Cinque Terre, Italy
The place I enjoyed most on our trip to Italy was our first stop - Cinque Terre. We flew from Washington DC to Frankfurt, and then took a little propeller plane on a bumpy flight to Genoa, Italy. From there we took the train to Monterosso al Mare. The cool thing about Cinque Terre is that there is a path so that you can walk between the five villages along the coast. It was beautiful and a great place to start. Here is a picture on the path, leaving Monterosso and heading to Vernazza.
And a picture arriving at Vernazza.
We went the whole way - through all five villages (about 5 miles) - in one day, stopping for wine and pesto along the way, and then took a train back to Monterosso.
Here is a NYTimes article on Cinque Terre.
It’s almost unfair how much intense beauty, great cuisine and amazing aromas are jampacked into such a compact space.
We stayed two nights at Il Giardino Incantato - which I would highly recommend. The owner was kind, the rooms and location were great - and the breakfast in the courtyard was very nice.
