Saturday April 24

The Cinque Terra is a National park that everyone says is a must see and experience. Our local train station sell a pass for as many days as you want this covers, hiking the trails, use of the bus in the little towns and train transportation within the towns and to Levanto . We started our hike from Monterossa to Vernazza the trails were high up and very muddy from the previous days rain. We made the decision to take the train to the last village named Riomaggiore and hike back up to the other villages. After a very nice lunch high above the sea we started our small hike back to Corniglia. The thing that makes this area so unique is the ability to walk from place to place with beautiful views of the sea below. I can only imagine what it must have been like before it became popular with thousands of tourists from all over the world flocking to tiny trails daily, the congestion is kind of like being on a crowded freeway and not being able to move. Don't get me wrong it is a beautiful area and is on the lists of seeing and doing. For this being their income, the people who work in the tourist information stops in all of the villages were rude and unfreindly.

After a long day of hiking we headed back on the train forgetting that the pass only gets you to Levanto and then you need to buy another train ticket. The ticket man came by and we showed him the pass and he said that wouldn't work. He charged us 6 euro a piece for train ticket which is steep but we didn't want to wait for another train. After the ticket man left Bob realized we did have train tickets but they were not stamped and if we had shown him those we could have been fined 50 euro a piece. Stamping the tickets is a must before getting on the train. Thanks again Sandra for the great advice.

After a long day we tryed to make reservations at any restaraunt but there was a huge celebration and we couldn't get in any place. The owner of the hotel dropped us in town and told us of a place that we could eat but there was no room. A taxi home and no dinner not a good way to end the day.