Cinque Terre

Cinque Terre

The train ride wasn long from Pisa and it went though a bunch of industrial towns and tunnels... until suddenly we came out of a tunnel and saw the sea. It was gorgeous and we couldn wait to get off the trian!

Beach
We dropped the stuff at the hostel and went straight to the beach. The sun was out, but it was still a little chilly and I decided to wait until the next day to go for a swim. We went hiking the next day, but then spent part of the day after that back at the beach. The water wasn quite as warm as Barcerlona, but that was three weeks ago.

The Hike
We got a pretty early start to our hike. Cinque (5) Terre is five little towns built until the cliff sides on the Northwestern coast of Italy. We were staying at the town farthest north and hiked miles (I don know how many) to the other end. Our first stop after leaving Monterosso was Vernazza. Here I tried the foccacia with pesto (which both originated in the Cinque Terre). Next we hiked to Corniglia, the only town without direct access to the water. These first two hikes were the hardest with hundreds (maybe thousands?) of stairs. After that, we went to Manarola where we had some gelato. Most of the walk between Manarola and Riomaggiore is called lovers lane. All the hikes had gorgeous views of the ocean and hills... I can wait to post my pics!

Ferry Ride
At the end of the hikes, we took the last ferry back from Riomaggiore to Monterosso. We were able to see all the cities from the water with the sun setting over the sea. It was so beautiful. Again, hopefully pictures are soon to follow. One of my new travel buddies (nice girl from Tennessee to add to the 2 boys, all still with us) and I swam from the ferry dock to the beach when we got back. I had been waiting to swim all day, but it was mighty cold when I had to get out of the water.

Morning Market
We missed the market the morning we hiked, but the other two mornings there was a cute little market in the streets. They sold clothing, fruits, veggies, fish, cheese, etc. We only ate out once while we were there, so it was nice to buy veggies for salads and what not.

Dinner Out
Our last night, we went out for a nice dinner at a local family restaurant. I had read about one of Cinque Terres dishes, Pansotti, so I decided to give it a go- ravioli (veggie, mostly spinach) with a walnut sauce. I split that and a pesto dish with a friend. They were both SO good! Anchovies are also a cinque terre specialty- fresh everyday. I wasn brave enough to get my own, but I tried someone elses and was pleasantly surprised. Ive never had them on pizza, but apparently they taste totally different fresh.

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Part of trip: Europa 2009!

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