My Journey to Italia

The beautiful Cinque Terre.

September 24, 2006

I’m back from Cinque Terre! What an amazing weekend this was! What is Cinque Terre you ask? It’s a national park and protected marine area located on the western (Mediterranean) cost of Italy. It’s called Cinque Terre, I think, because of the five coast towns that are all within walking distance of each other. The towns are literally perched on the sides of the hills and cliffs that make up the coastline. The farmers that first started these towns somehow managed to cultivate the uneven terrain of the hillsides into fertile farmland. Today, Cinque Terre is famous for the many vineyards perched on the hillsides that still continue to produce.

I started out for Cinque Terre Friday afternoon with a big group of girls from school. Although I was ready to leave right after school got out at noon the rest of the girls hadn’t packed so we didn’t end up leaving until around 3:00. We had to take the train from Siena to Cinque Terre and just getting to the train station in Siena was bit of a journey. Then we settled in for a four-hour train ride. We had to change trains three times before we reached the southern most town of Cinque Terre, Riomaggiore. It is a beautiful place! Right on the edge of the ocean, from the train station you can look out at the sea. We arrived right around the time of sunset so everything was very hushed looking and clear.

Besides looking at the sunset, we were preoccupied with finding the bus we had to take to our hostel. After waiting for an hour for the bus, we discovered we had actually missed the last one from Riomaggiore to our hostel, which was located about 20 minutes away in the hills. So, we had to get back on the train, go back one station and run to catch that last bus leaving from that station to our hostel! We just barely made it! I didn’t really know what to expect as I’d never stayed in a hostel before, but it was really nice. It kind of seemed like a big dorm with really small rooms. Each room had four beds with sheets, blankets and a pillow, as well as private cabinet that locked and a table. I roomed with two girls I knew and the fourth person was an Australian girl who had already been traveling Europe for four months! There was also a room where you could watch TV, play board games, etc and a terrace for eating breakfast. There wasn’t anything going on at the hostel because it was kind of remote, but we did find a place to eat before heading to bed around midnight.

Saturday my friend Ali and I got up at 6:15 so we could catch the 7:20 bus back to Riomaggiore and begin our hike. The rest of the girls decided they would just hang at the beach all day but Ali and I really wanted to hike all five towns because that’s what one does when one is in Cinque Terre! We got to Riomaggiore around 8:00 and the town was still really sleepy. We ate breakfast at the train station, I even had a café with milk, and wandered around the town for a couple of hours looking in shops, checking out all the fresh fruits and vegetables, looking at souvenirs and buying snack food while we waited for our friend Mike to join us. Around 10:30 we started out on the trail.

At first there were tons of people around, tourist groups and old people included and we made it to the second town, Manarola in no time. To get there we had to walk on the “Via dell’amore” (the walk of love)! The ocean was beautiful and the trail clung right to the side of the cliffs, you could look down and see the water slowly crashing against the rocks below. And the water of the Mediterranean was so clear! I have never seen water so clear and blue. You could see the rocks on the sea floor and even fish swimming around. It was so inviting I just wanted to jump in! (But we were saving that for later.)

On our way to the third town the trail got a lot harder and all the tourists disappeared. We also ran into a bigger group of UC students who came up behind us and stuck with them the rest of the day. After a long hike up and up and up (switchbacks galore) we arrived in Corniglia, the smallest of the five towns. We had wanted some gelato there but they didn’t have any so we pressed onto Vernazza. The hike got really difficult at this point; it was really steep uphill for a lot of the way. Half way to the fourth town there was a little bar along the trail so we stopped to rest while some of the group bought water and snacks. There we also separated from Mike who has bad knees, so he could rest for a longer while.

Two hours after we left the third we reached the fourth town. This was a bigger town with lots of hustle and bustle! There we ate a little, I got my gelato, and rested before the last stretch of the hike to Monterosso. (There is also a train that goes from town to town so if you don’t want to walk you don’t have to. We wanted to walk though because the whole time you are walking you are right next to the ocean surrounded by green trees and vineyards!)

The last part of the trek was the worst though! It was really steep and we were all tired at that point. An hour later, we reached the last town, which was the largest and most happening with actual beaches to lie out on! That was about 4:30 in the afternoon. The group stopped right as we got into town and ordered drinks. Most people got Pinocolats. Then they ordered a round of some kind of Italian shot for everyone. I told them I didn’t want one but they insisted I had to take one after walking eight miles! So I gave in and had my first shot. Not much to it, I didn’t really taste anything and it was gone in a few seconds. I think it gave me a headache though.

Anyhow, Ali and I went and checked the train schedules at that point because (unknown to me the day before) we didn’t have a hostel reserved for Saturday night and decided it would be better to return to Siena that night.

Then we hit the beach! Yay! I swam in the Mediterranean Ocean! The water was beautiful, you could see your feet clearly and it wasn’t very cold at all! The rest of the group was staying the night and partying until late. They tried to get us to stay with them, and it was tempting to stay in Cinque Terre another night but we left anyhow. I’m wondering now if it would have been better to stay, although all they were doing was drinking and sleeping so I can’t imagine I missed much. After saying bye to them Ali and I ate dinner and left on the 7:45 train to Siena. We ate at a cute little restaurant with an ocean and view and only paid 7 euros. Food and transportation is definitely cheaper here but communication and clothes are more expensive.

Ali and I made it back to Siena around 11:30 last night. And guess what? When we went to buy train tickets, the place as closed! We didn’t know what to do, but we were able to buy tickets to La Spezia where the lady told us we could get off and use a ticket machine. But if we had done so we would have missed the connecting train! She also said we could pay on the train so we decided to chance it and stay on the train. And guess what? No one ever asked us for a ticket so we basically got a free ride! Not that I ever want to do that again, but it was cool! Earlier in the day we had found money on the ground, which we realized was fake later in the day, so this was the pay off for that.

I kind of wish I had stayed longer but it was beautiful while I was there. I will have to go back someday.

posted by Madeline Faye @ 4:59 PM