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Published: October 7th 2008
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First Views
This is what I saw when I stepped off the train...beautiful Continuing the saga of my weekend of October 3-5, 2008 I left Pisa on Friday afternoon and headed for Riomaggiore, the southern most town in the Cinque Terre. I arrived there after an hour train ride that included one transfer and some speculations about which train I should actually get on. The ride to Riomaggiore ends by going through a long tunnel through the mountain. The coolest part was when there were open places in the tunnel you would get a quick glimpse of the ocean and cliffs. When I stepped off of the train the first thing I saw was high cliffs and a large expanse of the Mediterranean. It was gorgeous! There was kind of a sea storm so the waves were crashing loudly against the cliffs.
To get to my hostel I had to walk through a tunnel and up the main street of Riomaggiore. The hostel was a little different; there was a main office and then they took you to an apartment that was in the town. We had to climb up, at the time, what I thought was too many stairs to reach the apartment. It was nice place with a living room, full
Al mare!
the sea! kitchen, bathroom, and two bedrooms. It was kind of akward at first because I was the only one there when they dropped me off and then I met my other house-mates when they came back. The people staying there were so amazingly nice! Through my hostel and another one down the street I met 2 Americans, 3 Australians, and 3 Canadians. We all swaped travel stories, where our favorite places have been, and what our future plans were. Most of the people there had done the hike through the Cinque Terre on Friday, so they had plenty of advice for my hike on Saturday.
Saturday morning I woke up early and left the house to begin my hike at 8am. It was a nice time to begin because it was still cool and there were not many people on the train yet, so it made for easy going. The hike through the Cinque Terre is a path along the costal cliffs that links five towns (hence, Cinque, which means 5 in Italian- Terre means land). The path starts out easy and it is paved if you begin in Riomaggiore. The whole trail is 9 KM (I have no Idea
Le Scale periccolose
those stairs don't look very safe... what that is in miles, but a KM is slightly shorter than a mile, so maybe about 5-6miles) I passed through Manarola (the 2nd town) before my first hour was up. I didn't stop long here because nothing was really open, but I did take some pictures before moving on. Before hour 2 was up I reached Corniglia (the 3rd town). To reach this town which is high in the mountain you have to climb a pretty solid flight of stairs. Here I stopped at a cafe for a coffee and a crossaint. I sat and rested for about 30-45 minutes before continuing on to Vernazza (the 4th town). Sitting at the cafe I was able to watch the waves and just relax before too many people were up moving around.
The hike to Vernazza was slightly more difficult. It started with a steep uphill hike on a set of stone stairs that were sometimes whole and sometimes not. But I must say this hike to Vernazza was my favorite part of the entire hike! Not far from Corniglia I ran into 4 ladies that recognized my Kansas Jayhawks shirt (it was game day after all). They quickly exclaimed
they were from Lawrence, KS and were away on holiday! I was so excited! They were really nice and all gave me a 'hug from Kansas'. Not much further down the trail I met a guy from Leavenworth, Kansas, which is not far from Lawrence! The rest of the trip I continued to run into people from the midwest! It was Crazy! I met a couple from Missouri, KU's arch rivals, a German couple who's daughter is studying in Kansas, a couple who's kids all attend KU (the first thing they said to me was "KU! Game Time is in 2 hours!") and I also met a group of two couples who were from the east coast who also stopped me because of my shirt! I have decided I need to wear a KU shirt everywhere I travel to see how many people I can meet from the US!
Once I reached Vernazza I stopped in the main square near the water to sit and eat the lunch I had brought along with me. I wondered around the town for a little while as well, in all I think I stayed here for about 30 minutes and then went
Molte scale
Many Stairs...up to my hostel. Here is the view looking down from the top in search of where to pick up the trail to continue on to the fifth and final town, Monterosso. This leg between Vernazza and Monterosso was the most difficult. there were many areas that were straight uphill and then there were some really narrow parts of the trail where only one person could pass at a time. I was determined to make it the entire way, even when a dog passed me on the trail. The last 30 minutes of the trail was straight down hill, but all stairs. I was really happy that I was not going the other way! Some parts right before Monterosso were in the forest and also walking among private vinyards; I could have sworn I was in the Omaha Zoo's jungle! (then I saw the ocean) I was so happy to finally step off the last step and walk the streets of Monterosso! I hiked for 5 hours and 29 minutes in all! It was intense, but completely worth it! The views were amazing, which you will be able to see from the photos, although they do not do it complete justice.
I spent the rest of the day in Monterosso walking the
streets, laying on the beach, swimming in the Mediterranean, and eating gelato! The first thing I did actually was buy myself a congratulatory gelato for making the hike! 😉 I spend 2 hours lying on the beach and swimming; I was kind of interupted by the jellyfish in the water though! I walked out into the sea and saw one, so I thought if I moved over a little I would be ok, NO. I looked out at the waves and saw a wall of jellys! Apparently the sea storm brought them in with the waves. One girl in my hostel was stung by one! (she was ok) While in Monterosso I also had the opportunity to meet my Helen's (my neighbor from Carson) niece, she lives in Monterosso now. We were only able to talk for a few minutes, but it was nice to meet her. I caught the 6:30 train back to Riomaggiore and made myself some supper and went to bed after playing cards with the people staying in the hostel. I will save Sunday's events for a new post, again because of picture amounts.
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