Cinque Terre

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I only have 8 days left in Europe, so I will be doing my best to catch up to my latest adventures before I head back across the Atlantic.

To get to Croatia from Italy, Kari and I took an overnight boat from 8:30pm to 7:30am and arrived in Ancona, Italy. We hadn't planned any trains or hostels, so we just started walking. Our goal was Cinque Terre and after 6 hours of trains we arrived in Riomaggiore, the first and most southern of the five towns of "Cinque Terre"
I couldn't believe how quaint the town was we arrived in. We found perfect lodging after asking around, dropped off our bags and headed to the cliffs. We walked down to the water and caught some of the last of the sun. The next town, Manarola, was only a 20 minute walk away, so we decided to take the "lover's walk" along the path which was carved into the hill and right above the water. In Manarola, we watched a dingy being pulled up after a day of fishing, using a pulley system because the town is too high up on the cliffs to dock it. All the shops that line the streets are filled with fresh pastas, wines, sauces, herbs, and the scent of pizza wafts through each town. We stopped in at a store and picked out some wine for our walk back and the sunset. Cinque Terre is the area where pesto was invented, and it was tasty! In Italy, pasta is a starter course, and the main course comes after, but the pasta was enough for us so we ate great food for cheap.
Cinque Terre is known for it's hiking trails, so our plan was to wake up in the morning and hike, but unfortunately it decided to rain buckets ALL day long. Since we had to catch our train out to Milan at 6am the next morning, we took the train to the last and biggest town, Monterrosso, to find our lodging. We found it by walking into a cafe and asking if anyone knew of any rooms for cheap, and we negotiated a nice price and a cute room right next door. The rain didn't stop all day, so we took the opportunity to have a 2.5 hour long lunch and 1.5L of wine.
Between the short amount of time, weather, and train difficulties, we really only had a little over 24 hours to be in Cinque Terre. But, it gave me enough of a sample to know that I will be returning there to spend a full week. In trying to plan out all my trips, I didn't spend much time in Italy during my time here. I'm really looking forward to returning some day to be able to focus on Italy specifically, hopefully by bike! It was a beautiful country, and the train ride across from the east to the west coast was incredible.

(Candy and Roger: I'll send you some more detailed information for your trip!)

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