Hiking from Monterosso al Mare up to Soviore

We rise on our first full day in Cinque Terre and decide to take a short hike up above Monterosso to Santuario N. S. di Soviore, the oldest Marian sanctuary in Italy's Liguria region.  Completely renovated in the 18th century, the site offers fabulous views of the land and the sea and features a charming chapel.

The hike up takes and hour or so, with occational glimpses of Monterosso from higher and higher up.

Starting up

Views as we ascend

About halfway, we cross the road that winds down to Monterosso and are rewarded with more spectacular views of the hills and the sea.

Views just keep getting better

We step into the small chapel to admire its beauty and serenity, before starting back down to Monterosso.

In the chapel

Starting down

Arriving back in Monterosso

To celebrate our first full day, we walk over the the fried fish shop at the train station and have two  cones:  fried anchovies, and mixed fried fish (anchoves, shrimp, white fish).

Our reward

From the train station, we walk back up Via Fegina toward the tunnel into the old town, passing the famous Monterosso umbrellas decorating the beach on this beautiful day.  The umbrellas are so distinctive that one day we were wandering down the street in Paris and saw an advertisement that had this exact same view and we knew exactly where they took the picture.

Umbrellas of Monterosso

We're back!