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Published: August 8th 2009
Manarola
In the evening when I arrived.This is the place everyone told me I had to go in Italy. All the Americans, anyway. I am happy to say they were right; it is an incredibly magical and beautiful place.
It is in Liguria, on the northwest coast of Italy. Cinque terre means something like 5 towns (earths, or soils, literally) because there are 5 little towns connected by footpaths in this national park. I had been in this region before when we went to the markets, but this was so different. My pictures and words won't do it justice, but I'll try.
I arrived in Manarola in the evening, checked into my hostel, then watched the sun set over the water. As You can see from the pictures, it's unreal. I never felt fully there because I couldn't believe my surroundings. It is going to be quite a chore to choose from the hundreds of pictures...
The next day I hiked the coastal paths to the other towns. Every few feet I would stop and take a picture because the view was spectacular, and then I'd walk a little more and it would get better. It is going to be quite a chore to
Sunset
From the rocks of Manarola. choose from the hundreds of pictures...The mornings are great because it's not so hot and for some reason there are few people around. All these silly tourists wait until the hottest part of the day to hike on these cliffs in flip flops. Also, no one else seemed to notice the plethora of wild blackberry bushes along every trail. I'm glad they didn't, though, because that left plenty for me. In the bright little towns, I would buy gelato and fill up my water, and watch all the crazy people baking on rocks (or tanning, if you want to call it that). I think I've become really lazy or something, but that hike just about killed me. I think it was the heat. I would stop every time I found shade, while small children and fat old people would pass me by. The cool breeze from the water felt amazing. And finally reaching the last town and jumping into the water was such a relief. Needless to say, I don't have any pictures of myself among this scenery because I didn't want to spoil the beauty with my hot, sweaty self.
On my final day, I hiked up a
more inland mountain into some little farms. It was amazing to see these precious gardens with incredible sea views and impossibly steep inclines. I felt like I was intruding into their property, although I was following the trail. I somehow ended up hiking in the right direction every time to avoid the most uphill parts of every trail. Yay!
All in all, I realized that it's not so much about where you are, but who is with you. I usually enjoy traveling alone, but after spending 2 weeks with people I cared about and enjoyed spending time with, I missed the company. When I come back, I won't go in August and I will bring someone with me.
The computer is flipping out, so more picutre tomorrow, as well as an into to my wonderful new farm in Reggio Emilia.
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