Cinque Terre

The Cinque Terre is beyond beautiful! We've been exploring the towns, watching the waves crash in, hiking along various trails, and loving this area of Italy. I apologize in advance that there are no pictures to prove my praise of this area. They won't let you plug anything into the computer at our hostel, so I promise to add them as soon as possible.

The towns sit amidst cliffs and coast. Walking the streets would make quite the exercise routine. Hills, stairs, twists and turns. It was not the funnest thing to take our bags UUUPPP to the hostel we're staying in, but wow! Views every time you turn around.

Most of the days we did (generally) the same thing, so instead of a day-by-day, I'll just give a summary of the towns and some of the things we did while we were here. The towns, while similar, each have a different feel to them. Oh! And don't miss the last section with a little story from our hike from Vernazza to Corgnilia.

Monterosso.
Monterosso is the flattest and biggest. We focused most of our time on the beach. We watch the waves crash in, teenagers playing soccer in the sand, kids laughing as they ran away from the incoming waves...It was great. I definitely love the beach.

Vernazza.
The only street we really went on was the main one from the train station down to the water front. We sat on the breakwater rocks, soaking in the sun. This was on a day that had been off-and-on rain...What am I saying, they had all been off-and-on rain since we got here, so the sun felt wonderful. I read for a long time and then just laid on a nice rock, almost napping. I really like the feel of Vernazza though. It was definitely one of my favorites.

Corgnilia.
We didn't hang around Corgnilia very long. It's the only town that doesn't have a direct connection to the water. It sits high on a cliff that juts out into the water...a mini peninsula. We came here via the hike we took from Vernazza to Corgnilia on Wednesday. We were a little tired (and smelly), so we just grabbed some lunch and then a train back to the beach in Monterosso to relax.

Manarola.
We are staying in Manarola, so we've seen a bit more of it than any of the others. Our favorite spot is a little area that overlooks the dock and rocks. We've eaten quite a few meals here, sitting on the stone benches and watching people, waves and birds. It's very relaxing. You can also walk down to the water from here. I kind-of got surprised by a wave coming in. It was a little bigger than any of the others, and before I could get out of its way, it had soaked my tennis shoes and pants half-way up my shins...I had to walk around all day in squishy shoes. Although, the plus side is, I think they fit better now.

Riomaggiore.
This town is a little bigger than the others (except Monterosso), but is still definitely small. They have an elevator you can ride to the top and then you can enjoy the walk down, back to the train station. We also took the walk from here to Manarola...although it was much, much easier. It's a 20 minute stroll called the Via del Amore. Way of Love for those of you not up on your Italian. There are names of couples written on walls and carved into cactus all along the path. At one point, there's a 2D statue of a couple kissing. All along the railing next to the statue are padalocks. If we remember right, a couple will put a lock...somewhere...when they are married. We saw some in Florence as well.



"I must kiss you!"
There are plenty of hikes to keep you busy for a few weeks, I think. On Wednesday, we tackled one of the "easier" hikes. I am really glad we didn't try the "hard" one. Up stairs, and steep inclines for the first....45 minutes, maybe? I wasn't checking the clock, but we took our time.

Besides, every few feet you had to stop and look around at the amazing views! It's too hard to look while you're walking...there's too much of a chance of stumbling on a rock and falling off the narrow trail. One side is cliff wall up, the other is cliff or really steep hill down.

At one point, I stopped to let a group of hikers go by on the narrow trail. The last man stopped to say "gracie", and then asked where I was from. I said Utah, and he got very excited.

"Utah. In United States? We there two years ago." He started naming off Salt Lake City, Bear Lake and other areas they visited. Then he started listing national parks. "Yellowstone, Grand Teton. What do you think of our..." He pointed around at the trail and area.

"Ohhhh! It's beautiful," I answered honestly. He must have sensed my complete sincerity and excitement because he said, "Oh! I must kiss you!"

Wow. I honestly don't hear that very often, and it took me by surprise. But he gave me an Italian double-kiss cheek-bump. And as he called, "Ciao, bella! Ciao, bella!" I walked on down the trail, laughing.