Hiking 5 Terre

We got up this moring to a bright, sunny day, had breakfast at the hotel and headed to the train station. We caught the "milk run" cinque terre train and went 5 stops to the first of the 5 towns and got off. After wandering around the town and hiking up the mountain a bit, we headed out on the paved path to the next town. Beautiful views - easy walking. At each town along the way we did the same thing - walked around town, and then headed out along the path. At one town, the girls jumped into the ocean and did a little swimming - drying off on the next hike. Each hike got progressively more difficult and the day got a lot hotter. We stopped for lunch (and gelato of course) at Corneglia - the one town that is not on the water. We had a nice pasta lunch with fresh strawberries for dessert. The final leg of our walk was from Corneglia to Vernazza - hot and up hill for 45 minutes - then a tough downhill for another 45 minutes. The views were great. We were pretty worn out by the 4th town - and the day was a bit too hot for another 4 km hike - so we caught the train back home and had some of the very strong local lemon gelato to cool off. The girls worked on their journals and we'll probably head to the beach or catch a boat ride before dinner. Tomorrow we head out early for the drive back to Florence. If all goes well, we'll hit the modern art museum and climb the dome of the Duomo.