Cinque Terre
Trip Start
Apr 19, 2011
1
19
22
Trip End
Jun 03, 2011
Riomaggiore, Italian Riviera, Italy
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Made it! And the trains really worked out for us too! barely any waiting time! So we get to the hostel, and when the guy tells us he will show us his room he takes us up the town (its so steep). then up stairs. then some more. then the steepest stairs ive ever seen in my entire life. (note: we are carrying our backpacks!). Oh man so tired! Looking forward to doing this every time we want to leave our room (NOT). But, the view from our hostel (which is basically a mini apartment) is amazing. You can see the entire town (its not that big but still), the surrounding hills, and of course the ocean. Feeling like quite the vacation right now!!! We have also discovered that food here is quite cheap and restaurants are expensive, so we decided we would make dinner. It was a nice change from restaurant food! We got some sausage to add to our pasta, and to be quite honest I still have absolutely no idea what type of meat it is lol (we are hoping its not horse... we heard people enjoy eating that here :S). Either way I didnt really care - it tasted good! Got some really good gelato to end off the night!
Tuesday (aka my birthday!):
Doesnt really feel like my birthday haha. But Jess is awesome and sang to me as soon as I woke up and got me a wonderful present :D. After some food we headed out for a full day of hiking! So pumped for this! We hiked (well not really it was a paved path... we shall call it our warm up) from our village (Riomaggoire) to the next one (Manarosa). We found out the paths from the 2nd - 4th village were closed (boooo!!!) so we trained to the 4th village so we could start our hike. This path is the hardest one out of all the others and takes about 2hrs to do (I didnt tell Jess this until we were done haha). Of course, the hike starts off with the hardest part (naturally). It was incredibly steep and stairy going up to get to the mountains from the village. Of course none of the steps are even or have railings so that was good times all around. My calfs hate me. Thighs definitely getting a work out (man im gonna be ripped by the end of this). But this is what I love about hiking! You do all this hard work and after you not only feel great, but you get to relish in your accomplishment with fantastic views. And this view was amazing. We were on top of a cliff overlooking the town we just came from and the town we were heading to (Monterosso). Not only that, but the ocean stretches out until the horizon. Its so calm and peaceful too! So happy We decided to do the hike on my birthday!!!! Some of the pathways were super narrow. As in barely one person could fit at a time, and there are no railings stopping you from tumbling down the cliff (awesome!). Clearly its a Canadian thing to stop for other people so they have enough room on the path and to say hi to fellow hikers, because we were constantly doing this and no one else really seemed to (i thought it was obvious to stop and wait for people when you are on the rock side and the other people aka us are on the cliff of doom side, but no thats not the case). Anyways, the scenery and views were to die for. It was like hiking in a jungle yet you still got to see all the prettiness of the ocean. Random: lots of geckos here! Did not expect to see them in Italy, but they are everywhere! and they scurry along the paths as you walk by, or you can here them in the bushes trying to hide. Its also really hot out (of course). Just seeing the water is so torturous! But once we (FINALLY) made it to Monterosso, we ate some much needed lunch, then headed right to the beach to have a little dip. Best idea ever! It was so refreshing! The water is so clear its amazing! Aqua water where you can see the rocks on the bottom! After our nice little cool down we got ready to hike back (we are here, might as well be hard core about it and hike back the way we came!!! only way to do it!!! also thank god its my birthday or i dont think Jess would have agreed to going back hahaha). Easier to go back the way we came. So tired from all the hiking though! Could really go for a nap! but we continued birthday festivities by making grilled cheese sandwiches and sangria for dinner :D Great combo! Finished off the night by buying this delicious cake that was whip cream and chocolate chunks, then bread layer THEN gelato in the middle!!! Amazing! We took the cake down to the water and ate it while the sun set :D. Finished the perfect day by playing cards, finishing our sangria and listening to some T. Swift. :D
Wednesday:
Beach day! How could we not go to the beach at a place like this? So we headed to the big town of Monterosso where they had some pretty nice beaches from what we saw yesterday. When we got there, we discovered an even better beach (score!). We rented lounge chairs for the day (beach was a bit rocky and really hot sand and we had tiny towels) which was a fantastic idea. So we just lounged around listening to music, watching this adorable dog go up to people with its ping pong ball and get people to throw it down the beach and occasionally went in the water. Such a relaxing day enjoying where we are. The thing that made me mad though is that i put on soooooo much sun screen (spf 50) and Jess put on tanning lotion once and guess who got burnt? that would be me. How unfair and lame is that?! Good thing i came prepared and brought lots of aloe vera!! lathered that on once we got back to our hostel (which we now have all to ourselves which is sick!). Again we took it easy, made dinner, got some gelato.... chilled. Its a hard life traveling. I wish this vacation could go on forever!!! (stupid reality...)
Thursday:
No place to leave our bags for the day, and didnt really feel like bringing them to the beach with us (nor did i really feel like being in that really mean sun again... although the burn is significantly better already.. thank you aloe!). So after we checked out we sat on a path overlooking the ocean and wrote in our journals till the train came, then we headed to FLORENCE (omg we only have 2 cities left!!! so sad!!). Last long train ride too! (tear).
Comments
Wonderful descriptions Kara, great pics too! It's a birthday you'll never forget.
I believe that Nono either came from Genova or lived there at one time. I'm really not sure of this, but i think that I talked about this place with Nono