Cinque Terre

Last weekend I went somewhere I had never heard of because even though I'm an Italian minor, I know nothing about Italian geography. The place is called Cinque Terre (five "lands" or cities) and it consists of five towns along the Italian Riviera. For my own reference, they're called Riomaggiore, Manorola, Corniglia, Vernazza, and Monterossa. One of the girls from UF planned the whole trip, arranged the hostel and train tickets, so all I had to do was hand over money, which was very nice. We took the Intercity train, which is the middle of the road train in terms of price. It was okay...the seats were grouped into six seats in a compartment, very Harry Potter-esque, except second class. We left Termini at 8:30 in the morning, which is far too early to be on a train. Anyway, the ride was beautiful. Most of it was along the water and we could see all the small towns along the way.

Once we got to Riomaggiore, we hiked up an enormous hill to get to our hostel, which wasn't really a hostel but an apartment overlooking the water. The trek was worth it once you looked outside on the balcony. There were eight of us all together in the apartment, and only one bathroom. That was the singular problem we had.

By the time we got settled, it was about 3pm, so we went down to the beach and played in the ocean. The Mediterranean is so salty! It burned a little when we first got in. There also wasn't really a beach at Riomaggiore, just a lot of rocks. It reminded me more of an East coast 'shore' instead of like home. The water was so clear though, you could see right down to the bottom. It looked a lot more shallow than it actually was. I tried to touch the bottom but couldn't because of how deep it was.

Before dinner we went up to a cliff and watched the sunset. The main attraction in Cinque Terre is the hiking trails, so we weren't really sure what to do the first night. We ended up just wandering around and having a good time.
After that we went to dinner at a restaurant and had amazing seafood and white wine (two things Cinque Terre are famous for). My mussels still had barnacles on the shells. It was incredible. We went to bed at 10 that first night because we'd all gotten up so early that morning. It was also because everyone was afraid of the 8 mile hike we were about to go on the next morning.
I bought amazing fresh fruit for breakfast and some foccacia that was soaked in olive oil. I ate very well this weekend, if you couldn't tell.

The hike started out nice and and beautiful. The first part of the trail that begins in Riomaggiore is called "Via dell'Amore" which means Lovers Lane because it is a stroll. Easy. After Manorola it got a little harder. There was a sign once you reached Corniglia congratulating you on climbing so many stairs. We stopped in each town because we needed an excuse to rest and to refuel on water. In Corniglia we got foccacia covered in pesto (another Cinque Terre specialty). There was something strange about Corniglia though--when we were exploring the town we noticed an "enoteca" (liquor store) that had beer/wine bottles with pictures of Hitler, Mussolini, and Stalin on them. It was very strange, and a little upsetting. I didn't get the full story, but I didn't really ask either.

At Vernazza we rested by sunbathing on huge rocks. I think I fell alseep for a little while because I was exhausted. The best part is, the worst of the climbing was between Vernazza and Monterossa. It was literally stairs for half an hour. I have calves of steel now. It was around five in the afternoon when we got to Monterossa, and we were all exhausted. That was the most intense and beautiful hike I've ever been on. We started singing Beatles songs on the way down (one of the girls is obsessed, and one of the boys loves to teach music) and gained a chorus with a bunch of Americans. I had someone politely ask me if we could "change the cd" and it made me laugh. We didn't.

The next day we checked out of the hostel and wandered around Monterossa until our train left. We had pesto pizza (amazing) and I split this huge icecream coffee float with Fiona. Like I said, I ate well. We did all our touristy shopping that morning because we were on our way out. I got some pesto to bring home. Our plan all along had been to take the train to Pisa on the way home, take some pictures, and then continue on the way to Rome. Unfortunately, when we got to the train station in Monterossa, there weren't any ticket people that spoke English. I was the only one in the group with any Italian at all, so I had to explain to the lady exactly what we wanted to do. Amazingly enough, we understood each other. There was a lot of gesturing, but with her basic English and my Italian we got it done. I was pretty proud. I'm definitely getting better.

Pisa is dirty, and smelly, and full of young Italian hooligans. I don't recommend it. We got off the train, ran to the tower, took pictures, and then ran back. I didn't want to stay longer. The tower is pretty cool though. It leans.

It was around this time that I realized I was getting sick. I lost my voice completely. I'm still kind of congested, but I feel a lot better now. I guess I just wasn't used to nature after spending so much time in a big city. Tomorrow I'm going to Pompei for the day, and possibly stopping in Napoli (although I doubt it--they were rioting last week) for a pizza. And then Monday, my mom and Pam are coming! I'm really excited to show them around my new home. I'm coming to the conclusion that I don't want to leave. I've already been here a month and I only have two and a half more. It's going by so fast!