Ahhhhh. We finally made it to Cinque Terre. To be perfectly honest, we didn´t know much about the area when we decided to come here. I saw some pictures of it and when talking to backpackers, they said it is a must see in Italy. There are certainly alot of backpackers! The 5 villages are set pretty close together and a very popular thing to do is hike between them. There is a trail linking the villages and you can look over the rocky cliffs to the ocean. It is certainly beautiful.
When we first got here, we dropped our bags off in the room and decided to hike to the next town over. The temperature was pushing 100 degrees, but we made it. I stopped for a quick sandwich, we filled up our water bottles and continued to the next town. Right before we reached it, we learned that we had to climb over 350 steps to get to the center of town. Once we climbed it, we had a little celebration. We were halfway through the 5 villages! Or so we thought. About this time we met 3 others and had a nice conversation. It was over the course of conversation that we learned that the hike to the next 2 towns were much steeper and longer than the first two. We stopped to refresh ourselves over a frozen lemonade and I looked over the map. I learned that the entire hike through the 5 towns was 9 kilometers and we had only covered 2. That meant we had 7 more to go in steeper terrain than what we had just finished and we were exhausted! We resolved to finish the hike the next day.
When we woke up the next day, it was even hotter than the day before! We felt totally beat down. We decided to take the train to the furthest town of Monterosso and work our way back. By the time we got there, we were totally miserable. I felt like I was suffering from dehydration even though we were drinking gallons of water. I left Joe to practice his magic and juggling and bought some clothes that were much cooler and more comfortable than the ones I was previously wearing. Joe came running back to me very excited. During his practicing he was able to make 7 euros, but he feels he is still not ready to perform for tips yet. It was a great confidence builder for him.
We then got back on the train to go to the next town, Vernazza. This one had a beach, so we both got a slice of pizza and sat down by the water. We browsed in some shops before decided to take the train back to our town. We put on our bathingsuits and went swimming at the beach. It felt wonderful! After resting a bit, we went shopping for food. We got some pasta and pesto and went back to the room and Joe made a wonderful meal (we had a kitchen in our room). After dinner, we had a romantic stroll along the Via Dell Amore. This road links Riomaggiore to Manarola, the next town over. Couples come here and put a lock on the fence and throw the keys to the lock over the cliff. This ensures them being together for ever. Joe bought a lock earlier that day and enscribed our names on the lock. After throwing the keys overboard we strolled home. What a wonderful way to end our stay here.
No comments:
Post a Comment