Cinque Terre before Castelvetere

Ash, Mike, Dustin and i flew into Rome and then travelled to cinque terre for a few days before heading south the Castelvetere. We stayed in Vernazza in cinque terre which was great! Close to the ocean and our own roof top terrace. If anyone wants to visit this part of Italy contact me for the info, i highly recommend it. We found Rosa Camere online and after a few emails back and forth decided to book the apartment. I was a bit nervous about 4 floors up and no air condition but i figured we would manage (and we did!). Rosa was such a sweet heart, i wish i would have awkwardly insisted on a photo with her. All of the people in Vernazza were great. It is the nicest little one street village that gets pounded by tourists daily yet everyone seemed to be very accomodating and freiendly and not in a 'thank you for your money' kind of way. Cinque terre is now a Unesco world heritage site. All 5 towns are connected by a train that travels through the mountains. After a 2 train transfers from Rome we finally made it to Vernazza. My instructions from Rosa were simple. "Exit the station, walk down the street past the gelateria and your apartment is number 9." Rosa does not live there however; she lives further down the street on the opposite side where there was a blue sign that said her name. She told me she would be there at any time to give us the key. All of this seemed a little bit lackadaisical but most great travel experiences start out this way. We found her without problem and were delighted at our apartment. Over the next few days we explored the coast under Michael’s guidance and trekked to three of the five villages. A lot of the coastal paths were closed due to landslides which meant we had to take the mountain paths….up up up up…and then more up……It was beautiful . My calves hated me for three or four days later although my achy muscles slowed me down to a good ‘Italiano’ pace.