Italia, Day Three

Pictured above: Corniglia from the trail.  Below - Jody and Chris mid-hike.  I don't know why this pic came out so small . . . 
This was my favorite day in Italy.  We decided to hike from Corniglia where we were staying to Vernazza and then Monterosso.  Each of these towns was vastly different from quiet and sleepy Corniglia, and from each other.  I don't think that either of us realized how long and challenging these hikes were going to be - it turns out that the first leg to Vernazza was 3K, and the next leg to Monterosso was 4K.  There were steep inclines and declines, and we wound around the cliffs and through hillside vineyards - glimpsing some stunning views along the way.

In Monterosso we carved out a little spot on the beach.  We ate lunch there, then began the trek back to Corniglia.  We moved much more slowly on the way back, and stopped in Vernazza for a brief intermission.  There we enjoyed a delicious pesto bruschette, and a drink.  Those probably slowed us down even more on the last leg!

We were covered in sweat and dirt from our hikes, so our showers felt absolutely luxurious! We decided to try a restaurant that was only about 50 feet from our room - we had heard from other travelers that the anti pasti there was tasty and plentiful.  What we didn't realize was that most of anti pasti dishes included some kind of seafood!  We had anchovies prepared 4 different ways, and 3 plates of mussels.  Chris had to pick-up the slack for me on those dishes - luckily one of the town cats was hanging around our table - he also seemed to enjoy seafood.

After dinner we picked up some gelato, and sat on a bench in the town square.  A group of little boys were racing back and forth across the town square - and each time they reached their end-point they would call out "Primo!" "Secondo!" or "Ultimo!" - these little fellas ran tirelessly, and provided us some great entertainment.