Cinque Terre

Italy at long last! This is the country I’ll be leaving from, in just three more weeks. I can’t believe I’m back in a place where I can speak the language – though the amount of English we heard in Cinque Terre was a bit of a downer. Regardless, it’s nice to be able to be polite again!

We arrived in Monterosso al Mare, the first of the five towns that make up the Cinque Terre (five lands). The gorgeous Cinque Terre National Park on the Ligurian Coast is a place I had been hearing about for years, and I was glad we traveled a bit out of our way to be able to see it firsthand. Monterosso was facing the sea; its train station was just meters from the beach. The main promenade on the water served as a perfect place to take in the sights – the scenery was unbelievable. After a short walk along the water to our hotel, Wes and I got ready to do some exploring.

We changed into our bathing suits and joined the hordes of tourists and backpackers at the beach. I have no idea why, but we saw more young English-speaking backpackers here than anywhere else on our tour. We wanted to jump in the water, but the sea was so rough, the ferries weren’t even operating. After a short fight with the water (the water won after providing me with a face full of salt), I admitted defeat and joined Wes back on our towel. We decided to get a drink on the beach before having some dinner in town. We ended up falling prey to the landscape, and instead of choosing a tasty genuine restaurant in town, we ate on a beautiful rocky promontory that provided beautiful views but mediocre cuisine. It was ok though, because we were in Italy!

The next day we planned to take a train to the other end of the Cinque Terre and hike the entire length of the park. We were going to trek through all five villages and put our endurance to the test in the hot Mediterranean sun…

While waiting for the train that morning, we noticed a large group of retired English ladies who reminded us a fair amount of twittering birds. They were so adorable we decided to try and sit near them on the train. We ended up speaking with two of them, who told us they were there with the Royal Music Academy, and they were there to sing in some of the piazzas that week. In fact, that night, we saw a performance in the square of some of the younger opera singers who were traveling along with The Birds. It was fabulous.

Anyway, we arrived at the start of our hike, which began in Riomaggiore. The first stretch, a leisurely 20 minute walk, featured the famed Via Dell’ Amore, an enclosed concrete tunnel liberally decorated with love-themed graffiti.  When we arrived in the second town, we spent a fair amount of time admiring its beauty and watching sunbathers sunning themselves on the rocks in the port while kids jumped into the crashing waves. The sea still hadn’t settled down, so the waves were quite large. The spray reached us up on the trail as we watched everything going on below.

We continued on to Corniglia, a forty five minute walk away. We thought we had reached the town when we realized that the town was not on the sea as we had expected, but perched all the way on top of the cliffs – a steep climb straight up. We were determined to make good time, so we started walking while the sun beat down mercilessly on our necks.  After we arrived at the top, it was time for lunch. We stopped at a small café in a piazza and enjoyed a quick bite.

The town itself was gorgeous; a jumble of bright houses arranged in a charmingly haphazard way. Vineyards surrounded the mountain, and there were plants growing from every free piece of dirt in the town. Flowers, fruits and wonderful smells guided us as we continued on the trail to our next stop.

Vernazza was quite far – an hour and a half long walk through the highest terrain we’d seen thus far. It felt like we were walking uphill for a lifetime. Step after endless rocky step led us higher and higher above the coast until we felt like we could see for miles – well, we could! We looked North to our final destination in Monterosso and south to see how far we had already come. Little did we know that the last two sections would be by far the longest. We had three and a half hours of hiking ahead of us.

As we walked along, we encountered many others doing the same thing. American backpackers, families with children, older couples with fancy walking sticks – it was a motley collection of travelers. We kept on plodding, and Wes and I couldn’t help but wonder just how sore we would be the next day (not too bad at all, for those who are curious). The view around every single corner was more beautiful than the last, and what with all the physical beauty, we couldn’t help but count our lucky stars to be doing what we were doing.

We arrived in Vernazza hot, sweaty, and happy. We only had one more section to go – the steepest and longest trek of all. We decided to stop for a pizza boost in Vernazza, which I think was my favorite of all five villages. The town was literally suspended above the sea on a rock outcropping that seemed to defy physics. Houses were piled on houses, and the bright facades seemed to magnify the sparkling crystal water and bright blue sky.

We took a deep breath and continued on for the last part of the hike – a two hour sojourn through brambles and bees filled with yapping American girls and enormous stone steps that were too high for someone my height. Olive groves surrounded us and the sea would emerge from time to time between the leaves to expose us to a splendor it’s hard to get used to.  We walked forever uphill before finally reaching the top and making our way slowly down. Our walk ended with the steepest stairs I’d ever seen – twenty minutes downhill with no break. T

hank goodness we didn’t have to walk up those!

The hike took us about 5 hours and was absolutely awe inspiring. Every two seconds I felt like I was being reintroduced to the scenery – I kept falling in love with what I was seeing over and over again.

That night we ate at an amazing local place before listening to some opera in the square. We didn’t last long, and ended up passing out really early after all the exertion. All in all Cinque Terre was tremendous, hopefully the pictures will show at least some of its splendor!