Day 2 in Cinque Terre was my hiking day. Until the railroad was connected to the Cinque Terre towns the only way to get between the towns and the outside world was by footpath. The roads that lead into the towns from high on the hillside above are even more recent. Now the area around the towns has been turned into a national park and the path connecting the towns is a popular and scenic hiking route. As I did many times on my trip, I set out before dawn (not actually that early because of the high mountains to the East) to avoid the crowds. If you ever do this hike I highly recommend this practice as the trails become a zoo later in the day. I started from Riomaggiore and headed north.