Cinque Terre, Italy

I am going to jump back into updating about our Europe Trip we took this Fall.  It is taking me forever, but I really want to try and get it all documented so I don't forget about some of the small fun memories.  Be prepared.  This post will likely have a picture overload!

If you remember back to this post I had left off after just arriving in Rome from Bulgaria.  After enjoying our first large Italian meal the night we arrived in Rome, we hit the hay pretty quick.  Traveling is sort of exhausting!  But in a good way of course :)  The next day we woke up bright and early to head to Rome's train station to activate our global train passes, and take our first train ride to our first Italian destination - Cinque Terre, Italy.  Being the amateur train travelers that we were, we didn't know you had to reserve seats on Italian trains.  Luckily the train conductor (is that what they are called?) let us on the train anyway and we sat in empty seats whenever we could, although we stood/sat in the aisle of the train for a pretty large chunk of the five hour train ride to La Spezia (the connecting city to Cinque Terre).

Once we arrived in La Spezia we decided to get some lunch before trying to catch a train to Cinque Terre.  Because of the craziness of trying to figure out whether or not we'd be able to get on the train from Roma to Cinque Terre that morning, we had been inadequately prepared with snacks or food for the long train ride.  The inner bear in me was threatening to come out in full force, so we decided we needed food pronto ;)  Mostly for my sweet husband's sake haha.   After stopping at the cutest little family owned pizzeria I was able to take in the beauty of La Spezia much more effectively.  I decided I loved this part of Italy right away!

After lunch in La Spezia.  Heading back to the train station with our packs.

 Now for a little information on Cinque Terre.  The Cinque Terre is a portion of the coast on the Italian Riviera that is a National Park.  "The Five Lands" is made up of five villages:  Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore.  We had reservations to stay in Riomaggiore for two nights.  It was one of the only places we made a reservation because I really wanted to stay there, and we heard that it gets pretty booked in August.

The first glimpse we had of the Cinque Terre coast on the train from La Spezia to Riomaggiore where we were staying.

 After getting off the train in Riomaggiore we had to ask for directions to our hotel's check-in address probably three separate times.  All the old Italian men that were lounging about tried to be very helpful, but somehow we still ended up getting lost a couple times.  However we finally found our way!  After we checked in at the main office, the man in charge had an Italian teenage boy lead us to our room which I assumed would be just up the street, or around the corner.  Boy was I wrong!  We winded up side streets, in between buildings, and hiked up steep stairs with our backpacks on for probably 15 minutes (although it felt a lot more like 30 minutes I was so tired!)  Wow.  The Italian boy seemed amused as Ki and I huffed and puffed the whole way.  He however made it look like a leisurely walk, and even smoked a cigarette on the way.  Have I mentioned how hot Italy is in August!  We were both sweating like crazy and pretty winded by the time we finally got up to our room.  But our gorgeous view made it all worth the trek!  Ki could never get over how blue and gorgeous the water was.

Ki at the base of the city where we checked into our room.  Little did he know what he was in for!  haha.

An example of the side streets, and steep staircases we winded through to get up to our room. 

The incredible view from the balcony of our room!  We had no idea when we made reservations we were getting such a great view.  We assumed it would be kind of ghetto since we were sharing a bathroom with 4 other rooms.

Another view from our room.  It shows the terraces that they used to grow their crops.  Lots of vineyards.

 Because Ki and I were by now very sweaty, we decided to put on our swimsuits, and start heading back down to where we could hop in the ocean to cool off.  I love oceans and sunshine!  I was very excited.

Heading down for a swim

Another beautiful view.  We took SO many pictures.

Cute little fishing boats.

On the way to the beach.  The buildings looked like they were all on top of each other.

Enjoying some beach time!  Please ignore the women seated behind us.

 The beach was glorious after our long sweaty hike.  We ended up relocating to a different spot that allowed me to get some sun, but that allowed Ki to sit in the shade.  Haha he thought the arrangement was perfect.  He just doesn't see the appeal of tanning.  I love my fair-skinned babe :)  Ki swallowed his fair share of salt water that day, but we had so much fun!  That night we went to dinner, and ended up making friends with and sharing a table with a Canadian couple.  It was fun to make friends that also spoke some English!  I wish we had a picture with them, but we didn't take our camera with us to dinner.

The next morning we decided to do the 5-city hike through all 5 of Cinque Terre's cities.  It starts out on a path from Riomaggiore to Manarola called lovers lane.  The landscape was lovely and peaceful in the morning, and our early start allowed us to get started before the intense heat hit.

Ki on Lover's Lane

Manarola in the distance.  You can see the train tracks as well for those who don't want to walk the whole way.

The fence along Lover's Lane had been decorated with lots of ribbons and padlocks symbolizing people's love.

We stopped for some chocolate filled croissants for breakfast in Manarola.

Somewhere between Manarola and Corniglia.  It was starting to get really hot!  Little did we know that a 400 stair stretch was coming just before Corniglia.

The 4th city Vernazza.  It was so lovely.  Probably one of our favorites! 

After all that hiking we were pooped, and starving!  We stopped to grab some delicious lunch.  Ki of course got pizza.  I opted for a tomato and cheese sandwich.

 Between Vernazza and Monterosso we decided to just take the train.  We were super hot and sweaty, and wanted to get to the beach!

Monterosso Al Mare's beach.  This city had the best beach.

 We were really excited to go swimming at the beach when we finally arrived, so we set our stuff down, and were just about to jump in the ocean when the lifeguard came and told us that we had to pay to be at this beach, and that this section was full.  LAME.  But he told us to continue further down on the beach and that we would be able to get a spot there.  We walked and walked but every section of this massive beach was full.  I was puzzled that it could be full because there were so many umbrella's that didn't have any people under them.  I was hot and sweaty and getting really grumpy that nobody would let me swim!  After a half hour of people turning us away because the beach was "full" we decided to just take the train back to Riomaggiore and go swimming where we had gone the day before.

After enjoying our swim, and quickly doing our laundry, we rushed to make it to our dinner reservations that were in the city Manarola.  It had been highly recommended by an Australian couple we had met the previous day, so we had made reservations earlier that day when we hiked through Manarola.  We had also been compelled to make reservations somewhere because the previous night we waited an hour to get into the restaurant to eat.  Too bad we had to waste time doing our laundry.  Otherwise we could have enjoyed a romantic stroll at sunset on the way to dinner, instead of running.  It turns out that laundry is even more annoying when on vacation :)  We were so sweaty by the time we got to the restaurant it was slightly embarrassing.  It really made me miss air conditioning!

I quickly snapped this photo from Lover's Lane as Ki and I literally RAN to make our dinner reservation. 

Our yummy dinner.  I was disappointed that the salad I ordered didn't come with any dressing haha.  I am such an American.  Ki was brave and got the fish.  Once he figured out how to get the bones out he said it was pretty good!

That concludes our day and a half spent in the beautiful Cinque Terre.  It was honestly so gorgeous.  Ki says it was the most beautiful part of the trip.  I think I thought Switzerland was more beautiful, but honestly they are so different its hard to compare!  I just love me some beautiful mountains and gorgeous blue lakes like the ones that Switzerland is famous for!

Next stop:  Gimmelwald, Switzerland!