cinque terre!!! last weekend my roommates and i ventured to the famous five villages (cinque terre) of riomaggiore, manarola, vernazza, corniglia, and monterrosso del mare. we took a train from roma termini to le spezia. after two late night phone calls to our hotel "night guard" we finally made it to our place of stay in lorento. Oh that was after we hopped on one MORE late-night train that smelled like a port-a-poty. anyway. we were exhausted once we finally made it to our hotel so we slept well and rose early to start hiking. cinque terre is known for its amazing hiking trails that go through the coastal cliffs between each of the five villages. unfortunately we weren't able to do all of them because it had rained recently which makes the trails pretty dangerous.
on saturday we hiked for a total of about 4 hours and then relaxed in vernazza where there is a lovely little beach and large rocks to lounge upon. the villages are all quite quaint and there are lots of little stores with interesting trinkets inside. after a short train ride back to our hostel we cleaned up and went out to dinner for pizza and seafood in levanto.
on sunday we got up bright and early to check the weather for the day and get breakfast at our hotel (italian breakfast:break, coffee, nuetlla and/or jam). then we put our swimsuits on hoping to take a dip in the ocean. unfortunately when we arrived in monterrosso, where the largest beach is, we were suprised to find a huge stormcloud above our heads. we had fun despite the weather though, we went to the little shops in the area and walked the coast a little before taking the train back to le spezia so that we could then get on a train back to rome.
overall we did a lot of walking, a ton of photo taking, and a load of gawking at the beauty of the coast.
a special thanks goes out to our helpful night guard at ospitalia del mare because he stayed up extra late waiting for the ten silly American girls to show up. He also patiently guided us by phone to certain trains and through the city so that we would find the hotel. It was 1:30 am so we needed all the help we could get.
the photo above is on the riomaggiore hiking trail which is known as the via dell' amore or "lovers lane", couples bring locks (or you can buy them) to lock to the gates and on Via dell' Amore. the whole thing is very sweet because people etch their names into the lock as if they are forever in love and linked to cinque terre. it was oh-so romantic. perhaps i'll make it back to lovers lane and leave a lock next time.
