Our Final Days... Cinque Terre (Part 1)

We got an early start from Venice on our way to Cinque Terre. We took regional trains from Venice to Cinque Terre, and it took much of the day to travel to Cinque Terre. Our trains were running a bit late, and we missed our connecting train from La Spezia to Manarola. We had to wait an extra hour to get to Manarola by early evening. Fortunately, the travel company we booked through was still at the office.

We spent the most time in Cinque Terre, and it was 100% worth every second. This was the most beautiful place Patrick and I have ever been. Pictures do NOT do it justice. It is absolutely incredible! Using Trip Advisor, we decided to rent an apartment for the 4 nights we stayed in Cinque Terre. We booked with a company called Arbaspaa. We found the apartment on Trip Advisor, and it had great reviews. We wanted a private balcony overlooking both the city and the ocean... we got exactly what we requested. Upon arriving in Manarola, we made our way to the travel company's office. We were led up the hill... way up the hill (thank goodness we had backpacks and not large suitcases) to our amazing apartment overlooking the town of Manarola and the ocean. WHAT A VIEW! After checking out the place and getting settled, we walked down to the grocery store and bought some delicious wine and snacks. We enjoyed watching the sunset on our balcony before heading down the hill to dinner.

We woke up on our first full day in Manarola ready to hike! We enjoyed some time on our balcony before grabbing a couple of AMAZING croissants at the base of the hill in Manarola... chocolate croissants. Mmm! Once finished with our breakfast, we headed out on our hike to Corniglia. It took us well over a couple of hours. It was hot and steep, but we love to hike, and the views were spectacular! We made it there in time for lunch, enjoying wine and pizza in a central cafe.

After lunch, we walked down A LOT of steps from the center of Corniglia to their boat harbor where we enjoyed some time spent by the gorgeous ocean. After taking a little dip and sunbathing on the flat rocks, we took the train back to Manarola. Once back in Manarola, we spent some time sunbathing on large boulders set out into the ocean a bit and swimming. It was a bit like a dream, it was so beautiful and relaxing. We topped off the evening with time spent on our balcony with wine and snacks and then a delicious dinner at Trattoria dal Billy, a restaurant just steps from our apartment in Manarola. This restaurant comes extremely highly recommended by many online. It was delicious and very fun!

Welcome to Manarola!

Gorgeous early evening view

Quick to relax on our balcony... GORGEOUS

Sun starting to set on our first evening in Manarola

Picture perfect

Enjoying some delicious wine

Our view from the balcony, overlooking the town of Manarola and the ocean

How can you not enjoy that view?

The pictures just don't do the sunsets justice.

Good morning, Cinque Terre

Look at that clear water!

View of Manarola from the path along the coast

Had to get a picture together with Manarola in the background

Beauty everywhere

Check out the colors of all the buildings!

Beginning our hike to Corniglia

Love this man and this view

Higher view of Manarola

Hiking through the vineyards

Look at those stairs!

My hubs posing with the view.

Overlooking the ocean

View of Corniglia as we finally head down towards the town

Love this beautiful place

Lunch at Cafe Matteo in Corniglia

Love this man :)

Walked down MANY stairs to the ocean in Corniglia

Look at that beautiful ocean

Enjoying sunbathing

Yes, I have a swim suit on...

Back in Manarola... much more calm water

Swimming!

Heading back towards our apartment in Manarola

Another beautiful sunset

Venice (Day 8)

We spent all of day 8 in Venice!

The hotel had delicious breakfast of croissants and hard boiled eggs.

Once our stomachs were full of delicious croissants, eggs, and juice, we set off to Piazza San Marco where we viewed the Basilica di San Marco. We opted not to go in and just observe from the piazza. We had planned go in and tour the "free" section, but since we had a backpack along, we would have had to deposit it at the bag drop and then wait in line again.  The clock tower (Torre dell'Orologio), also located in Piazza San Marco was beautiful and fun to see as well!

While we were in Venice, we did not opt to take a gondola ride. We thought it was overpriced, and we enjoyed touring the city on foot. If we ever go back, we will definitely purchase a 12 hour ferry pass and ride the public transportation water ferries along the canals. You can take the public transportation ferry to the islands right across the main canal from Venice.

Piazza san Marco opens to a wider ocean with a couple of islands across a bit of sea. Next time, we would have planned our day a bit better to have the option to head over to one of the islands for a bit.

We walked the city for the rest of the day to see the outside of some other beautiful churches and ate lunch on the main canal. I really enjoyed our lunch! We loved the atmosphere and table. The waiter kindly took our picture. We also enjoyed dinner in a courtyard resaurant resaurant before we geared up to head to Cinque Terre the next day.

Basilica di San Marco

Piazza San Marco

Me, standing in front of the Basilica di San Marco

Beautiful artwork at the entrance of the Basilica

Gorgeous!

Torre dell'Orologio

One of the many gondollas

View of the sea

Lunch along the main canal

Look at that gorgeous guy

The flowers were beautiful!

Loved our hotel in Venice

One of the islands right off the main canal in Venice

Another beautiful view of a canal in Venice

We enjoyed dinner in a courtyard restaurant on our last evening in Venice