After five amazing days in the Cinque Terre region, it was time to part ways and move on to our final honeymoon destination.  W wanted to make sure that we thoroughly enjoyed our last day in this beautiful area by the ocean, so we planned on spending the day at the beach and hiking from Monterosso to Vernazza.

We started bright and early so that we could get the best beach seats possible.  We still look a little sleepy in the picture below!

The cafe where we purchased cappuccino and internet from several times also had beach rentals.  For about 20 euro we were able to rent two beach chairs with an umbrella, and internet for the entire day.  What a deal!

When we first scoped out the beach earlier in the week, we noticed there were Stand Up Paddle Boards.  We couldn’t wait to try them out!

After soaking in the sun and relaxing for a couple of hours, we headed over to the rental area and decided to give stand up paddle boarding a try.  Of course, Brian had little difficulty getting up and onto the paddle board and cruising around the water.

I, however, had a little bit more difficulty.

And I got it!

It actually wasn’t too difficult to stand on the board and paddle in a straight line.  It was the steering that really threw me off.  Brian and I ended up only renting one paddle board to share, so I eventually just let Brian paddle around while I swam next to him 🙂

Once we were thoroughly hot and tired of sitting still, Brian and I headed out for a hike from the town we were in (Monterosso) to Vernazza.  This path seemed a bit harder than the path we took from Vernazza to Corniglia earlier in the week, but it was equally as beautiful!

While we were hiking, we heard a voice ask if we wanted lemonade or limoncello….

But we weren’t sure where it was coming from!

Then, we noticed this little hole in the side of the rock we were hiking next to:

This man was selling fresh lemonade and limoncello made with lemons from his farm to hikers that walked by.  Brilliant!  Of course we purchased a fresh lemonade and it was amazingly refreshing.

Isn’t the scenery below amazing!?  That is the town we were hiking to:  Vernazza.

Once we could see the village, we could also HEAR the village.  Cheers, laughter, buzzer….there was definitely an event of some sort going on but it was hard to make out until we got right into the little town.

Apparently, on the 20th of July every year there is a festival that goes through the entire day and night…and we got to witness part of it!  We were there while the children were competing in tug of war…it was so cute!

After finishing our hike, we headed back to our apartment in Riomaggiore to shower up and enjoy our last night in our cute little town.

We ate dinner right outside of our apartment at Ristorante Cila.  We had been eyeing this eatery every single night, as the food looked delicious and there was outdoor seating right on the water.

After our very tasty meal, we decided to walk around our little village one last time to soak it all in while we still could.

It was a perfect way to end our last night in the magical Cinque Terre.