This morning we got up around 8:00 and\npacked our bags. We ate our breakfast and cleaned the apartment so it looked as\nit did when we arrived. Our host was kind enough to allow us to store our luggage\nin the apartment while we set out to explore the Cinque Terre. We left the apartment at 8:45 and caught a\nbus to the train station. Our bus was 5 minutes late and we thought we had\nmissed our connecting train but luckily it was also running late and the timing\nwas perfect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Based on our reading, our original plan was\nto hike from Manorola to Corniglia. Many\npeople said this was their favourite hike between cities. However, a fellow\npassenger overheard us and politely informed us that the trail we were planning\nto take was closed. We had a slight\nchange in plans since the only hike left for us to do was between Corniglia and\nVernazza. We decided to do the hike from\nCorniglia. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When we arrived at the train station we\nhiked all the way up the mountain to reach the town of Corniglia. We drnk our\nwater and refilled our water bottles at the potable water station before\ncontinuing on our way. We started on the 1.3 mile trail at 10:15 and it was\nalready very hot. This time we had the sun to our backs though so it wasn\u2019t as\nbad. The trail was not as flat as Google let on. When we weren\u2019t climbing steep\nstairs we were declining at the same rate. About 30 minutes into the hike Ayva\nbegan having trouble breathing. This time we clued in and figured she must be\nhaving allergies to something in the mountains. There was really nothing we\ncould do though so we told her to suck it up and keep on going. The view as we hiked along the water was\nspectacular. The water is a beautiful aqua marine and the sea looks like it\ngoes on forever. The towns on the hills also had a picturesque look that the\ncamera just couldn\u2019t capture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When we got about half way we came across a\nhouse with a caf\u00e9 that had freshly squeezed lemonade. A few people we passed\nsaid it was the best lemonade they ever tasted\u2026 but their cups were quite\nsmall. No prices were posted and we\nstill had a decent supply of water so we decided to continue on and reward\nourselves with gelato later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As we rounded the corner to Vernazza, the\nview of the town was stunning. A couple offered to take our photo so we\nactually got a family portrait near the end of the trail. We then followed it down the hill to the\nbackside of the train station and saw a train was due to arrive any minute. It\nwas about 11:30 so we decided to go to the next town and eat there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This turned out to be my favourite town in\nCinque Terre. When we arrived in\nManarola there wasn\u2019t much to be seen and I was a little disappointed. I didn\u2019t hink we would be here long but we\nfollowed the crowd through a dark tunnel that came out in the middle of a cute\ntown. We walked along the street that\nled up the hill to see if we could find any food that interested us. There were a few options but nothing really\nstood out. We turned around and walked toward the beach. We found a cute little\ngelato shop that had decent prices and free seating so we decided to skip lunch\nand go straight to ice cream! As usual,\nit was amazing. We are so spoiled and ice cream at home will never be the same\nagain!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After we finished our ice cream we were all\nrefreshed and we walked down toward the marina. We were all in awe of how\nbeautiful it was with the large rocks and deep clear water. There were many\npeople swimming in the water and we all wished we had our bathing suits. We\ncontinued to walk around the back of the mountain when we thought it couldn\u2019t\nget more beautiful\u2026 it did! The view of\nthe town was spectacular. It was just like the photos show! The water was an even brighter shade of aqua\nand there were lots of people sun bathing and diving off rocks around the\nbend. This was definitely our kind of\nbeach! I would love to come back to this town!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We tried to do a geocache here but\nunfortunately it was beyond the closed trail and we did not feel like climbing\nthe fence and going beyond the safe zone we opted out of this one. After seeing the entire city and enjoying the\nview for a few minutes we went back to the train station.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We arrived in Riomaggiore around 1:!5. This is the first of the Cinque Terre and\nmuch like Manarola we had to walk through a long dark tunnel to get to the\nactual town. Across from the train\nstation was a huge stone wall that seemed to reach the sky. Later we discovered why! As we walked through the tunnel I was\nintrigued by the stone artwork along the entire length. There was stone art\nalong the sides that was quite detailed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When we came out of the tunnel the main\nstreet led straight up hill. It was lined with stores and restaurants along\nboth sides. We began hiking up street and realized that there is no way a\nresident of this town could possibly be overweight! About 5 minutes up we found a little shop\nthat sold sea food. The kids shared a cup of fish and chips. We then hiked all the way to the top where\nthe road ended. When we walked back down we saw a path that seemed to go up\nsome stairs. We followed that path the top of a mountain that overlooked the\nother towns of the Cinque Terre. It was a gorgeous view and we were all hot and\ntired so we sat down for a few minutes to relax. We also refilled our water bottles at a\nfountain and began making our way back to the train station. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
We followed a sign that pointed a different\ndirection from where we came. We climbed endless stairs down narrow alleys that\ntwisted between buildings. We came to a few dead ended and eventually had to\nbacktrack up the hill before we were able to find the right path that led to\nthe main road. It was better than the glass maze at Playland! By 2:00 we were back at the train station and\nready to go back to La Spezia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When we got to La Spezia we walked the main\nstrip. Apparently 2:30 on a Sunday afternoon is a quiet time in the city. The\nshops were closed and the streets were practically empty. We found a little\ngrocery store where we bought some fruit, hotdogs, and buns. We then hopped on\na bus at went to the apartment to cook our hotdogs and retrieve our bags.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The cleaners had already finished getting\nthe apartment ready for the next guests so we were very careful not to mess\nanything up. We carefully used the microwave to heat the hotdogs and ate\noutside. We all used the bathroom before\nleaving and I gave the bathroom and kitchen a quick clean before we left. The\nbus only runs every 30 minutes and I was paranoid about the kids messing up the\nplace so we left at 3:45 even though our train wasn\u2019t scheduled to depart until\n6:15! <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The bus got quite crowded and a we believe\nwe were informed that we were taking up seats designated for the elderly.\nPeople didn\u2019t look to happy about us sitting in seats with our bags. We moved\ncloser to the back of the bus holding our suitcases as best we could. Poor\nAddison stood and had to move every time someone wanted on or off. We also\nmissed our stop and had to walk a few blocks back to the train station. By 4:30 we had arrived and I felt much better\nknowing we were where we needed to be. We found a bench and everyone pulled out\ntheir devices and guarded the bags. It wasn\u2019t too busy though. I was amused by\na train that had \u201ctema Bert\u201d on it. Dad, you have fans here!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At 6:00 we went over to our platform and\nwaited for our train (which of course was about 5 minutes delayed. The kids\nwere pleasantly surprised when our seat reservations were in first class.\nActually, we completely forgot about that but when we booked it wasn\u2019t too much\nmore to upgrade. Apparently we paid less for the 5 of us in first class as it\nwould have cost to buy a single ticket in 2nd<\/sup> class the day of. Yes,\nbooking all your trains in advance does pay off!<\/p>\n\n\n\n On the train, we had a table of 4 and the 2\nseats across. The seats were huge and comfortable. The restroom was huge too! There were only 3 or 4 people in the same car\nas us so it was a very relaxing trip. We\nhad a two hour game of rocket before we decided to take out our devices and\nrelax the rest of the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When we arrived in Rome it was 10:15pm and\nnot much was open. As we got off the\ntrain the people trickled away and it felt like we were the only ones there.\nThen after walking what seemed like miles we arrived at exit gates and it\npeople were buzzing around on the other side. This was definitely the biggest\nstation I have ever seen! We all stayed\nin a line and followed Tavis to the taxi line up which had about 50 people in\nfront of us. When we got to the front of the line it took a few minutes for the\nattendant o find a taxi big enough for all of us but eventually we were on our\nway. <\/p>\n\n\n\n As we pulled up to the hotel I must admit\nthat all of our jaws were on the floor. The name of the hotel is Rome Cavalieri\nand it looked like a palace from the front. \nWe went to get our bags but the door men wouldn\u2019t let us. They took our\nbags and gave us a tag. We walked in to an enormous lobby of gold and\nchandeliers and paintings everywhere. I\ncaptured Ari\u2019s first impression and it really speaks volumes to how we all\nfelt\u2026 Talk about feeling under dressed! \nAri\u2019s first words were, \u201cI wish I brought my tux\u201d. We found the reception desk, a personalized\nroom with chairs by a desk. They spoke English well and welcomed us, informing\nus that we had been upgraded to two joining king suites. OMG!!!! They have 2\npools, hot tubs, sauna, kids club, and breakfast buffet all included. I don\u2019t think the kids are going to want to\nleave the hotel! They offered to bring\nup a cot to the kids room. <\/p>\n\n\n\n By the time we got to our room, our luggage\nhad already been delivered and the kids extra bed was already being made. We checked out the rooms and they are amazing.\nI don\u2019t think I\u2019ve ever seen a room like this. It took some time but we finally\ngot the kids to calm down and get into bed before midnight. Tomorrow will be a sleep in day! <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This morning we got up around 8:00 and packed our bags. We ate our breakfast and cleaned the apartment so it looked as it did when we arrived. Our host was kind enough to allow us to store our luggage in the apartment while we set out to explore the Cinque Terre. We left the … <\/p>\nRome<\/h2>\n\n\n\n