When we finally got to Vernazza after our long road hike from Corniglia, we decided to eat lunch. Vernazza was definitely the most crowded of the villages in Cinque Terre. I think there was a tourist bus that had let people off. We went down to the cove/beach/port to eat lunch. We ate outside overlooking the beach on one side and the sea on the other. It was spectacular.

After lunch we decided to take a little break and go to the beach. We found a rock in the water and were able to sit there and just soak in the sun and atmosphere. We didn’t get in the water because it is just way too cold.

Next, it was off on the trail to get to Monterosso al Mare. At least, it was off to try and find the trail. We left the beach and walked up and down from the train tracks to the beach a couple of times before we found the trail. It was not marked very well. It is about 300 feet from the train tracks towards the beach and it is an alleyway. There was a sign, but it was very faded.

As you go up the trail from Vernazza make sure you look back towards the village. There is a perfect picture of the beach with its cove and the village with all of its colors. If the sun was in the right place, this could be a postcard. Actually, our picture looks like a postcard and the sun was not right for a picture.

The trail on to Monterosso is pretty narrow most of the way and it was much more crowded than any other part for us. This could be because it was early afternoon. There are a lot of places where the trail is single file and it is hard to pass. There were also a lot of slow walkers so there were parts that were a little frustrating. As we were getting close to Monterosso, there was a little stand in a lemon field where the farmer was selling fresh lemonade. I mean really fresh. He took 3 lemons per cup and squeezed them right there. Talk about refreshing! But as we were drinking our lemonade, all of the people that we had so carefully passed, went right by so we were stuck behind slow walkers again.