Nove Chilometri E Quattromila Scale

Scrivo in italiano questa volta! Ieri mattina, Nicole e io abbiamo viaggiato a Cinque Terre, una bella regione nel nord di Italia. Ci sono cinque cittì picccole lungo la costa. Abbiamo camminato lungo le scogliere a tutte le cinque cittì: Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza e Monterosso al Mare. Siamo arrivate in treno a Riomaggiore e abbiamo cominciato a camminare. La mare è stata turchese e molto bella. Ci sono molti fuori sugli muri. Abbiamo scalato molte scale rocciose, e adesso il mio piedi nuocco! Faccio molti foti anche. Qualche volta, il sentiero è stato solo per uno persone camminare. C'è stato pericoloso ma estremamente divertimento! Penso che Cinque Terre è la più bella parte da Italia.

Ok, that's enough translating for now. I'm sure it's full of grammatical errors but I love attempting to write in italian. I have to look up every other word, but the process strengthens my vocabulary and is really quite enjoyable. I want to continue learning italian when I come home, and even advance my french. How cool would it be to be fluent in three languages? It will help out when I move to Europe for good. :) But the ultimate question remains: if I had to pick, would I choose a Tuscan villa, a French cottage, or an English country manor? I suppose I'll deal with that impossible question after graduation.

On Saturday, Nicole and I left Florence bright and early (7 a.m. this time, we know we're slackers) and rode the train to Cinque Terre. I now believe this is the most beautiful part of Italy. I know, I know, I always say that, but this time I mean it! Cinque Terre is made of five small towns on the northwest coast. The towns are built into the cliffs and are made up of colorful houses that sit above that brilliant turquoise sea, waves crashing below on the dark rocks. The way you access them is what makes the area so unique: it's basically the Amalfi bus ride, but on foot. The only real way to see the five towns is to hike along treacherous, rocky paths etched into the sides of the cliffs. The whole stretch is nearly six miles long, and we hiked the entire route in about six hours!

As we neared the end of the train ride to the first town that morning, I was reading a book as we rode through a long tunnel. Suddenly my page turned green, and I looked up in surprise as the whole train collectively gasped. We had burst out of the tunnel to a magnificent view of the turquoise ocean, surface glittering in the clear spring morning. Once off the train, we rolled up our sleeves, donned our sunglasses and set out on our hike around the cliffs. The second town we reached in half an hour of easy walking on a paved, flat surface. (We really should have appreciated the flatness while we had it!) Sweet-smelling flowers were blooming everywhere, everything from cactus to wildflowers to lemon and orange trees. We stopped long enough only to take pictures by the wharf before setting out for town number three.

As we began this leg of the trip, we happened to be gazing at the tops of the cliffs when I noticed some brightly-colored houses waaaay up there. Then I gasped as the distant zig-zag staircase came into focus with lots of people winding their way up. Yep, that's where we were going! Once we got all the way over to the stairs (about an hour walk), we joked with a middle aged couple as we climbed about being fat Americans, needing an elevator pronto, and figuring out Italians' secrets for staying thin. It was quite a climb, but we made it and had lunch in Corniglia in a cozy pizza joint.

After lunch it was off to the fourth town, and here it got interesting because it was all uphill. Hundreds of stony stairs, and more stairs, a climb, stairs, winding stairs, steep stairs, a climb, an overlook, and then more stairs. And I thought the climb up to the Piazzale Michelangelo in Florence was bad! We were actually hiking with people of all ages, and every time I thought I was tired, I just looked at the older people working it out way up overhead. The pace that the people in front of us set actually made the climb very doable. Difficult, but extremely gorgeous. I kept admiring the third town, shrinking in the distance. But I couldn't away from my feet for long or I would have walked straight off the edge of the mountain. When there were no more stairs to climb, it was time to go down. Down, down, down down down winding stairs, curving paths and rocks resembling stairs. We really had to watch our step, and we dearly wished we had saved our free hiking sticks from Mount Vesuvius. We loved the whole experience nevertheless.

At last we reached the fourth town where I feasted on mint gelato (Nicole had a bright blue flavor called Puffo). We sat on a wall and watched a little kid make a large pile of jellyfish on the beach where hundreds of the little purple guys had washed up. This town, Vernazza, was the busiest of them all and was bustling with activity. Brightly colored boats lay on the shores and lots of little outdoor cafes were full of happily chatting hikers. After resting a little, we were still dirt tired, but we knew it was called CINQUE Terre for a reason. We had to see all five.

Of course, the last leg of the hike had to be the longest. And the most difficult. We thought the last set of stairs were bad, but these stairs were brutal. I had to sit down for several breathers on the way up. Intense isn't a good enough word, especially after hiking all the other treks before this one! We finally made it up the stairs though, and after that it was fine. I can do uphill, just not thousands of stairs in a row. (We actually estimated the number of stairs we went up and down to be around four thousand for the entire day. That's probably very accurate, too.) We wound up behind five older ladies in their sixties (THEY had walking sticks!) who were chatting loudly in Italian, and then began singing Italian walking songs for a good 45 minutes of scary trails. They made our walk so much more entertaining, and the time went by really fast. I understood words and phrases here and there, as well as the general subject matter of their conversations, and we loved the singing of course. Very fun!

Parts of this final trail led us past terraced vineyards and quiet hillside country homes. At one point, the path was literally nothing more than a tiny ledge up against the cliff with a steep drop off below. Two people wouldn't have had room to pass each other safely. It was so beautiful though. About an hour into the hike, who should come around a corner up ahead than one of my sorority sisters from Drake, a sophomore girl named Maggie who is studying in Vienna but who happened to be in Cinque Terre this weekend. It was incredible to see a familiar face from home, let alone thinking about the odds of running into someone from Iowa in Italy. We chatted for awhile before making plans to meet for dinner in Florence the next day, since she was going there anyway. (We ate at Zaza's tonight, and it was delicious!) What fun, what are the odds?

At long last, we made it to the final town, Monterosso al Mare. We were very weary but darn proud of ourselves. Most people don't hike all five in one day, so we accomplished quite a feat. At this point, I realized I was incredibly sunburned on the left side of my body, and today I still look like a lobster. But it's ok, at least I don't glow in the dark anymore. :) We took the train from the last town all the way back to Florence and slept the whole way. Today, my calves hurt every time I stand up. But I have 150 pictures, 12 videos, and a mountain of happiness stored away from those few glorious hours of beauty, sunshine and exercise on the Italian Riviera. I'll take on those stairs again any day.

By the way, here's the translation from above: Nine Kilometers and Four Thousand Stairs
I will write in Italian this time! Yesterday morning, Nicole and I traveled to Cinque Terre, a beautiful region in the north of Italy. There are five small towns along the coast. We walked along the cliffs to all five towns: Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza e Monterosso al Mare. We arrived by train in Riomaggiore and began walking. The sea was turquoise and very beautiful. There were lots of flowers along the walls. We climbed many rocky stairs, and now my feet hurt! I took a lot of photos also. Sometimes, the path was only wide enough for one person to walk. It was dangerous but very fun. I think Cinque Terre is the prettiest part of Italy.

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