If there were heaven on earth it would be called Cinque Terre. Cinque Terre are five little towns nestled into steep hillside of Italy’s coast—the “Italian Riviera”. The five towns are connected by railroad, but it is possible to hike between each town through steep trails and along picturesque paths. Along the way you can catch spectacular views of the Mediterranean Sea—absolutely breathtaking. The towns emerge as the finish line of each trail, the buildings—painted in hues of yellow, orange, and pink—glow in the sun. This qualifies as the most beautiful place I have ever visited.
I almost didn’t go on this trip with seven of my IES companions. The weather in Siena had been rainy all week, which put me in a bit of a sour mood. I wasn’t feeling up to a long trip to a coastal town just to have it rain. In the end I am so happy I did not make that mistake!
We arrived to Cinque Terre by train, to the first town of Riomaggiore. Stepping off the train we walked right into the Mediterranean-- beautiful blue water and waves greeted us. Although clouds were rolling in and it was a bit chilly, we decided to be adventurous and go hiking.
We took the train to Monterosso, the furthest town from where our hostel was located. The clouds seemed to follow us on our short train trip, but we forged forward onto the hardest path of the five towns. It took us about 2 hours to go 1.5 miles up and down hills and steep stairs to the second town called Vernazza. After a short rest in Vernazza we ventured on to Corniglia—a 2-mile hike taking another 1.5 hours to complete. Exhausted, yet with feelings of great accomplishment, we reached Corniglia at sundown and took the train to Riomaggiore for the night.
The surprise of the night came when Connor, who is not much of a hiker, met us at the Riomaggiore train station, informing us of a train strike. In Italy, rail strikes are actually common and usually last for 24 hours or other set periods of time. We made frantic phone calls to John who regretfully confirmed that a train strike was planned starting at 9pm that night to 9pm the following evening. Our train tickets would be valid until midnight on Sunday so we hoped there would be a chance to make it back to Siena.
We were all very quiet at dinner that night and afterwards although I was worried about the strike, the day’s hike had left me exhausted and I fell right to sleep.
The next morning we woke up to good news. The train strike was only in the northeast regions of Italy and would not affect our trains! Our spirits brighter, much like the weather, we set out to finish the hike where we left off the previous day.
We rode back to Corniglia and experienced a more leisurely stroll from Corniglia to Manarola. Along the way we stopped to spend time on a rock beach. We skipped stones into the Mediterranean waves, climbed up on the rocks, and enjoyed the sun. The water was beautiful. I have never seen water so blue and the ripples sparkled in the sun like a million flashbulbs going off at once. We could not have been luckier with the weather.
We had lunch in Manarola where I sampled some excellent seafood and delicious pesto— one of the many locally produced products that Cinque Terre is known for. After some gelato and postcard scavenging we headed out again on the trail, the last leg back to our starting point in Riomaggiore. Day two was great—relaxing, sunny, warm, beautiful. 4.5 wonderful miles travelled, we left Cinque Terre that night so satisfied with successfully planning and executing our first trip outside of Siena!
Check out the pictures. Words cannot do this place justice! I hope to go back someday!
Ciao!
No comments:
Post a Comment