Quattro Giorni, Cinque Terre, Sei Persone
We’ve just come home from a lovely little corner of Italy called Cinque Terre.
If you’re American, you’ve probably heard of this shiny little town (or 5 towns, to be exact). It’s a hotspot for American tourists during the summer and boy does it live up to its reputation. Tucked into the cliffside in northern Italy, it sits prettily alongside the ocean, all bright ticky tacky houses, sweet wines, winding staircases, small cafés, and scrumptious seafood.
Of course, no vacation that great could go smoothly, especially when you’re traveling with Lauren, a lighthouse for late trains and cancelled planes, and Dan, who brings natural disasters to every country he visits. Alas, Italy was no different. We were already off to a questionable start when Noah almost missed the train to Ventimiglia, but we scraped it together and found each other in Italy… only to discover that a mountain had collapsed, cancelling all trains between Ventimiglia and our destination of La Spezia. If traveling has taught me one thing, however, it’s to expect the worst and pray for the best. Luckily, we stumbled upon an extremely nice Italian man who spoke English, headed in the same direction, who helped us figure out the now complicated travel route. Smiles on our faces, we hopped on the next train to Diano Morina, switched to a bus headed to Albenga, and finally got to La Spezia on another train.
Despite a somewhat late start on Wednesday, we conquered two of the five towns that make up Cinque Terre—we not only conquered them, but did so on foot! One of the best things about this destination is all of the towns (Monterosso, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola and Riomaggiore) are connected by hiking paths varying from an easy stroll (the Via dell’Amore) to some serious trekking. We took a train from La Spezia to Vernazza, where we chowed down on some Italian food (I stuck with my go-to, spaghetti alle vongole) and got to hiking from Vernazza to Corniglia.
The minute we stepped into Vernazza, I fell in love with these little towns. We traipsed through cobblestone streets, up steps carved into the cliffside and draped with greenery, across paths dividing teetering pink, orange, blue, and yellow buildings, all the way down to the frothy sea that churned green and blue thanks to the light rain and wind. While we were hoping for sunny skies through our vacation, the rain rejuvenated us. As we made our way up hundreds of stone steps winding through the mountains, I had one of those beautiful moments of clarity that make me stop and thank the world for offering me this extraordinary life.
The hike was absolutely stunning. It poured with rain and the air smelled clean, like green grass and olive trees. Looking across the ocean, you could catch glimpses of the five towns, little bouquets of color against the grey sky. After two hours of hiking up through the growth, we started our descent. The steps turning slippery but even more magical as water poured over them and turned them into a small stream. As we neared Corniglia, we picked sweet lemons and tiny, tart oranges off of farmers’ trees. Exhausted and exhilarated, we stopped to get some hot chocolate before hopping on a train back to La Spezia, where we cooked a meal in the apartment and collapsed on the beds for an early night.
Overall, the trip was a huge success. The six of us, who had never really traveled or hung out extensively before, became excellent friends and have already made plans to travel again in the future. If you’re headed that way, make sure you hike rather than take the trains between the towns, bring a lock to stick on the Via dell’Amore (if it’s open, which it should be). Oh, and you can travel by ferry, so make sure you check that out as well! It was closed for the winter when we went but in the summer, I’d bet it’s a spectacular way to see the coast.