The Adventure: Cinque Terre

4 Thoughts:

1. Do not over pack.

2. Always book places to stay.

3. Forest fires are scary.

4. I never want to be homeless.

Now…

On Friday we decided to use the train tickets from the failed beach attempt last week. The train left at 9:30am. At first I didn’t think we were all going to make it. The guys were late and jumped on board at the last second. But we all made it and we were on our way to Viareggio for real this time! I group of us planned to go on from there to Cinque Terre for the rest of the weekend. This was my first time actually using the train system, which is pretty neat once you get the hang of it.

When we got to Viareggio it was a gorgeous day outside. I had read in my book that a lot of the beaches were private and you had to pay. Being poor students we were on a mission to find the free beaches. After wandering a few million blocks (well it felt like a million. I began to regret all the clothes I packed.

Yes Dad I am learning that bringing options is not always necessary J I began to think that this day was going to turn out a lot like our other travel day. Finally after asking about a 3 different people we found the bus stop we needed. That is one thing that has been really frustrating since getting to Italy. Every time you ask someone a question you never get the same answer twice. We were told to stand at three different bus stops. Luckily bus number 9 did take us to the free beach. It was absolutely gorgeous! The sand and the sea were perfect. It was pretty busy, especially when compared to the empty “private” beaches a few yards away. We chilled on the beach all day and it was so relaxing. I swam, took a nap and read my book. Beaches in Italy seemed pretty similar to beaches back home, except for the crazy number of guys in very unattractive speedos. Ewww. I saw enough of a few old men to last me a lifetime.

After the beach we hopped the bus back to the train station. Here the group split up with a few heading back to Florence and the rest of us to find someplace to stay in La Spezia. Well the finding the place to stay thing is easier said than done. We had called all the places in my guidebook and they were full. We found an Internet Point to look for others and they were also full. By this point I had already picked out my park bench. We started wandering again (we have gotten really good at that) and once again got really lucky and found a hotel with a room for only 120 Euro and split 7 ways that isn’t too bad. We did break the law by having more than 4 people. Isabelle, Beth and I snuck in the hotel so the front desk lady didn’t ever see out whole group. We felt pretty sneaky. Thankfully it all worked out and we were happy to have a place to stay! It was weird though because when we got to the room there were only four beds, but there were seven extra blankets, three extra pillows and even seven bars of soap. Its like they knew! Hahaha!

The next day we were up early and ready to hit the trails of Cinque Terre. We met the rest of the group back at the train station after they took an early train from Florence. Cinque Terre is a beautiful area along the Mediterranean Sea. It is actually five small villages (Monterosso, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola and Riomaggiore) built right into the hills along the coastline. Hiking trails connect these towns, which can only be reached via train, bus or hike. No cars allowed! This offered a great get away from the crazy traffic and busy streets of Florence. We took the train to Monterosso where we were going to start our hike. I was getting worried because I knew we didn’t have a place to stay for the night. Once again I started calling and asking around. Everywhere was booked. We had struck out big time. We tried to find someplace that would even let us store our bags for the day, but no go. Having no other option really we hit the first leg of the hike from Monterosso to Vernazza. Since this is the most challenging stretch of the hike we decided to do it first. As we were heading up the mountain (and yes I mean mountain check out my pics on facebook) we met a couple from Vancouver. They were staying in Monterosso and offered to let us keep our stuff in their hotel room while we hiked for the day. This was the nicest thing anyone could do for us! It helped us out greatly and meant we could really enjoy the day. So a shout out to Colleen and Peter, Thank you so much!! We asked if we could do anything for them and they just told us to pay it forward. I thought that was a great message and I will never forget their generosity.Having no backpack and a much better outlook on the day the crew and me hit the trail…Onward and upwards! And man was it a lot of upwards. I have never done so much straight uphill hiking in my life! If you have done Gibralter Rock or the Rock Face hike at Devils Lake take that times at least five. It was a lot of work but totally worth it. The views were unbelievable. I have never seen anything so beautiful! Check out my facebook for more pics!

The first town was Vernazza. I grabbed some spaghetti with pesto. It was delicious and only 5 Euro. I sat near the beach overlooking the clear blue waters and enjoyed my lunch. It was picture perfect! Then we hit the trail again to Corniglia. I cannot even describe how beautiful the area is. If you ever visit Italy make sure to go to Cinque Terre. I actually got home sick because I wanted my family to see it! (Luckily my folks are going to spend three days here when they come visit in October.) The hike was a lot of uphill again. I was surprised at the number or older people and young kids doing the hike. It made me feel really out of shape. One guy actually called out to us jokingly asking us why we weren’t taking the stairs two at a time! Ha ha yeah right! We reached Corniglia, the third town of the stretch, and after a short breather decided to head out to the next town, Manarola, in search of a beach. We found a rocky beach area and decided to jump in the Mediterranean for a quick dip. It was so refreshing! I cannot get over how clear the water was. I found a few pretty rocks along the shore to keep as free souvenirs! Next was Manarola and then on to Riomaggiore along the famous Via Dell’ Amore. This was by far the easiest of all the hikes, but not any less amazing. The path went through tunnels that were covered with graffiti art. (Note: The graffiti art in Italy is awesome!) Then from Riomaggiore we caught the train back to Monterosso to pick up our stuff.

Since we had pretty much struck out at finding a place to stay most of the group planned to catch a train back to Firenze. I decided to stay in Riomaggiore to meet up with some fellow Iowa State students that are studying in Rome, including my roommate Becky. It was so wonderful to see her! I have been quite homesick and this really helped. However, it was not going to me a nice quiet evening in Riomaggiore. When I arrived in town I called Becky and she told we there was a big forest fire on the next hill over.

Sure enough when I went out on the terrace of their apartment we had a clear view of this expanding fire. I was amazed at how fast it grew! It was pretty close to the town so the girls had packed up their stuff in case we needed to leave. We watched the fire for quite awhile. At one point an ash (still glowing) flew onto the terrace we were watching it from. It was pretty scary! Finally we saw some flashing lights on the hill and the fire seemed to die down a little. Since we did not seem to be in immediate danger anymore we went out to grab some dinner. I decided to have the gnocchi with pesto. (Yes, pesto again, but it is SO good!) After a nice dinner and a slight mistake with the bill we headed back to the girls apartment. There was a DJ on the piazza below the terrace of the apartment giving some sort of outdoor concert. (Who cares if there is a forest fire we will party anyway!)

We had a great time chilling out on the balcony drinking some Limoncello and dancing. Now this is where the night went downhill. The lady that the girls had rented the apartment from lived in the apartment upstairs. When she saw “cinque” girls and not “cuatro” girls she was really upset. We tried to explain that I was leaving and I have no idea if she understood. Not wanting to get in any more trouble Becky offered to leave with me for a while so the lady would think I had left. Italy has some really weird housing laws. Having nowhere else to go for the night, I was pretty screwed. I ended up sneaking back into the apartment and sleeping on the bathroom floor for 2 hours, before getting up at five to go to the train station.

So I got to enjoy dawn at the train station in Riomaggiore. I never want to be homeless again! I did get to watch helicopters fill up water buckets from the sea to dump on the fire. I have no idea why they weren’t there the night before! Then I caught the 7am train back to La Spezia, then to Viareggio where I changed trains to get back to Florence. I was so tired, but I didn’t want to sleep on the train for fear of missing my stop. Luckily I made it back to Florence in one piece, but totally exhausted! A full day of hiking and no sleep was not a cool thing. After a nap and some Chinese food with Isabelle I felt a lot better. It was an adventure and I am sure another story to look back on and laugh about someday. Even with some of the not so cool things that happened it was still an amazing weekend! Cinque Terre was beautiful and something I will never ever forget! Now on to Oktoberfest this weekend! Ciao!