9 mile hike of Cinque Terre!

Can one really find a little slice of heaven here on earth? I think I did this past weekend! After a 5 hour train ride to northern Italy, and of course a stop at one of the largest tourist traps: the Tower of Pisa, we made it to Monetrosso, the first town of the gorgeous Cinque Terre. I think these 5 (Cinque) towns (Terre) are the smallest towns I've ever seen. Definitely the complete opposite of Roma! Each town is connected by train and hiking trails (the most beautiful I might add) and sit along the coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea. Words can not grasp the beauty of these towns and landscape and views of the sea. It is exactly as I pictured rural Italy. Small, narrow canon-like alley ways with dogs and cats wandering around, clothes lines filled with laundry hanging between windows and outdoor restaurants line the streets, fresh fruit and vegetable markets, fishing nets and boats bob in the sea, mountains lining the coast line continuing for miles--everything!

Our delicious carb dinner!

After carb loading on delicious pasta and topping that off with peach gelato for dinner, we had all the energy we needed for our long trek the next day! Now I don't usually go out of my way to say much about the hostels/hotels, but I have to mention the Hotel Souvenir, where we stayed the night. Quality right there! The cleanest rooms ever, I think even more so than a typical hotel room at home. Definitely worth the 25 euro, which is not a bad price for the exceptional quality and service there. Long story short: I highly recommend this hotel!

Fresh, energy-filled grapes!

Anyways, we woke up to the sun rising over the mountains. We got to the trail head in Monetrooso and immediately climbed who knows how many stairs, hundreds for sure, and they were steep! I thought taking the 4 flights of stairs in the Quad at school was bad enough. I think I could easily run up all those stairs after climbing the ones on the trail here! Definitely got my workout in the first hour or so of the trip! But once you reach the top, the view is breath taking! (Literally, especially having just climbed all those stairs!) I could try and describe it, but I could not do justice to it! The funny thing is is that you could see the next town we were hiking to and our first thought was "oh that's not too far, we're almost there!" Yea, no, definitely not that close. This trail leads you up and down and in and out of the mountains, slowly weaving the way to the next town. We met an old Italian farmer selling fresh grapes from his vineyard on the trail to Vernazza. He told us in Italian that they were full of energy for our hike. They looked delicious and we needed some more energy, so we bought some from him and of course, they were delicious! We bid him farwell (arrivederci) , and continued on our way.

Vernazza!

The narrow trails were right along the edge of the cliffs and every now and then I'd look down and see the clear, turquoise water. We were so hot and sweaty that we were tempted to just jump from where we were into the refreshing water, but we didn't....As we got closer to out final destination, Riomaggiore, the trail got easier--less steps to climb and less treacherous terrain. the last leg of the trail was called Via Dell'Amore. It is dedicated to couples, love etc...obviously. There is a place on the trail where the fence is covered in hundreds of locks. Couples will come to this place to "lock their love" by securing a lock on the fence and throwing the key into the sea. Cute!

Via Dell'Amore

I loved being able to say "Buongiorno" ("good day" in Italian) to people we passed! We passed people from Australia, France, Italy of course and plenty of other places around the world! I enjoyed hearing all the different accents!

Look at the water!

After trekking our 8 mile hike up and down mountains, we finally succeeded by reaching Riomaggiore! it took us about 5 hours to hike its entirety and we were taking our time. We were in search of a place to swim, but of course the last town had no place to swim! What the heck?! Nothing sounded more refreshing than a swim in the sea. Not even gelato, and that's saying a lot!! So what did we do?! We hiked back to the previous town, Manarola, where earlier we spotted the most gorgeous cove to swim in. The hike back was definitely worth it! It was wonderful! Swimming in the salt water is so much easier that fresh water because you can kind of float in this water! I could taste the salt on my lips after I got out and dried off in the sun. But it is so worth that refreshing swim!! Loved it!

At the beach in Vernazza

When we finished our hike, we had no train tickets back home, so we figured we should probably get them. But that's another thing I've noticed: not having a set plan or plans to return home didn't bother me at all! Usually I'd be a bit concerned, but not at all! I'm completely going with the flow and everything falls into place. It's not worth the worry I realized (mom, take note :) ) We made it back to Termini station late Saturday night and eventually (emphasis on "eventually") made it back to our apartment. It felt great to return!

in Manarola, the 4th town!

Plans for this trip were literally made Thursday night (we left that Friday morning) and it was the best last minute trip! It was such a sense of accomplishment, finishing this hike and what not. 9 miles, hundreds of stairs, 5 hours...simply heaven!