Post #5
Cinque Terre
Saturday, September October 13th through Sunday, October 14
Saturday, October 13th, 2018
On Saturday morning Michaela and I took the train 2.5 hours to La Spezia, Italy. La Spezia is a coastal town north-west of Florence, and is the closest main town near the Cinque Terre region. Cinque Terre directly translates to “five lands” and makes up a string of 5 seaside villages on the Italian Riviera.
Upon arrival in La Spezia on Saturday morning, we checked into our Airbnb and followed the owners advice to do one day in Porto Venere, and the second at Cinque Terre. That day we decided to buy ferry tickets (€12 round trip, not bad) and spent the day exploring the town of Porto Venere which is a town just south of Cinque Terre. It was great, and the weather was amazing, and the ferry ride was a lot of fun! The town was absolutely beautiful and we climbed to the top of a church on a cliff to see some of the most breathtaking views I have ever seen. We got gelato, sat by the beach, and soaked up the warm sun! After taking the ferry back to La Spezia, we grabbed dinner at an Irish pub (lol) and went back to our Airbnb to crunch in a bit of homework and booked our train tickets for Sunday!
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Sunday, October 7th, 2018
On Sunday we decided to take the train a whole 10 minutes from La Spezia to visit Manarola, one of the five villages of Cinque Terre. We decided that Manarola would be a good location because there is a pedestrian walkway, Via dell’Amore that connects both Manarola and Riomaggiore, one of the other 5 lands. We were a bit disappointed when we realized that the walkway had been destroyed due to a few avalanches that had occurred a few years ago. However, it ended up working out well because we had a fun-filled, yet relaxing day in Manarola. We got breakfast with a gorgeous view, visited shops, and had an AMAZING lunch at a local restaurant. I was even able to go for a swim in the beautiful blue waters of the Mediterranean!! Although in the shade it is a big chilly, the sun is noticeably warmer here than it is back home. Perfect for a dip after walking around the hilly village all day.
In the afternoon we took the train back to La Spezia and then got our train from La Spezia back to Florence. I like how Florence is starting to really feel like home. On Sunday night I was excited to get “home” and get settled in again for another great week.
I wish I could find the words to describe the the beauty that this place has to offer. I have seen it many times in photos and to my surprise, it looked exactly the same, if not, even more beautiful than the professional photos (which I assumed were photo shopped) that are used to advertise this amazing place. Just standing there staring at the beauty all around me was absolutely astonishing. There were many families, mostly younger folks, and some elderly people who were doing their best to tackle the hills, steps, and walking that was required.
A piece of advice: if you are even considering taking a trip to somewhere as extravagant as this... book it. Right now. Do it while you can, while you’re able. Something like this NEEDS to be experienced and it should definitely be experienced when you are able to get every drop of time out of the day and every experience that the adventure has to offer. If not, you are making it harder on yourself.
