Monterosso, Italy the northern most village of Cinque Terre, Italy

Our first evening in Monterosso, Italy. A beautifully peaceful place.

Bryan, Alex and Grams checking out the view. The Mediterranean Sea is to the left, the northernmost village of Cinque Terre is behind them and to the right.

Grams, Bryan and Alex pose with the harbor of Monterosso behind them. So comfortably warm after a HOT day.

At the far left are blue and white rolled up umbrellas. The red bottomed paddle boats have blue slides on them, a person could rent them by the hour. They were a hot commodity for families with little kiddos.

Beautiful colors as the sun sets our first night in Italy.

Even narrow alleyways have restaurant tables, sunglasses and scarves for sale.

A restaurant between lunch and dinner times. Very colorful.

Another restaurant. It seems they all also have inside seating. During late dinner hours these are all full.

Walking up toward our hotel around the corner.

The church tower with the clock in the background. Covered walkway under the arches.

Sidewalk cafe under pretty shade.

Another restaurant with outdoor seating. Notice they all have had table cloths, usually more than one.

Outside a shop they are selling herbs and garlic. It smelled wonderful in the heat.

Mostly tourists here and we saw several with their dogs in tow.

Nature's laundry mat. Notice the satellite dish? Color coordinated!

She opened this beautiful gate that had been across her store doorway. Then proceeded to open the padlock on the doors.

Flower laden balcony. Notice the archway up ahead? Our hotel is down by the archway.

We had breakfast our first day in Monterosso, Italy at the farthest table up on the right. The young man in gray was our waiter.

Another restaurant with inside and outside seating. Again, table cloths.

Very colorful and busy alleyway. This is the main walkway up from the beach.

A wine shop inside, most of their seating is outside. I think this was the only one without table cloths.

A beautiful path near our hotel.

Our hotel bathroom. Yes, we had two toilets. One for Bryan and one for the three women! The shower has a three part door, all parts slide independently.

The most beautiful sink. It actually has more green in it than this pictures shows. The leaves in the glass were beautiful. The faucet is a bent copper tube. It was about 18 inches from left to right and about 4 inches deep. I did some of our laundry in it!

A rather long, narrow bathroom. We were happy we were on the second floor so we could open the window to let the steam out. Also it was good to have a shutter so no one could look in.

Alex standing on the headboard of her and Grams' bed as she hangs her laundry to dry on the railing from the loft bedroom.

She did get her green and white striped shirt to hang on the railing to dry in a SHORT period of time. It was about 85 or so outside. When we turned on the air conditioning, it really worked well. 

I took this view of our ceiling from the upper level in our hotel looking out from the loft.

Our closed shutters in the loft bedroom. Bright sunshine outside.

Our stairway to the main floor is to the left, we dried our clothes on the railing. I had hand washed some in our beautiful sink. The ever present water bottle stands on the desk. Alex and Grams are over the edge below.

After making our way down all the stairs, Grams hangs on to Bryan. The little green door at the top of the stairs was to the elevator. It was ONLY for luggage.

We are heading toward the harbor and the beach to take a look.

The beginning of our dinner our first night in Italy.

Yummy dinner. Alex's dinner in the top left was a pesto lasagna, Grams had ravioli (top right) and I had the wonderful seafood linguine. 

Gram's ravioli up close.

Alex's pesto lasagna, she still talks about it! Pretty presentation, too.

This was pretty and tasted pretty good, too. We tried local food and beverages whenever we could.

Once again, I love seafood and this was local and ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS.

Alex's "Naturale" water for dinner.

The view from our dinner table. The colorful walls with many different rooftop additions. Once again, laundry drying.

The dinner crowd starting to arrive. Pretty multicolored glasses, cloth napkins, no spoons.

A window INTO a kitchen. Many wooden spoons in the pot near the open window. Inside, down below were trays and trays of fresh seafood.

The restaurant across the walkway from where we had dinner. The glass enclosed cases have seafood in them. We think we will eat there another time. We will be here 3 nights.

The menu front cover.

Inside the menu. How's your Italian?

For all of the tourists; hats, sunscreen, postcards, scarves, sand toys.

Our first Italian gelato. The train travels by on the raised rails.

The pier between the two sandy beaches of Monterosso al Mare. There is a tunnel through the rock to the beaches to the right.

Boats, striped umbrellas curled up waiting for tomorrow and a path leading up to an outdoor bar.

A family along the waterfront enjoying their treats.

Looking back toward the church tower on the left and the lighted restaurants underneath the middle arch.

Alex walked down and was the first to touch the Mediterranean!

A panorama of the sandy beach at Monterosso. Of the five villages of Cinque Terre, Monterosso is the only one with sandy beaches.

Flowers along the fences.

Fences keep us away from the boats. The sun is starting to set.

Marveling at where we will be relaxing for the next three nights. Ahhh.

A playground close to the beach.

The playground to the left, the raised railroad above the arches, and the beach on the other side of the arches. All very close to the hotels.

The ages old church tower. Almost 8:30 pm after a night on the train from Paris to Milan to Monterosso we are heading back to our hotel. Sleeping on the train wasn't restful.

A shop with most things a tourist could want.

Every square inch is used. We had eaten here earlier, there are more shops open further up the alleyway.

Alex checks out the colorful attire.

Grams checks out the bracelets.

Our hotel is the gold building to the right. They have this garden loaded with tomato plants.

A gated stairway leading up to many other apartments.

The outdoor seating of our Hotel Margherita.

We are in their addition which is up these stairs.

The view from our balcony to the left.

The view to the right. The iron worked balconies are to the other part of our hotel.

Across the way and up on the roof, a netted rooftop terrace right by the satellite dish. Gray green olive trees nearby.

Alex writing postcards with the ever present water bottle nearby. Window wide open, no screens. Really no bugs bothered us.

I loved writing postcards out here. The place directly across the street was being repaired.

Our night time view. People out on the streets at all hours.

Our view at night.

The next morning the mourning doves across the street were cooing.

Fruit and muesli at breakfast. (Sorry it's blurry, I didn't use my flash at breakfast.)

Made by a local bakery, so of course we had to try it!

Cheeses, meats, breads, and eggs to cook in a boiler to the right.

Coffee and juice added to the collection.

I was intrigued by their off centered coffee cup and saucer.

Bryan and Alex and I went for a hike. (We thought it might be short...)

Boy was it beautiful. We started out about 10:00 am. The Mediterranean is to the left. Our hotel is the dark yellow in the middle.

Gray green olive trees and houses with a view of the water. I see a couple tiny white boats out on the Mediterranean Sea.

New construction, gray green olive trees apparently hanging onto the hillsides.

We kept walking and it was all uphill for quite some time. Terraced grapes to the left, fig trees in front of me. 

Roses to the left, apple and I think peach trees to the right. 

The harbor down below where Alex touched the water last night. Behind the peachy colored building on the right is the tunnel opening that goes to the other side of the outcropping. The "other" sandy beach of Monterosso is through the tunnel.

Our walk continues, lemon trees down below, grapes to the left.

Terraces along the hillsides. Mostly little vineyards, lemon groves.

We are still walking! The "other" beach is in view over the top of the rocky outcropping.

Many terraces on this steep hillside. Grapes, lemons, and olives. There are also new terraces in the making. This is looking south.

Another view out toward the sea. The gray green shrubby looking plants are olive trees. Everywhere possible an olive tree was tucked in.

We are climbing on our walk. One of the few pools we saw. I have no idea how they get to it.

Terraced hill with a wonderful view.

The coast of Monterosso al Mare, Italy. Looking north. Both of the sandy beaches of Monterossos' show in this picture. Both are horse shoe shaped. The near one located behind the rock barrier is where we are staying.

The view looking south. The other four villages do not have sandy beaches and are hidden in these shadows.

You might be able to pick out little villages along the outcroppings, a closer view.

Our walk has leveled out a little.We chose to walk along the roadway instead of paying the fee to hike the trails. We did see a lot of scenery, even though it was along the roadway. Only a few cars were seen.

Houses surrounded by olive trees and terraced vineyards.

According to this purple sign somewhere near here is a Villa a person can rent. Hmmm.

We have climbed quite a bit. Our little village and harbor are waaayyy down there! Such a beautiful view.

Alex had run on ahead and was awaiting us on this view point.

I can see why she waited here. Stunning.

Off we go.

Working our way along the road it will lead us to the other side of Monterosso, beyond the green knoll.

A shady tunnel was nice. It was heating up.

It appears this restaurant serves wine.

A man and his truck are sprucing up what appeared to be a campground on the other side of the road.

Healthy fig trees.

A hotel where the road makes a T. We walked to the left and finally the road started to head downward.

The sign that tells us what things are available. Our hotel is up the valley a little ways on the harbor on the right that has the rock barrier. We walked to the right, up the hills and around and now will be coming down the hill to the far left on this map.

The "National Parks of Cinque Terre". I think.

We saw many different ways of making stairs and terraces. Also different gates made out of a variety of things.

Another view, this area seems to be dryer with less "intentional" farming.

The second pool we saw. 

The lady walking down the hill to the bus stop further down on the right. Bryan striding out. Since I was always taking pictures I was always trying to catch up. I know, it's my addiction. 

I really didn't walk out on this "parking pad". It was that close to the road. What a view they have!

A gate leading up to a house. Fig trees on the left.

A plethora of colorful beehives tucked in among olive trees.

Netting rolled up and stored where it will be used to protect the little olives later in the summer. These nets were thick in the groves of olives.

Little olives near the street.

New terraces being built. A very old stone building on the hilltop.

Another view with the coastline of Cinque Terre.

Bryan waits for me while looking at this common "car/pickup" parked along the road. Three wheels.

Olive trees on the hillside ahead, some sort of TALL grassy corn-like crop on the left. I don't know what it was, it looked like the leaves were very sharp.

Each gate seemed to lead to a different person/family's land. All were locked.

This trail on the other side of this gate dropped off sharply down to the vineyard below.

Young grapes newly planted on this terraced hillside. Notice the drainage capabilities built into the hillside. Lemon trees down low.

Many houses dot the hillsides here.

Parking at a premium. We are heading down and are reminded not to toot our horn!

Vineyard on a hillside with quite a large house partway up.

Looking the other direction the trees are much different and the houses much closer together.

We were just up there, these houses/hotels look huge!

Bryan striding past a hedge of beautiful bougainvillea. Olive trees on the other side of the street.

Hydrangea in the shade with someone's bike resting. Notice the sliding shutters.

Ivy geraniums tumbling over the rockery. Interesting fencing design.

A quiet street up on the hill.

We are down by the waterfront now. Many people, mostly on foot.

Looking toward the sea.

Hotels to the left, umbrellas looking over the sea to the right.

Looking over the railing near the previous picture's umbrellas. The sandy beach on the north part of Monterosso. The umbrellas and reclining chairs are for rent each day.

Same spot looking south, same beach. Our beach is further to the south past the square rock tower.

A panorama of Cinque Terre's northernmost tourist spot.

Love this bike!

The rock wall is pretty, too. When you pay for your beach chair and umbrella they mark it on their map so they know who is where.

See through water.

Rocky shore here. The water is so clear!

Bryan walks through the tunnel toward our side of Monterosso. A narrow tunnel at that. Not many cars.

The view of our sandy beach once we reach the end of the tunnel. Alex had run ahead and was at our hotel before us.

Grams was resting on our balcony awaiting our return. "Hi Grams!"

After what ended up being a 2 1/2 hour walk on a rather hot day, beverages were in order.

We selected an inside lunch spot today.

A pretty table setting and yummy bread to start with.

Alex's water for the meal.

Pesto gnocchi for Alex the pesto lover.

Lasagna for Grams.

Seafood linguine for Lorrie. Soooo yummy. Fresh, fresh, fresh.

Grams and I split this lemon tort with strawberries. Wow.

Our bill.  Beer, beer, water, 4 dinners, 1 dessert, and 2,20 tip added in per person. No choice on the tip. It is built right in. About $1.33 per Euro. 

Flowers and lemon trees between buildings.

A variety of balconies, window coverings, flowers, laundry, and satellite dishes.

An older gentleman tends his balcony garden. 

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The walkway right in front of our hotel. Notice the cars?

After our morning walk, leisurely lunch, nap and exploring the village we headed to meet Stefano who had agreed via the internet to take us on our private two hour sunset boat tour of all five villages of Cinque Terre. He said via the internet that it was to be HOT that day and the evening cruise would be the coolest and would have the best light for photography. I found him on TripAdvisor.com. He is tidying up the boat with the blue sun shade.

We arrived a bit early so we looked around. The white bridge up toward the top of this photo was the one we walked over earlier in the day.

We are pulling out of his mooring spot.

Looking back at our slice of heaven.

His son's boat. His son and friend are about Alex's age. They "happened" to stop by a couple other times. :)

Kayakers. 

Looking back at our village with the church and the beach.

"King Kong".

Clear water.

Swirling rock formations and caves.

Sharp rocks, a waterfall.

Other kayakers in a cove near a waterfall.

Stefano said this was a wonderful place to swim if we'd like to go in.

Bryan went in first. A tad cooler than he thought it would be.

Alex followed and told me I should "close your mouth Mom, it is saltier than you'd think". She was right.

When we were back on board after our swim, Stefano's son and his friend stopped by to show us, uh hum, Alex, the half a fish they had caught.

Coming up on the next village of Cinque Terre, Vernazza with a population of 500.

Vernazza doesn't have a sandy beach, but houses that appear to be built right into the rocks.

A sailboat large enough it has its own little boat. The fortress on the large rock outcropping has been there as a guard for centuries.

A house up on the hill just to the left of Vernazza's colorful older buildings.

As we approach by Stefano's boat, another view. The large boulders block our view of the protected harbor.

Inside the harbor. People near the water and up on the added on mini-terraces.

A small panorama showing how this village sets in the valley and up on the hills. The left shows were the train travels on the flat.

We are sharing the Mediterranean with other water craft this wonderful evening.

Alex enjoys the view. After our swim her hair quickly dried. A very warm and pleasant evening on the water.

Approaching the inside protected harbor of Vernazza.

Their boat "parking lot".

A variety of water craft are tied up along the rocky mooring.

Rock buildings next to more typical buildings. I think the rock ones may have been pill boxes for protection during wartime. 

Boats all in a row. Clothes on the line to dry. Some dwellings need a new coat of paint.

A panorama of Vernazza. A beautiful sight.

Heading out to open water. Light has changed as the sun gets closer to setting.

Cruising around their rock jetty and heading south.

The harbor is on the other side of these large boulders. 

Swimming on the left, fishing on the right. 

Another view of Vernazza.

It seems they are able to put umbrellas and eateries everywhere. Up on the top right are tables and also under the blue umbrellas. Such a pleasant climate to be out in, especially this time of night.

The colorful dwellings are hidden from this side of the rocks.

The back side of the colorful dwellings. Terraces so neat and tidy up the hillside.

I bet they have a wonderful view.

How do they build on these craggy rocks? It appears this is their pebbly beach.

The rail line pretty much lives in tunnels along this coastline.

Alex taking in the view. Sun low in the sky.

Rugged rock formations.

A red tent on the right, people down on the beach.

A waterline view of the rocks protecting the beach. The red tent is still visible and the opening to the tunnel through the hillside. My guess is that is a train tunnel.

People on the beach, a man made wall with room for water to flow down from the hillside. A small white boat up on shore.

Stefano said this is a neat cove to swim to and rest in the cave. "Couples" tend to stop by here. Ahem.

Cornigilia, the next village of Cinque Terre, is up on the hill.

Part of this village of 240 people is on the hill overlooking the water, part is further up the valley.

Stefano provided a locally made snack for us. Freshly made pizza with red sauce on the left, just cheese in the middle and a garbanzo bean flour tortilla type snack on the right. All were quite tasty.

He also provided us with white wine, water, and cola. We are drifting ever so slightly in the Mediterranean. How cool is that?

More hillside views. I believe the train station is here, too. There are lights and signs along the water's edge indicating the station is near, before heading into another tunnel.

Man made edging to the sea. The train tracks have emerged from the tunnel. Some land slides are visible. One of the reasons for the tunnels.

They try to farm every surface possible. Stefano told us about conquering people and they were successful when they could show the locals how to terrace with dry rock construction and a drainage system. This began about 1000 years ago. Wow.

Grams enjoys our boat trip and a little beverage.

Alex snaps photos of sunset on the hills.

This terracing is amazing. Fewer landslides here.

Stefano continues to tell Bryan stories as the sun gets lower.

He gestures when he discusses his beloved Cinque Terre.

Our first glimpse of the next village.

As we get closer, the walkway with a small fence becomes apparent, which leads down to the water. A few boats are in sight.

As we round the rocks, Manarola's pretty colors appear.

Pathway on the rocks.

Approaching their harbor.

The two sides of this valley. There used to be a river that would flow down through the opening under the bridge. Stefano said it had dried up. I don't know when or why. 

Perched dwellings. Boats down below.

Another view. The terracing on the left is pretty much straight up!

Boulders protect the inlet to the village.

Netting perched on the rocky hill to protect the people below from falling rocks.

The train station is located on the "flat part" here. The village is to the left through a tunnel we can't see.

These houses have a view to the south. 

The train station with terraced vineyards directly above the platform and track.

Manarola with sun setting on its dwellings. Pretty colors.

The walking path along the top arches. The train tracks are behind the lower arches. The train is protected from rock slides this way.

Coming up on Riomaggiore. The most southern village of Cinque Terre.

Not all of this village can be seen from the water.

A landslide shows up to the right of the village.

Part of the walking path that connects all five villages. 

Archways to allow for the once large river to reach the sea. 

Dwellings high up hang on to the rocks.

More of the village is seen up the valley. There is a roadway on the high bridge. Notice the construction under the archway by the water.

There are small posts/stakes with cording of some sort to aid those trying to get down to the water near here. 

The person in a red shirt has a wonderful place to watch the sunset.

Small boats moored here, laundry drying, many colors, people on the rocks.

Rock walls lead to rock foundations. A cool little archway.

People sunning on the boulders. Top right there are umbrellas and people having dinner.

Things here are "fixed" instead of new things being built. It is a "protected" area and therefore NEW buildings are rare. I was under the impression this was a repair job underway.

Boats in the water, on the rock wall, up on the rock ledge to the left. I suppose the locals know everyone and they all watch for each other's boats.

The larger more "serious" boats are moored here.

Looking northwest. Wow. Monterosso, "our village" is by that point of land along the sunset trail.

Alex trying to capture a Mediterranean sunset. 

Grams toasting our good times!

Grams and Stefano hit it off. They got along quite well. He made sure she was comfortable and hydrated.

Stefano has a wooden steering "thingy" (is it a tiller?) that allows him to face forward and sip his water while guiding his boat along. A boat's color of paint tells those in the know which village the boat is from.

Love "our" sunset. As we head back to our village, the view has me mesmerized. 

The outline of the land looks like a person's face while they are lying down looking up. Well, kind of...

Manarola on our return trip, their terraces show up more from further away. Sunset on these villages is so pretty.

Sunset changing colors.

Stefano continues to tell Bryan and Grams stories of the area.

So very many colors.

Sunshine on the colorful houses.

Basking in the last of the sun.

Heading toward our home harbor.

Many colors.

Wow.

A sunset ribbon connects to the boat.

Enjoying the view.

As it grows darker, Stefano snacks along with story telling.

Oh my.

Grams takes a gander at the views.

Evening colors.

Evening colors with a bit of change.

Grams samples the local pizza.

Alex relaxes and thoroughly enjoys the lovely warm weather. The hotel loans towels out for swimming. They were large and plush.

Love the colors.

And people have lived here for centuries.

A large sailboat is rocking gently here.

Stefano gets into his story. The boat is being guided by his body against the guiding piece. The tiller?

Larger water craft along the rocky coast.

Lights begin to twinkle as the sun has set.

When Stefano figured out Grams favorite wine wasn't white, he produced a bottle of red and poured her a second little glass. Double cheers.

Pretty dang good, too.

Returning to our village of Monterosso.

A panorama of the outlined backdrop of our little village as the sun had set behind the hills.

The blur of blue in the middle on the beach are all the blue umbrellas curled up for the night. The train tracks are above the arched rail bed. 

The outcropping to the left has a tunnel through it to the other part of Monterosso. 

One of the alleyways as we walk toward our hotel.

The shops are open, the striped building to the right is the church.

Very pleasant temperature. It seems that everyone is outside.

Which way should we go exploring? Left or right?

Alex and Bryan in the foreground. We are pondering our choices for dinner.

This restaurant looks open, but no one is here. Love the flowers.

Alex and I go in search of a take out dinner.

Alex up ahead reading menus as they appear near doorways.

This wider street is the main walkway. We only saw a couple cars the entire time we were here. We did get a taxi to take us and our luggage from the train through the tunnel to "our" side of Monterosso but it did NOT drive up this street/walkway. People are everywhere and it is about 9:00 pm.

Once again, in search of a take out meal, tourists like ourselves casually strolling along, or resting.

A side street. Construction/remodeling on the upper left. Protection provided for those underneath.

Alex and I stepped in here to see what they had to offer in take out. Cheery isn't it?

They had take out pizza! We ordered, waited a very few minutes (hot ovens) and took it back to Bryan and Grams. Yum.

The next morning at the beach. Calm waters with the rocky breakwater out a ways.

A little smoother panorama photo with an older gentleman to the right. He is putting sunscreen on his wife who is laying on a towel on the sand. Such a beautiful day. We all went swimming/wading and enjoyed the warm/hot temperatures (for a while).
 After our morning at the beach we did some laundry and repacked. The next morning we moved on to Florence by way of Pisa. Train on!!!