Exhaustion

I am totally beyond exhaustion. After a crazy busy week, my roommate and I decided to head out to Cinque Terre on Friday for a mind and soul-clearing hike through nature. As many of you know, I love to hike and I love nature, so it was going to be an amazing break from Florence (which is totally awesome, but lacking trees) and papers/exams.

We woke up and packed our bags (apples, water, guide books, money, cell phone…) and headed to the train station. As we got on the train, a huge group walked past us, holding big flags and singing. We never found out the occasion, but we surmise that it was for a soccer match. On the train, we relaxed for our big hikes and met a cute older couple, who told us about their trip to Chianti (it was so cute because they were showing us how they were going to get there and what wineries they were going to go to).

We pulled into La Spezia (the base station where all the trains to Cinque Terre leave from), bought out Cinque Terre day passes and headed off on another train to Riomaggiore, the first town of Cinque Terre. This region is pretty cool – the reason it is called Cinque Terre is because there are five towns on five different hills (hence “five lands” or “cinque terre”). You can hike from Riomaggiore to Monterosso (the last town) in about five hours but one of the hikes between town #2 and town #3 was closed so you would need to take the train instead.

Riomaggiore was incredible. It is picturesque and the mountains are full of olive groves and vineyards. We hiked to the very top of the hill where the town was situated and had panoramic views of the sea and the neighboring towns. It was incredible. We walked down the mountain and into the town center. We stopped and got pizza at this little shop (it was so good) and ate as we wandered around. After we finished, we walked to the start of the Lover’s Hike, the walk from Riomaggiore to the second town, Manarola.

Riomaggiore

The Lover’s Hike was basically flat and paved and it was full of graffiti. Lovers’ names are scrawled on every surface and they are in every language. It was cute to see names from last week but also from years ago. What also makes this hike so awesome are the awesome views. You can see the water and the hills everywhere and it is truly breathtaking. What also made me catch my breath was the abundance of recycling pails – bins for garbage, plastic, paper, cans, and glass (sometimes even organic matter). It was great to see that the people who oversee Cinque Terre (most of it is considered as a national park) care about keeping it clean and environmentally sound.

We arrived in Manarola after about twenty minutes and we walked directly to the water’s edge. The water is so magnetic here – maybe I miss the beach, but the crisp, clean air draws you in and makes you want to sit down right at the water’s edge in the sun and let your cares fly away. We decided to work for our rest, so we attempted to do a vineyard hike – we just needed to find the path first. My roommate and I hiked up a steep set of stairs (which made me realize how out of shape I am in – there were people who were much more advanced in age than I who were climbing with less difficulty). We came to a locked gate and another set of stairs marked with the red marker. We climbed the stairs and we came to a grassy patch, which looked like someone’s yard. So down we went, and explored the cute little church that sat at the start of the killer stairs; it was here where we learned from a nice man at the church that the vineyard was exactly where we were. The problem was that where we were was lacking a vineyard… so we gave up and went to the water’s edge and enjoyed the breeze and some sun (and drank lots of water – it was warm).

Manarola

From Manarola, we took the train to Corniglia (town #3). This town was on top of a hill and we needed to climb 382 steps to get to it from the train station. We did not go on the correct road to get to the stairs, so we ended up taking a longer route (but it was the paved bus route… so not too bad). Our ascent started with a group of Southern people who were about middle aged (they turned back and took the bus up the hill); we ran into them in the town center, where they congratulated us for our impressive stamina and athletic skill – very sweet of them to say! I was feeling a little lightheaded and decided that I needed to get a little bit of a sugar kick, so we got some gelato (dark chocolate gelato – the best I have had so far in Italy). I followed my sugary treat with a local peach (which was so awesome), getting a big sugar boost and it helped me climb throughout this really hilly town. We got to a lookout point where we could see an amazing start to the sunset and this cool little sea cave.

It was getting dark and we decided to take the train to Monterosso (town #5), where there was a very good restaurant. As we waited for the train, the sun began to set. It was so beautiful… The sun was almost set when we got off the train and stepped onto the boardwalk at Monterosso. Before all the light was gone, we headed onto the beach (which is little pebbles, not traditional New Jersey shore sand) and took pictures. There were people still swimming (way too cold), fishing, and boating and it made me want to stay there forever. I was pulled out of my thoughts by my stomach, which was telling me that I needed to eat some real food… NOW! So we headed off to the restaurant, which was situated in the cute town center. This restaurant is most famous for the way it prepares rabbit. I personally would not have had rabbit if I was in the States, but in Italy it is a specialty. So I had to have it – and I don’t think that rabbit is the food for me. I have issues with taking chicken off the bone, and rabbit is basically like that. So it looked like I did not eat anything, but I really did. So I can say that I had rabbit, a Tuscan specialty.

My rabbit dinner

After a filling dinner, we walked along the boardwalk and then headed to the train station for sleepy train rides home. It was a really good day. It was nice to get out of the city and into nature. The break was needed and it will kick-start a fun-filled weekend of trips into the Tuscan countryside. Maybe I’ll get a picture this time….

Ciao!