This past week was our semester break and I decided to go on a trip with two of my friends to Cinque Terre, Italy. Cinque Terre is made up of five villages on the coast of Italy (like the shin of the boot). We paid for an unguided tour, which meant that the tour company booked our hostel for us and created a suggested itinerary but we had to get ourselves to Italy and what we did there was ultimately up to us.
Our flight left on Tuesday morning, which meant that I had to get up way earlier than anyone ever should (3:45am) to be able to get to the crazy far away airport by 6:15am. Once there, I located my travel companion and set out to board the plane. I must say I grow more confident in traveling every time I go anywhere. I’m shocked at how I was able to survive getting myself to the airport and onto the plane. Just goes to show that practice makes perfect and you can only improve the more times you do it. Our flight was only two hours long, however the amount of transportation vehicles we had to take to actually arrive in Cinque Terre was insane. Eight hours and one bus, three trains, one tube, one plane, and one shuttle later, we arrived in Manarola, the second village of the five, in which we were staying.
We were in awe at the views we were seeing. Gorgeous views of the sea, the mountains, and the hillsides. Not to mention the views of the quaint, colorful houses stacked on top of each other that made up the village of Manarola. We followed a steep hill to the top of the village where our hostel was and got ourselves checked in and unloaded. Our hostel was adorable! It had areas of exposed brick in the walls and wide, functioning windows with green shutters that actually opened to let the sun and air in. The hostel we were in fit right in with all the other buildings of either bright green, pink, burnt orange, golden yellow, light purple, and cream, all with green shutters. It was like a very colorful version of what I imagine Greece to be. Complete with endless hilly paths and steps to destinations that I assumed were houses. We took the evening to explore our village and bought dinner at a lovely restaurant called Il Porticciolo where I, of course, order pasta.
Our flight left on Tuesday morning, which meant that I had to get up way earlier than anyone ever should (3:45am) to be able to get to the crazy far away airport by 6:15am. Once there, I located my travel companion and set out to board the plane. I must say I grow more confident in traveling every time I go anywhere. I’m shocked at how I was able to survive getting myself to the airport and onto the plane. Just goes to show that practice makes perfect and you can only improve the more times you do it. Our flight was only two hours long, however the amount of transportation vehicles we had to take to actually arrive in Cinque Terre was insane. Eight hours and one bus, three trains, one tube, one plane, and one shuttle later, we arrived in Manarola, the second village of the five, in which we were staying.
We were in awe at the views we were seeing. Gorgeous views of the sea, the mountains, and the hillsides. Not to mention the views of the quaint, colorful houses stacked on top of each other that made up the village of Manarola. We followed a steep hill to the top of the village where our hostel was and got ourselves checked in and unloaded. Our hostel was adorable! It had areas of exposed brick in the walls and wide, functioning windows with green shutters that actually opened to let the sun and air in. The hostel we were in fit right in with all the other buildings of either bright green, pink, burnt orange, golden yellow, light purple, and cream, all with green shutters. It was like a very colorful version of what I imagine Greece to be. Complete with endless hilly paths and steps to destinations that I assumed were houses. We took the evening to explore our village and bought dinner at a lovely restaurant called Il Porticciolo where I, of course, order pasta.
The next morning, after a lovely chocolate filled croissant and cappuccino at the hostel, we ventured off to explore the other four villages. The weather forecast was a rainy one so we prayed the entire time that it wouldn’t put a damper on our exploring…literally. There were trains running through each town so it was very easy to by a ticket to the farthest one, and then hop on and off on the way back. Easy, however legal? I’m not entirely sure. We bought our tickets and kept our fingers crossed that we wouldn’t get our tickets checked on the train in case our assumption was wrong. Thankfully, we had no problems and arrived in the fifth village called Monterosso before noon.
Monterosso had a lovely beach that, even under the cloudy sky, looked wonderfully warm and inviting. It was about 60-65 degrees so we didn’t want to miss the opportunity to dip our feet into the sea. The beach was a combination of rocks and sand so I won’t need a pedicure for at least a year now. As painful as they were, the rocks were gorgeous to look at. They were an array of colors from white and black to green, lavender, and orangey red. Once we got our shoes back on, we explored the village and picked up some delicious focaccia sandwhiches. That’s when it started to rain.
Monterosso had a lovely beach that, even under the cloudy sky, looked wonderfully warm and inviting. It was about 60-65 degrees so we didn’t want to miss the opportunity to dip our feet into the sea. The beach was a combination of rocks and sand so I won’t need a pedicure for at least a year now. As painful as they were, the rocks were gorgeous to look at. They were an array of colors from white and black to green, lavender, and orangey red. Once we got our shoes back on, we explored the village and picked up some delicious focaccia sandwhiches. That’s when it started to rain.
By the time we hopped on and off the train again and arrived in Vernazza, the fourth village, it was only lightly rainy. Vernazza has a small beach with some really cool rocky outcroppings that make for great pictures. Like the other two villages we saw, Vernazza had the same colorful houses and windy streets. All the villages were quite small with only one main road leading up through the village and a few side streets here and there. We wondered the whole time how exactly people got to there houses so far up the hill and crammed in between the surrounding ones. At Vernazza, we shopped and ate gelato and in the late afternoon, we continued onto Corniglia, the third village.
From the train station, there was a long path leading up into the village of Corniglia, which was clearly the highest village. I know this because we climbed what seemed like a never-ending amount of red stairs to get to the actual village. Once at the top however, the views were really worth it. You could see each of the four other villages from Corniglia and there was a panoramic lookout area that had even better views. By the end of our time in Corniglia, it was pouring and we gingerly dashed back down the endless steps to the train station to make our way back to our hostel. We had dinner in Manarola again at La Scogliera and I had pasta with Pesto, which was born in Cinque Terre.
Unfortunately, our third and last day brought an early morning thunderstorm, so we checked out of our hostel and went to the train station laden with bags and juggling umbrellas. Our plan was to buy a ticket to the airport, but on our way out, stop at the last village, Riomaggiore, since it was the first stop on the train. Again, we weren’t sure if this was allowed, but we had lots of luck the day before, and hey, it’s all about the adventure right? So we get on the train and it stops at Riomggiore in an ambiguous looking tunnel. We weren’t sure if it was the station but moved towards the doors anyway. The door wouldn’t open. Everyone on board tried to wrench it open but it wouldn’t budge and before we could run to the next carriage door the train started moving! This emant that we had to get off at the next stop, La Spezia, and wait for the next train back to Riomaggiore, which was 40 minutes away. The good thing is, by the time we got to Riomaggiore, it was sunny and dry and we finally got to see Italy in all its warm and beachy glory.
Riomaggiore was probably one of the prettiest, next to Manarola. It had the usual multicolored houses and shops but the sun really made the colors pop. We had lunch at a super cute café called The Vertical Bar, where I had the best hot chocolate I’ve ever had!!! It tasted like a melted scoop of chocolate ice cream. It was so thick and just the right amount of chocolaty goodness. After lunch we headed back to the train station and almost two hours later, arrived at the Pisa airport. I’m happy to report that no one checked our tickets at all during the trip and we successfully saved some Euros by (illegally) hopping on and off the trains and probably, occasionally taking the completely wrong one.
We got to the airport at 3:00 in Pisa, and I didn’t get back to my flat until 8:30pm. For that third day, in total, it took my five trains, one shuttle, one plane, and two tubes to get from Italy to London. It was a grea trip but I only wish we had chosen to go for at least five days, since we basically spent two of our days traveling. But it didn’t make the views any less beautiful or the food any less tasty. A school break well spent I say!
Check out the many new photos in the October gallery. I’ve also added some photos from the changing of the guard ceremony that we saw earlier this week.
Top British oddities/facts as well as Italian ones…
We got to the airport at 3:00 in Pisa, and I didn’t get back to my flat until 8:30pm. For that third day, in total, it took my five trains, one shuttle, one plane, and two tubes to get from Italy to London. It was a grea trip but I only wish we had chosen to go for at least five days, since we basically spent two of our days traveling. But it didn’t make the views any less beautiful or the food any less tasty. A school break well spent I say!
Check out the many new photos in the October gallery. I’ve also added some photos from the changing of the guard ceremony that we saw earlier this week.
Top British oddities/facts as well as Italian ones…
- Daylight Savings time is a week earlier in the UK (and I think Europe) than the US. We turned our clocks back on October 18th and the US won’t do that until Nov 1st.
- Cinque Terre is the birthplace of Pesto
- All the bathrooms I experienced in Italy had toilet paper in sheets, like they were paper towels, and not in rolls. I’ve seen this in England and Scotland as well.
- Cinque Terre is an official UNESCO site
- It must be very common in Italy to serve bread at dinner (like most Italian restaurants in the States) but then charge you 2 Euros per person. It’s not something you order, but yet you still get charged. This has happened to me at multiple Italian places in the UK too.
- None of the small tourist shops in Italy had hours posted outside their doors. I think they open kind of whenever they want to. We saw shops opening sporadically throughout the morning.
- (this one’s for you Emily) One of the public bathrooms at one of the train stations had toilets like this one
I didn’t use it because I didn’t know how! I looked it up when I got back and they are very common for public restrooms. You use it exactly how you think you would. Thigh workout! It’s not just for dudes.