Cinque Terre

It is 8am (1am for everyone back home) on Monday, June 7th and I just returned from an amazing weekend at Cinque Terre.

On Thursday four girls and I left for the train station at 1:30 and after sprinting into the station and up the steps we missed the first train. So….we took a bus…then a train….then another two trains…then the final train before arriving in Montorossa at 9pm. It was stressful but so much fun! I guess that is part of the sacrifice its takes to arrive in one of the most beautiful places in the world!

Halfway there….we snapped a pic at the Florence train station!

Cinque Terre is a series of 5 towns on the West coast of Italy. Each town is colorful and has beautiful views of the Mediterranean Sea. Between each town there are hikes that take anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours. One of the trails is a paved walkway known as the tunnel of love but another is a 2 hour trek up rock stairs and along narrow paths. Every morning we hiked the trails and took in the AMAZING views. I have NEVER seen any place so beautiful in my life. The coastline trails wove up and down the mountains so we hiked through hilly vineyards, castle ruins, rocky desert, flowery gardens, and rocky mazes. We bought a two day pass so we had unlimited access to the paths and the trains that connect the five towns.

Every afternoon we hit the rocky beaches, enjoyed the sun, and the company of tourists from around the world. One day a local took us cliff jumping and we jumped off a 45 foot cliff! The best experiences in Cinque Terre definitely came from wandering or talking to locals. We were lost one day in one of the towns and ran into a local we had met the previous night at a pizzeria. He helped us find the trail and gave us a great map of Cinque Terre.

We rented a 5 person apartment from ‘5 Terre’ which is run by a wonderful woman, Cherry, who rents multiple apartments in the fifth town, Montorosso. It was a great place to stay and I would definitely recommend college students to rent from her. She brought us beach towels, greeted us with wine, and gave us wonderufl recommendations for places to eat and sights to see. The apartment was in a great location and extremely easy to find. Cherry also owns a shop that sells amazing pesto, lemon products, and pasta! The entire population of Cinque Terre is only 6000 people so everyone knows everyone. I loved the friendly, small town atmosphere and we repeatedly ran into the same locals who were always willing to help or pick up conversation where we left off the time before!

One night we took a train to the farthest town and took the 30 minute hike down the famous ‘tunnel of love’ to the next town where we enjoyed a sea food dinner at a restaurant which was perched ontop of the mountains in the middle of vineyards and overlooked the sea. We always ended the night in the town our apartment was in, Montorossa, because the trains stop running before midnight and we did not what to get stranded in one of the other towns. Nightlife was spent at ‘Fast’ which was an American bar and tourist hot spot.

My favorite part of Cinque Terre was definitely the hikes. The pictures do not do the sights justice…not even close! It was beautiful and unlike any scenary I have ever seen in America!

Sunday morning we checked out early and took a train to Pisa to snap some pictures of the leaning tower. Of course we took the pictures of us holding the tower, pushing it over, leaning against it….all the cliche tourist poses. We had an hour and a half to get from the tower to station to catch our train home from Pisa. After 2o minutes of photos, we waited at the bus/taxi stop for 40 minutes. Apparently…trains and taxis are rare on Sundays. Because 20 minutes before our train left we decided we needed to run, luggage and all, to catch our train. I am proud to say that we ran (in 90 degree weather) the typical 30 minute walk in 17 minutes and made the train