La Vita è Bella: Best Week Ever: Part Due

Cinque Terre and the Big 2-1!

As a fair warning, please excuse the multitude of photos and absolute gushing that will occur in this post.

On Sunday and Monday of last week, Tyler, Sam, and I took the train to Cinque Terre ("Five Lands") - five towns on the northwest coast of Italy with houses built into cliffs on the Meditteranean. It was absolutely the most beautiful place I've ever seen! We had been anticipating cold, rainy weather, and almost contemplated not going, since nothing had been paid for in advance, but am I ever glad we decided to be adventurous. Both days were sunny and absolutely beautiful, which made the visit even more spectacular. The train ride was a little over 4 hours, and on the way up we had gotten assigned seats that were separated in different 6-person compartments. After an argument with an Italian woman over seats (I'm pretty sure I lost but emerged with dignity intact and impressed my visitors with my Italian arguing skills) and some compartment-maneuvering, we arrived in Manarola, the second of the five towns, where we would be staying. I had booked a room for the three of us in what is essentially a house with rooms rented out. I called the manager, who in very broken English said he was at his store and would return soon; we then noticed that the keys were in the front door and in all the subsequent individual room doors - a very trusting little town - , so after determining which room was ours (the one with the terrace and the three beds), we decided to drop out bags, leave a note for Maurizio, take the keys, and get started on our exploring. We walked back to the first town, Riomaggiore, along the easiest of the trails, called "Via dell'Amore" or "lovers' walk", which included an open tunnel with love poems, pictures, and mosaics painted throughout. The supposedly 20-minute hike took us a little over an hour, as we decided to explore some of the connecting trails up the hills, and down to the rocky shoreline. Although some of the stairs on those descents were a bit questionable and I freaked out multiple times, I'm so glad we did - we have some incredible photos. Riomaggiore itself looks very similar to Manarola - rainbow-colored houses stacked haphazardly on cliffs, with boats poking out of coves, and tourist stands and restaurants dotting quiet streets. On our way back, we stopped for a panino at a bar that overlooked the ocean, and watched as the sun started to set. We had finally gotten another call from the apartment owner, who had told us that we would meet us back in the room...in 2-3 hours. The timing ended up being perfect, however, and we hung out in the room for about an hour, met the owner, paid for our room, and headed out to dinner at a place called Il Porticciolo, where Sam got pesto gnocchi (the region of Liguria is the birthplace of pesto) and Tyler and I got shrimp pasta. The food was delicious, as was the house wine, and as we wandered the mostly deserted streets of town back to our room, I was so happy.

Oh, and did I mention that my 21st birthday was the next day? (It was a Monday - I gave myself the day off from school.) Granted, this doesn't have much significance in Italy, nor did we even make it to midnight on Sunday night (absolutely exhausted from a full day of hiking), but waking up on Monday morning to brilliant sun sparkling off the waters of the Mediterranean was just about the best present I could have asked for. Monday, we walked the opposite direction, to the third town of Corniglia. This hike was much more challenging, but also incredibly beautiful. It culminated in 382 stairs which were necessary in order to reach the actual town, as it sits on top of a hill. We poked around the town for a bit, and then made our way back to Manarola, where we grabbed lunch to go and sat overlooking the sea. We were all incredibly sad to leave and catch the train back to Rome.

If you ever have a chance to get to Cinque Terre, I cannot recommend it highly enough. We didn't even make it to all five towns as one of the trails between the third and fourth town was closed, and those hikes were much longer - we had our hands full just getting between the first three towns! We went at a perfect time of year, since we very infrequently encountered other hikers, and apparently in the peak of tourist season, the trails move at a snails pace. So, although the towns may have been a bit sleepier than in the height of summer, we got to experience everyday life there as it actually is. Our weather was absolutely perfect, and I came back with amazing memories from my 21st birthday. I'm so lucky to have been able to share that experience with Tyler and Sam!

And now for the photos!