I only had to see one photo of Cinque Terre when Brent and I were planning the trip to say, "Oh my gosh. We HAVE to find a way to go there." Cinque Terre is on the Italian Riviera located on Italy's northwest coastline (along the Mediterranean). Its name means "five lands." The villages have sustained themselves for hundreds of years by fishing and farming (wine and olive oil). Its steep cliffs meant that the villagers had to build the villages upwards. Only in the past 20 years has this place become a tourist destination. Now, it's breaming with tourists from the U.S., Australia and UK.
Our Hilarious Hostel
We arrived into Riomaggiore on Sept. 9. We stayed in a "hostel" that was actually a 3-room apartment inside a building full of local tenants. The good side: it was smack in the town's famous harbor with a million-dollar view of the sea! The bad sides: those were the steepest, most uneven stairs I ever had to climb... and we had to climb about 4 stories to reach our room with our 80 pounds of luggage! Secondly, the hostel owners were a bit sketchy. When we arrived at check in, the owner said he'd show us to our room in "2 minutes." He told everyone "2 minutes", but it was actually more like 15. When they were ready to show us down the road to our room, Brent nicely reminded the owner that there was a group of women waiting in line ahead of us. The owner said, "I know. I good at my job" and proceeded to let us skip them. The last bad side was that we got attacked by mosquitos in bed that night. They don't put screens on their windows. I got 24 bites in one concentrated area near my elbow!
The Hike
The next day we, along with all the tourists, tackled the world-renowned hike through the five villages.
We think we took the best route of starting at the northern-most town, Monterosso and working our way down to Riomaggoire, the southern-most village. This was because the hardest trek was the first one, though the most rewarding due to its views and changes of scenery. The hike starts on the cliffs of the coast, going through several beautiful bays, then cuts right through several vineyards. The trail was often only 3 feet across with no fence (imagine two 'lanes' of traffic on those narrow trails).
We were ready for lunch and our first swim in the Mediterranean when we reached the second and our favorite village, Vernazza. It looks the prettiest as you descend down onto it. The entire village is in the shape of a circle. After a break, we continued on to Corniglia, Monterolla and finally our village. We stopped for another swim at the pebble beach near Monterolla. It was much needed because the trails got very hot and dry.
All in all, it was an unforgettable experience, though the full hike was much harder than blogs and travel experts said! Next time, we'll break it into two days. But seriously, people who live there live in one of the most beautiful natural environments I've ever seen. Its amazing to learn of how they labored vigorously for centuries to build their lives on those cliffs. You have to admire that culture.
Here are our photos: http://melissabartophotos.shutterfly.com/.
No comments:
Post a Comment