We were quite excited to begin our adventure in Cinque Terre because one, it was the only Italian city I had yet to visit and two, we had only heard good things about it. As we arrived in the town by train, we were greeted by the most incredible ocean views I had ever seen. We made it to our hostel only to find that we were shoved into a tiny room with 9 other people, all Aussies. But, the stairs from our room led us straight to the waters edge, where we spent the majority of our time. We immediately changed and went down to the big rocks to do a little tanning and swimming. We had the perfect spot and the perfect views. Did a little cliff diving at the encouragement of an Argentinian laying next to us, who soon became a friend of ours for the weekend! His name was Tomas and he was a dead ringer for my friend Sarkis, it really freaked me out they were so similar! When the sub began to set, we decided to go for a little hike and explore the beautiful city we were staying in. Up and down many streets and many stairs, we finally settled on a lookout point at the top of the hill to watch the sun fully set. It was such a beautiful sight. We parted ways to shower and eat and planned to meet up with him again for drinks after dinner. Jaim and I found a delicious restaurant, where I ordered seafood risotto and Jaim ordered carbonara. We met up with Tomas for a drink, but ended up having ice cream instead! As we sat there, 2 Spanish guys joined us in conversation. They were from Madrid, so they spoke to Tomas in Spanish, but when I accidentally laughed at a comment they made, they learned my secret yay I know Spanish. Unfortunately because of my recently learned French blocking the way, I couldn't really respond to what they were saying in Spanish. I made do listening to their Spanish and responding in English, and they actually complimented me on my comprehension! Made me angry that I've forgotten so much, so I've been considering heading back to Spain for a few months to fix it up! Who knows... We ended up leaving early to join our hostel mates for a drink back at the hostel, but when we returned they were gone! So, another early night for us, which we did not complain about!
The next day we set an alarm to wake up early and do the big hike through all 5 cities. We started in our beautiful town of Riomaggiore and went by foot to the next town, Manarola. The trail from Manarola to Corniglia was closed due to a landslide, so we hopped on a boat to get to the 4th town, Vernazza. We explored the town for a bit, bought some fruit, and prepared ourselves for the difficult hike ahead to Monterosso al Mare. The trail was, as predicted, very difficult, but the views and experience were with all the sweat and soreness. Arriving into Monterosso after that 2 hour hike and seeing the beautiful ocean greeting us made me almost want to run down the hill to go jump in. The water felt amazing, and we spent a while relaxing on the beach before packing up and hopping on a boat back to Riomaggiore. We decided to go back to our spit on the rocks and swim and tan a but more to take advantage of the sunlight remaining. We went home and I showered while Jaimie napped, so I decided to let her sleep and I walked up the hill to use the only wifi in the city and enjoy a cold beer. Lucky me, with just cornflakes in my stomach and a .66% beer, by the time Jaimie met up with me 30 minutes later, I was having a party for 1! She joined me with a beer and proceeded to accidentally intoxicate ourselves. We decided to go halfsies on a pizza and gnocchi and never has anything tasted so good! An Aussie from our hostel happened upon us and decided to join us for a beer and dinner. We met up with some more hostel people, who we happened to know from our hostel in Florence, and returned to the hostel to just hang out. We sat on the porch talking until 11:30pm and decided to call it a night after the tiring day we had had.
The next morning we woke up, packed up, and freaked out because I thought I had lost my ticket to Nice. False alarm. We got to the train station, boarded our train, and had nearly finished filling out our eurail passes when a checker came by and slapped just me with a 50euro fine for not having it completely filled out. I was so pissed and annoyed, so I tried to argue it when we got to the station, but alas, Italians are a**holes and I was not successful. We bought some lunch and boarded our 6 hour train ride to Nice! It was a long and daunting ride, but quite beautiful as it was entirely along the coast!
Cinque Terre was beautiful, especially Riomaggiore, and I suggest all of you make a trip there in the near future!!
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| Cliff jumping...kinda |
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| Riomaggiore |
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| train lines connecting the 5 towns |
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| the only playground in the town |
The next day we set an alarm to wake up early and do the big hike through all 5 cities. We started in our beautiful town of Riomaggiore and went by foot to the next town, Manarola. The trail from Manarola to Corniglia was closed due to a landslide, so we hopped on a boat to get to the 4th town, Vernazza. We explored the town for a bit, bought some fruit, and prepared ourselves for the difficult hike ahead to Monterosso al Mare. The trail was, as predicted, very difficult, but the views and experience were with all the sweat and soreness. Arriving into Monterosso after that 2 hour hike and seeing the beautiful ocean greeting us made me almost want to run down the hill to go jump in. The water felt amazing, and we spent a while relaxing on the beach before packing up and hopping on a boat back to Riomaggiore. We decided to go back to our spit on the rocks and swim and tan a but more to take advantage of the sunlight remaining. We went home and I showered while Jaimie napped, so I decided to let her sleep and I walked up the hill to use the only wifi in the city and enjoy a cold beer. Lucky me, with just cornflakes in my stomach and a .66% beer, by the time Jaimie met up with me 30 minutes later, I was having a party for 1! She joined me with a beer and proceeded to accidentally intoxicate ourselves. We decided to go halfsies on a pizza and gnocchi and never has anything tasted so good! An Aussie from our hostel happened upon us and decided to join us for a beer and dinner. We met up with some more hostel people, who we happened to know from our hostel in Florence, and returned to the hostel to just hang out. We sat on the porch talking until 11:30pm and decided to call it a night after the tiring day we had had.
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| Manarola |
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| boat ferry |
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| Vernazza |
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| Monterosso al Mare |
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| Riomaggiore |
The next morning we woke up, packed up, and freaked out because I thought I had lost my ticket to Nice. False alarm. We got to the train station, boarded our train, and had nearly finished filling out our eurail passes when a checker came by and slapped just me with a 50euro fine for not having it completely filled out. I was so pissed and annoyed, so I tried to argue it when we got to the station, but alas, Italians are a**holes and I was not successful. We bought some lunch and boarded our 6 hour train ride to Nice! It was a long and daunting ride, but quite beautiful as it was entirely along the coast!
Cinque Terre was beautiful, especially Riomaggiore, and I suggest all of you make a trip there in the near future!!
What!? 50 E! Que mala onda!
ReplyDeleteGood job in following the Argentine accent! ...and it's impossible anyone could be like me.