Hiking the Cinque Terre

Cinque Terre (five lands) is a touristy area in the northern most part of Italy. It consists of five very small towns right on the coast of the Mediterranean. You can hike along the coast and through the towns and admire the incredible scenery as you go. We took a 3.5 hour train ride up there for two days. We were told that it would be a chilly weekend, so we packed lots of warm clothing, but the weather turned out to be incredibly nice!

After checking into our hotel, we headed off for lunch, and then decided to hike along the coast starting from town one and going until we could go no more. The hike from town one to town two was short and easy (misleading for the rest of it). It only took us about 30 minutes. The students from Rome booked it the whole time, but us Tuscania gals took our time as we stopped and took pictures and goofed off. I was in awe the entire time as I marveled at the gorgeous cliffs, the clear blue water, and the small quaint towns. As you hike through the towns, you walk through very small alley ways between houses. I almost felt as though I was trespassing. I cant imagine how the Italians stand it during tourist season because it wasnt even that busy while we were there.

The hike from towns two to three was a little bit more difficult. There was one section just of stairs that weaved back and forth. I thought it was never-ending, and once we got to the top there was a sign in Italian that read: "Congratulations, you just walked up 382 steps!!" We didnt linger in the town at all, and decided to go ahead and make the hike from the third to the fourth town that same afternoon so that we would have enough time to just hang out and enjoy the towns the next day. The next hike was much much more difficult. It seemed mostly uphill, but the scenery was breathtaking and we got some great pictures as the sun was setting.

That evening we went out to dinner. I tried anchovies for the very first time. They weren't that bad, but the whole "psychological" thing kicked in and I couldnt finish them. Then they served us pasta with shrimp. When I say with shrimp, I mean the WHOLE shrimp. One of the guys who went with us ate the shrimp eyes. Supposedly they are a delicacy somewhere......

The next morning we woke up and made the hike from the fourth to the fifth town. This was by far the hardest hike of all. It took us about an hour and a half to weave back and forth along the coast. I was surprised how many vineyards we saw on the sides of the cliffs! I cant imagine trying to harvest those grapes. There were a lot of other tourists on that trail that morning, and we would move out of the way to let them by saying "Grazie (thanks)" or "Prego (sure)" the whole time. Im pretty positive that most of the people we passed actually spoke English, but we talked in Italian. In fact, one of the guys with us, Rich, told a bypasser in Italian that the rest of the way was going to be pretty difficult for them, and the guy said in English "I dont understand you" and we laughed and talked in English.

After the long hike and arriving in the last and final town, we took a swim in the Mediterranean. The water was absolutely frigid, but it still felt good after our long climb. More than anything it was so nice to swim in such beautiful water......