Cinque Terre, Italy-The Italian Riviera

I slept as late as my body would let me...aka 8:00 am. I got ready for a hopefully lovely hike to Levante. I left my coat at my room for the first time in almost three weeks. With my backpack on my back, I headed out for a great day.

Just outside my building there is an orange tree. All the oranges within reach were gone (picked by passers-by, I'm sure.) I leaned over to pick one and it slipped out of my hand and hit a water bucket below. Dogs started barking and I got scared and ran away, determined to try again later.

According to the TI at the train station, the trail from Monterosso to neighboring Levante was open. I was not sure where it was/what direction it went so I just followed the coast. I passed a nudist beach, unoccupied thank goodness, and came upon a "danger" sign that I read incorrectly. I thought I said you weren't allowed to enter the water because of landslide danger, but come to find out (after my little adventure) it really said not to enter the whole area. My bad...I passed the sign and came upon my second warning...a broken bridge with chains blocking entry. What did I do? I climbed over them, held on for dear life, and balanced my way across. A little ways up the trail was my third warning...a hole in the trail about eight feet by three feet...what did I do? I walked around it. I should have realized by now that this was not the trail I was looking for, nor was it safe, but I kept on going. I love adrenaline, and I love hiking...so I was really enjoying myself. The trail became completely covered by debris from landslides. I carefully climbed my way across the mountain about 50 feet up from the water. It was steep and so dangerous, but I pressed on. There were ropes to hang on to like on the Angel's Landing hike, but they were unstable and tangled with branches. As I was slipping, I went to grab the rope and grabbed a loose branch instead which caused me to panic and grab grab grab until I was literally stretched out hanging onto a small rope with one finger...death below me. Yupp...still pressed on, but not for long. It kept getting scarier and more dangerous. It wasn't until I slid about fifteen feet that I decided dying in the Ligurian Sea with absolutely no one knowing where I was wasn't the best idea. I finally turned around and carefully made my way back the way I had come.

I looked for the correct trail for a little longer but decided that hiking alone wasn't really a good idea even if it was a better trail. I gave up and headed back to my room to get my coat and bag for exploring the Cinque Terre. I headed to the train station and was on my way to the first city: Riomaggiore.

Now, I will fill you in on what the Cinque Terre actually is. First of all, it's Italian so it's pronounced CHINK-weh TAY-reh, not "sink tear" which is how I used to say it. Now I'm all Italian and junk so I say it right. The Cinque Terre is a remote chunk of the Italian Riviera. It is a National Park, my favorite! Here, there is just sun, sea, sand, wine, and pure unadulterated Italy. There are five (cinque) villages, each of which fills a ravine with a lazy hive of human activity.

People in these villages used to be attacked by pirates, but that stopped and they prospered, catching fish and growing grapes. Each village has acres of vineyards. The Cinque Terre has been discovered by tourists, and lots of them come in the summer, but it's an exceptional place that is secluded and absolutely beautiful. The five cities are connected by trains, boats, and/or hiking trails. I was stoked for hiking, but three of the four trails were closed due to landslides. The people are kind of busy fixing their homes/businesses that were destroyed by the mudslides I talked about in the previous post to fix the hiking trails I guess. But it's ok, I still got to see all five villages and beautiful views.

The five cities from south to north are Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza, and Monterosso (where I explored yesterday and am staying). So as I was saying, I took the train to Riomaggiore, the most substantial non-resort town of the group. After walking through a long, mosaic tunnel , I was immediately smitten with a fascinating tangle of bright yellow, red, and orange buildings leaning on each other. The road is actually over what used to be a major river. I explored the main drag and visited the marina and a lovely church. Everything was so beautiful...from the hilly vineyards to the clothes hanging out the windows to dry. I slowly made my way to the start of the Via d'ell Amore which is the path that winds along the coast to the next town, Manarola. It's known for being a romantic stroll, and throughout the path there were locks fastened to anything and everything...marking the kisses shared by hundreds of lovebirds before.

There was a group of four guys that I kept crossing paths with, and we kinda just started walking together. They took pictures for me since it is hard to get in pictures when traveling alone. I ended up spending the rest of the day with them and thoroughly enjoyed their company. They were med students studying on an exchange program in Genova. Two were from Chile and two were from Brazil. All four of them were so nice, and I learned about Italy as well as Chile and Brazil from them. They made me laugh which was so refreshing because being alone, there's not much to laugh at. They sang songs in Spanish/Portugese while we walked the love trail. I guess you could call them my second, third, fourth, and fifth (not so) European boyfriends. We'll just group them into one and call them the second with Swiss boy being the first. :)

In Manarola, I was able to walk on a path through the vineyards. Today is the first time I have ever seen lemon trees. Is that sad?! We enjoyed lunch at a bar in Manarola. I got foccace with olives and minestrone soup for €9. Sorry Olive Garden, you lose. It was the best food I have had in three weeks. I will likely be splurging on more Italian delicacies in the next week than my wallet would like to. My taste buds will sure be happy though!

We took the train to Corniglia for a quick visit. After 382 steps, we strolled around and I sat on some sort of old grape collecting roller coaster train that looped through the vineyards. After more great views, we decided to move on and realized there were only six minutes until the next train. We booked it and ran through the town, down 382 steps, and to the station only to find out that we were mistaken and had 25 minutes until the next train. Ha ha ha! I laughed and was grateful for the good workout.

I listened to the guys music and looked through pictures from their weekend travels. I learned new words and taught them new words. They didn't think they spoke very good English, but I thought it was great!! The Chileans also spoke Italian. It felt so good to talk to people and be social and have a good time. I love learning about people and places. They were seriously so nice to let loser, loner, little me tag along.

We took the train to Vernazza which supposedly used to be the jewel of the Cinque Terre before the mudslides hit. Mud was up to the second stories of buildings along the main drag after the slides at the end of October. The city is dug out, but in terrible condition. I found it interesting that the first thing the people seemed to do was paint bright pictures with messages of hope on the boards blocking the doorways into their used to be businesses. We walked down to the harbor, played with the millionth stray cat of the day, and took more pictures. Our adventure was coming to an end. :(

We caught a train that would take them up to Genova and me three minutes to Monterosso. (I ended up missing my stop as we were exchanging some info and had to backtrack from the next town). The Cinque Terre has definitely been a highlight of my journey this far. Everything is so pretty, and I had a great day with my new friends from South America. It was hard and lonely and scary to not have Internet access all weekend, but it was also very refreshing. I enjoyed the ocean and quiet peacefulness of the Cinque Terre. I highly recommend the area and advise you to hurry over...I get the feeling it won't last much longer!!

Next stop: Pisa!

Ciao!

PS I got an orange and it was good :)

The orange tree I stole an orange from

382 steps to Corniglia

The 8 foot by 3 foot hole

Locks of Love

The sign I missed before hiking

Beautifullll

Via dell Amore

Locks of love

Hiking the Cinque Terre

The wine coaster

Kitty Cats

Via dell Amore

Manarola

Vernazza

Vernazza

My dangerous hike

The bridge I should not have crossed

Minestrone soup