I just got back yesterday from the Cinque Terre, a national park made up of five little towns on the coast of the Ligurian Sea. Anne and I planned this little trip a couple weeks ago because we knew we would have a long weekend available to travel before classes really started up. We left Thursday morning on the 7:30 train. I slept a lot on the way there! We got to Riomaggiore, the town furthest south and the one we stayed in, around 1:00, I think. We checked into the hotel first thing. Our room was up three flights of stairs from the main street and then up 6 more once we got in the building! But the view was definitely worth the extra effort. We could see the whole city spread out around us. The room was sooo tiny, too. The bed took up the whole room, and the bathroom was divided into two rooms, one with the toilet and bidet (always necessary in Europe, even when there is clearly not enough room for it!), and the sink and shower in the other. Anne and I (neither of us big people) could barely squeeze by the sink to the shower or around the bed to get out to the only big part of our room--the terrace! After getting settled in, we walked around Riomaggiore and just took in the sights. It's such a cute, quiet little town and very vertical. It's a steep climb walking up the main street from the water. We went down to the water and climbed out on the "beach," a bunch of huge rocks, where we sat for awhile just talking and watching the sun go down. So peaceful! We had a really nice dinner that night, and our waitress was this cute little middle aged Italian woman who really liked that we spoke Italian to her. Then we went to bed early to rest up for the hike on Friday.
Friday morning we got up and took the train to the northernmost city, Monterrosso al Mare. There are trails between each of the 5 cities so you can hike from one to the other. We hiked from Monterrosso to Vernazza, then from Vernazza to Corniglia, then stopped there for lunch. Those are the two hardest sections of trail, with LOTS of stairs!!! Anne and I stretched before we started and when we stopped in every city, and I think that's the only reason we were able to walk the next day at all! The trails from Corniglia to Manarola to Riomaggiore were SO much easier, we didn't even break a sweat. The views were so worth the effort of the hike, and we felt so accomplished when we finished! All of the towns are so cute and feel very iconic Italy, despite all the American and German tourists who were there. My favorite was definitely Vernazza, the second town. It sits right on the water and is so colorful and quiet. There is a tiny little harbor and beach and a bell tower overlooking the town. It was also a lot more horizontal than Riomaggiore! After the hike, we were both pretty wiped out, so we went back to the hotel, napped, showered, and then hit the town again. We bought wine from this little wine shop. The man was so nice to us! After we shamefacedly asked if he sold Fragolino (our favorite--a delicious, sweet, strawberry wine) he informed us that they don't make Fragolino anymore! Sad news! But he suggested a different wine, which we bought (and it was delicious!), and opened it halfway for us, since we didnt have a bottle opener in the room. Once we got back to the room (up about 35094 stairs) we proceeded to break the cork! So we had to go alllll the way back and have him open the bottle the rest of the way. It was worth the effort, though. We had dinner out on our terrace overlooking the beautiful town. I had pesto pizza which was unbelievable! That region is famous for pesto, so I simply had to try it. Excellent decision! It was another early night for us, since we were still so tired from the hike.
Saturday we got up and got on the train back to Bologna. We finally made it back around 4. I hung out with Allegra, Erin, Alex, and her Italian roommates, who are so nice and really funny. The rest of the weekend has been pretty lowkey. I did some laundry today and am just trying to get prepared for classes starting tomorrow. My University of Bologna class, Contemporary Italian Literature, is from 3 to 5. I will let you know how it goes!
xoxo
ps. I am trying desperately to post pix of Cinque Terre, but Facebook is not cooperating right now. I will post again as soon as they're up!
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