Over the Easter weekend Andy and I took the dogs to Monterossa al Mare, one of the five villages in the Cinque Terre on the coast of the Italian Riviera. We stayed two nights and even though it was a rainy weekend, we all enjoyed ourselves. The vistas of the sea from the hillside were spectacular. The dogs were welcomed everywhere and they loved the attention. The following pics are of the dogs at dinner. They were very well behaved. We were pleasantly surprised!

When we checked into the hotel, the desk clerk told us of a lovely hike we could do with the dogs and the view of the five villages would be worth it. She said she used to hike there when she was in school and have a picnic lunch. She gave us a map and we were on our way. It was rainy so we wore our raincoats, sneakers and grabbed a bottle of water. We were totally unprepared and she totally mislead us. The hike was up a mountain with thousands (okay maybe hundreds) of steep steps and cliffs. Think of Watkins Glen but much steeper, longer and no railings! We literally hiked up to where the arrow is.

Andy and I are not seasoned hikers, yes we walk the dogs every day and we take the occasional weekend hike but we are both extremely stubborn so we continued. There was a hotel midway that we stopped at to buy some more water for us and the dogs. We probably should have turned around there but as I said, we are stubborn. As we were on the trail we passed real hikers prepared with backpacks, trekking poles, etc. If we were told how difficult the climb would be we definitely wouldn’t have gone but with hindsight, I’m glad we did. The view was breathtaking and the exercise was good for us!

The next day we were all pretty sore so we stayed in the village and enjoyed the more tame hiking trails and paths.

We did not check out the other four villages because the trail between them was closed due to the rain and we have not yet figured out how to take the train with the dogs. We know that they can go on the train but they need a European Pet Passport and we have not gotten that for them yet. Once we figure the train part out it will be much easier to travel with the dogs as parking the car is a nightmare. We lucked out and found a spot in the only parking garage in Monterossa. There are no cars allowed in Monterossa. You park the car outside the village and walk. You can’t even take a car to some of the other villages because there is absolutely no parking. The train, boat or the hiking trails are the only way to get there.

We hear that the Cinque Terre gets really busy and crowded in the summer months so we are planning a trip back in the fall to see the other towns. It’s abut a 3.5 hour drive for us but totally worth it! Maybe we will try taking the train!