hike was more of a game called "don't fall off the one foot wide path down the cliff beside you" 

Day two, Monterosso to Vernazza: So. Many. Stairs.

Don't be fooled, I'm panting in this picture. 

We're having a great time and I'm excited for our lazy Easter tomorrow! We're off to the tiny catholic church in our town in the morning, it should be an experience!