cinque terre

I went Here for the weekend. It was absolutely magnificent. We spent the weekend hiking and enjoying the wonderful scenery. I walked a total of 6 km along the coast of Italy with each path getting progressively more difficult and leading to a total of 5 coastal towns. We enjoyed delicious fresh fruit, pesto with traditional Lugano noodles called Trofie, and fresh baked foccacia bread. The road from Riomagiorre which is the first town to the second called Manarola is called Via dell'Amore (the road of love…). It was a beautiful and leisurely walk that only took about 30 minutes. Manrola was a cute town that was filled with yummy café's and restaurants. We all got a panini for lunch and walked down to the shore line to eat them and I have to say it was utter and complete bliss. The weather was incredible at about 80 with a slight ocean breeze to keep us cool. The next path to Corniglia was a little bit harder than the first and took a total of about 1 and a half but we made a little pit stop on the way. We found a beach area with big rocks and boulders lining the coast and spontaneously decided to take a dip. We were hot and sweaty from the hike and none of us had our swimsuits on but the water was much to tempting to pass up. We hiked down a dirt pathway to the beach and found a semi private area to strategically change into our suits. The water was wonderful and we even saw a small squid that provided a nice reminder of where we were. After our dip we laid on the nice hot rocks and soaked up the sun. The beach proved to be a complete Italian experience complete with a couple nude Europeans laying around and an older Italian man eyeing the 9 of us in our swimsuits for the duration of our time there from 20 feet away. He didn't even try to be discrete about it but blatantly stared for a good hour as he sat in his white nasty underwear that was a little smaller than a speedo on the rocks to the right of us. He even kept his stare locked on us as we made our way back up the steep hillside to the path on onward until he was no longer able to see us due to the vegetation. We arrived to the bottom of Corniglia and were surprised by the massive staircase that awaited us to take us into the tiny town. There were a total of 382 steps that seemed to last forever! We finally got to the top and looked around for a bit before catching the train back to town #1 to get some dinner and take the bus to the hostel. We found a nice Tratoria (family restaurant) and enjoyed some typical pasta for the region and pesto. Absolutely delicious and the man that served us was absolutely sweet and got a kick out of all of us ordering the same dish. 22 of us girls stayed in the same hostel in a city just up the mountain from Riomaggiore about 20 minutes. It was clean enough with the sheets smelling strong of vinegar- but at least we knew they were clean! We got up bright and early- before the sun even- to head back down and continue our hikes to the last two towns. We took the train to Corniglia and again hiked to stairs of death to the top and found the path that would lead us to Vernazza, the fourth town and also my favorite. The hike was strenuous but worth every step. We crossed multiple valley's and got the most breathtaking views of the cliffs, towns, and many vineyards to say the least. Words fail to describe the beauty there and it was even more wonderful to enjoy it at sunrise. Vernazza was the most lively and colorful town we went to and we enjoyed some great foccacia for lunch. From there a few of us road the ferry to the final town and were met by a delightful sandy beach and gorgeous blue sea. The water was refreshing from the morning hike and the sun felt good on my skin. I enjoyed delicious fresh peaches for lunch and tried to enjoy every minute of the beach. We headed home about 4 o'clock and of course were delayed unexpectedly due to a train car getting detached from the train in the middle of the final leg of our journey. We made it back home to Siena around 10:00 pm and headed home. After a quick shower to rinse all the remaining sand away I instantly fell asleep exhausted from the most wonderful weekend getaway anyone could ask for.