Traveling season has arrived... Easter in Cinque Terre!

Village of Manarola

We had been looking forward to visiting Cinque Terre since last December when we booked the trip and found an amazing place to rent for the weekend. For those of you not familiar with Cinque Terre it is a region in northwest Italy consisting of five small villages that sit directly on the Mediterranean. All of the villages are car free and many of the homes and buildings in each town are skillfully built on the side of cliffs. The towns are connected by hiking paths that wind along the cliffs and trek through vineyards. In other words the place is BEAUTIFUL. And let's not forget that it has some of the best Italian food around. It's hard to complain when for three days straight our lunches consisted of amazing pasta and seafood and dinner was pizza. Too bad  it was cold and rainy most of the time we were there, so we only ate gelato two of the three days...

View from our apartment!

The easiest way to get there from Zurich is by train so we headed out on Thursday afternoon and went halfway to Milan and stayed the night as to break up the trip (about four hours each day). We figured it would give Emma a nice break since it was her first big trip since going back to the U.S. over the holidays and with her ever increasing mobility we weren't sure how much more difficult it would be to travel with her. Lucky for us she continued to impress and keep us all entertained on the train ride.

We arrived in Cinque Terre by midday Friday and had decided to stay in the village of Vernazza after reading many reviews as to which town was best to call home for the weekend. Although there are many similarities they each are distinctly unique and we chose Vernazza based on it's nice harbor and good reviews for atmosphere, restaurants, and shops.

Vernazza Harbor

Exploring Vernazza

Village of Vernazza from the pier

Another angle of Vernazza



Vernazza from above

There really are no hotels in Cinque Terre, just small rooms to rent that are privately owned by families in the village. So upon arrival in Vernazza we were greeted by the very friendly family that owned our apartment and we were whisked away to one of the highest points in the village. Remember how I said these villages are built more or less on the side of cliffs? So yes there are lots and lots of stairs through tiny little passageways. Lucky for me I was just carrying Emma (definitely not a stroller friendly place) and her travel cot, unlucky for Steve he had the bookbag and a very heavy suitcase! While it was quite an effort to get there neither of us could complain once we saw the sweeping views over the Mediterranean and parts of town. Between the rooftop terrace, balcony, and fact that it was built directly into the side of the cliff it was pretty impressive.



The entrance to our apartment was this tiny door on the rooftop terrace!

See that little green door? That was the balcony on our apartment!



Enjoying our balcony

Sunset from our balcony



Family photo on the rooftop

Unfortunately, just like most of the rest of Europe, the majority of Easter weekend in Cinque Terre was rainy and cold. So once we got settled into our place on Friday we decided to keep the rest of the day low key and just enjoy a nice relaxing lunch in Vernazza and take time to explore the town itself. We were hoping to enjoy a boat ride between the villages that afternoon, but the rain and rough waters kept the ferry docked for the entire weekend.

While it was a bit disappointing that we were unable to see a view of the region from the boat, what certainly was not disappointing were the people we met while exploring the town instead! With this now being our third trip to Italy (all post-Emma), I have come to conclude that Italians are some of the best of the bunch, especially if you are traveling with a baby or "little bella" as Emma was referred to countless times! They truly love to spoil, hold, kiss, and just in general love on babies. We had waiters and waitresses ask to hold her and just try to do anything to help us eat a nice meal while keeping Emma content. Especially that first day when Emma was just getting settled in and wasn't in the mood to sit in a high chair by herself one waiter quickly brought sorbet over for her and started dipping her pacifier in it! He said it would calm her down and keep her content, it did in fact do the trick for awhile, and what can I say we were on vacation and eating good food and dessert the whole time so I guess it was only fair that Emma got a few extra treats too!



Beautiful harbor of Portofino full of big sailboats

On Saturday we decided to head outside of Cinque Terre to the small, but upscale fishing village of Portofino. It is known for its beautiful and secluded harbor and rumor has it that it often has celebrity visitors, although we didn't see any when we visited! Funny thing is that I actually visited this tiny town before when I visited Europe after graduating from high school. I am glad that my memory served me correct as Portofino is a beautiful place that was certainly worth the second visit. It took about an hour by train to get there followed by a 20 minute bus ride along a narrow, windy road on the side of a cliff. I don't know why we continue to ride on these buses (we've taken a few in the Alps as well) where it's necessary for the bus to stop and honk it's horn repeatedly while turning the corners because it's too narrow for anyone else to get through at the same time!

Once we survived the bus ride we enjoyed exploring the towns and shops and once again another great Italian meal, this time sampling the pesto that the region is famous for. We also took a short hike to take in some great views of the harbor and the town.



Enjoying another wonderful Italian lunch with a little crazy hat hair!

It was a windy day in Portofino - Emma thought it was so funny when our umbrella broke!



Portofino from above

On our way back to Cinque Terre we unfortunately hit our first delayed Italian train. We had read that this region is particularly infamous for its slow and unreliable trains, and we also found that to be true. On Saturday it meant that our train stopped several times for what seemed like no reason at all and made us all a little grouchy when it arrived back in Vernazza almost an hour late (nearly doubling the time it took us to get back!). On Sunday it meant that the train we were going to take within the Cinque Terre region was completely cancelled for again unknown reasons. And on Monday it meant that our train departing Cinque Terre was running about 20 minutes late! Oh how I appreciate the timeliness and reliability of Swiss trains!

Anyways, come Sunday we were excited that the forecast was again accurate, but this time with sunshine! As a result we were happy to get up early on Easter to enjoy such a beautiful place (we had turned our clocks ahead an hour that night, for some reason daylight savings in Europe takes place a few weeks after daylight savings in North America). We set out ready to hike the trail that connects all five villages of Cinque Terre only to find out that it was closed due to risk of landslides! The area had recently received a lot of rain and we came to find out that it is a relatively common problem. Actually just in the fall of 2011 there was some torrential rains that left parts of the villages extremely flooded and they were concerned that it would never be the same as it was, but luckily everything seems to be back and functioning as it once was before.

Needless to say we were greatly disappointed to not be able to hike along the entire trail but instead we were able to enjoy walking areas around each village and taking the train in between each. It was nice to be able to spend more time in each town, which also meant more good food and wine to drink too! It was fun to see the differences between each and what made each town popular... whether it was a nice beach, beautiful harbor, or beautiful views from the top of the hill - there was something to be said for each.

Village of Riomaggiore... known as the "workaday" town. We heard and saw people doing work on their houses on Easter Sunday! In Switzerland I don't know if it's actually illegal, but it's highly frowned upon to do work on a Sunday, especially Easter!

Family photo in Riomaggiore


Village of Manarola - also popular for it's beautiful harbor area

Big waves in Manarola!



Corniglia is known as the Mountain town... this is the sign you see when you get off the train to warn you about the climb ahead!

Looking down on all the stairs!

Vineyards in Corniglia, they were all over Cinque Terre

View from Corniglia of the Mediterranean

Monterosso al Mare is the beach town!

Emma's first time on the beach!

Family photo in Monterosso

It was certainly a full day getting to all five villages, so by the end we were happy to return to Vernazza and just relax for our last evening. And since it was finally our first nice day we actually got to sit out and enjoy our balcony and the amazing views it offered. It was especially fun to see the people below us wondering how we got there! With the waves crashing right below us there was truly nothing else like it that we have ever experienced.

The next morning it was hard to say good bye to the beautiful views, great food, and wonderful family that owned our apartment but somehow we managed with the hopes that hopefully one day we'll be back again!

Last night on our rooftop terrace - waving bye bye!