I hope Cinque Terre always stays a little bit under the radar. That it remains in that "Italy's best kept secret" category. So, I figure, what better way to keep things secret than to go out there and publish a 1,000 word blog post raving about it. Cinque Terre means "The Five Towns" in Italian. Each town has, maybe, a few thousand residents.

To go from London (8 million people), then Rome (over 2 million people) to Venice (261,000) and then Florence (382,000), this dramatic drop in population alone felt like a major change in pace. Now add in some incredibly steep cliffs, narrow roads, and some intense hiking, and you've got a truly unique stop on the trip. The Five Towns are a sweet little place that can hold their own against the big names of Rome, Florence, and Venice.