From Florence I boarded a train to La Spezia, a town close to the Cinque Terre. Emily, Lane, Lee and I stayed at a hostel in Riomaggiore. I wasn't sure what to expect but the staff were
actually very friendly and we had lovely roommates staying in the same
apartment all weekend.
The main road of the town is steep, leading into
the mountains one way and into the ocean the other. Riomaggiore is the
southernmost town of the Cinque Terre that make up the
national park. Continuing north, the remaining four towns are: Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza, and Monterosso. Each town is connected by many hiking
paths and also the train.
Friday afternoon we spent most of our time
figuring out our transportation back to Rome on Monday, which became
complicated because we had to travel back to La Spezia to buy the
tickets for Rome. We had dinner at a restaurant in Riomaggiore. Lane and I
ordered the same pasta dish; we were really hungry at the point, but dinner
wasn't exactly what we expected. The pasta was basically three small
pancake-shaped pasta, one with pesto, one with bolognese sauce, and one
with olive oil and cheese. I enjoyed the meal but I was still really
hungry afterwards! We found one of the only gelato places in town (which
gives you an idea of how small the towns are) and had
the best gelato I've had in Italy so far. It was inexpensive and tasted
creamier than others I have had. I went to bed shortly after that ready
for a day of exploring the national park on Saturday.
Saturday morning we bought a cinque card, which admitted us to all of
the hiking trails and trains between the towns for the day. We started
off on a stunning path between Riomaggiore and Manarola, a short walk
known as Lover's Lane. The path was right along the coast overlooking the
ocean the entire time. The views were breathtaking. We passed a small
cafe on the path and I had to have a cappuccino to savor the scenery I
was surrounded. In Manarola we had the option of hiking a detour path
to Corniglia that we were told was 2.5 hours long. We decided to skip
that one for the sake of time and because it was raining at this point.
Right outside of Manarola I took my THON around the world picture which I
was really excited to do! We took the train to Corniglia after
exploring Manarola for a bit and then set out on a long walk to the
town. Corniglia felt more intimate than the other towns, especially when
I read a sign that said the population is 250 people! We found a pizza
shop for lunch and had delicious freshly made pizza for lunch. One of my
goals for the trip was to try many foods special to this region of
Italy (the pasta dish the night before failed a little bit) so Emily and
I ordered the Corniglia pizza not knowing what would be on it. It
turned out to have sweet onions and tuna. It was definitely an
interesting flavor but the pizza was so yummy that I ate it happily anyway. Then we explored the town more (the weather was still
pretty rainy) and had gelato at a shop recommended by Rick Steves. This
gelato was also fantastic! I has cinnamon and coffee favors and enjoyed
every bite. We left Corniglia worried about it raining for the rest of
the day and not being able to hike at all. The trail between Corniglia
and Vernazza was closed so our last hope was the trail between Vernazza
and Monterosso.
When we got off the train in Vernazza and walked around
town. The evidence of disaster appeared everywhere. In October 2011,
Vernazza was flooded and the entire town was submerged in 4 meters of
mud. Most of the storefronts were closed and all of the buildings had
marks of mud very high up. I kept seeing photographs of the mud and
really couldn't believe that I was standing in the same place that less
than a year ago was devastated by natural disaster. I walked into what I
thought was a store and chatted with a woman who told me about save 5- a
charity effort to bring Vernazza back to life with the rest of the Cinque Terre. She told me that the charity was started by an American student studying abroad in Florence, which was inspiring to hear.
The weather was slowly clearing up and we decided to chance the trail to
Monterosso. At the beginning of the trail, I caught sight of Vernazza
from above and understood how this town flooded so drastically. It
literally is situated almost entirely in the water, whereas the others
are a little more inland. The beginning of the hike was nonstop incline
with stairs for about 30 minutes. The sun was finally shining and it
made everything more enjoyable. The views along the trail were
unbelievably stunning. I could see the entire coast line and we often
were walking on narrow paths that looked right down over a cliff into
the ocean. The hike was about 1 hour and 45 minutes and one of the best
memories of my trip. At the end of the trail there were stairs on a
decline, which were scary because the steps were narrow and there wasn't
much to hold on to. I'm also not the most balanced of people so I kept
imagining myself wiping out but luckily I made it through the entire
hike on my two feet.
The very end of the trail offered gorgeous views of
Monterosso, the fifth town that is most resort like and the largest. There was a long stretch of beach visible. Once in town we realized some
kind of festival was occurring, and it turned out to be a lemon
festival! All throughout the town booths were set up selling different
lemon products, including lemonade, limencello, lemon desserts,
limencello candy, and more. We wandered around the town and ended up in a
cafe drinking lemon ice with limoncello. The owner was very friendly
and let us try a lemon pastry which was delicious. We checked the train
schedule and decided to spend another hour in the town before heading
back to Riomaggiore. We found the beach entrance and sat down by the
water until we left for the train. The beach was partly sandy but mostly
medium sized pebbles. I enjoyed sitting and taking everything in, once
again blown away by the views of the ocean and coast. At this point I
was reminded again of how fortunate I am to have parents who could send
me on this trip and allow me the opportunity to experience such beauty.
They're the best parents I could ever ask for and I thought about them a
lot that day because I know Cinque Terre is a place they have to visit
one day. When you read this, thanks again Mom and Dad!
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