Literally “five lands” the Cinque Terre is a collection of five coastal villages south of Sestri Levante:

The train from Florence to Rapallo had stops at each town.  However, we opted to get off the train at Monterosso and walk south to Riomaggiore.  It was a brief 6 mile hike (~11 kiliometers), that hugged the shoreline.   In each town construction looks amazing.  Even if the building is new, facades and work are done to preserve the period essence of each town.  Even though these are small “fishing” villages, there are plenty tourist shops and eateries.  The views are plentiful and it was no surprise that that it is a UNESCO world heritage site.  At the last villiage, Sharleen and I treated ourselves to some Italian ice.  My Spanish teacher in high school studied in Italy.  I remembered her words: “If ever in Italy there are two things you absolutely must have: gelato and grita.”  Lemonade was our flavor of choice and it was the perfect treat to end our hike.  We hopped on the train and headed back to Sestri Levante as the next day was our wedding day.