This was originally posted in my previous blog on September 28, 2016.
So Cinque Terre is a place that was high on my must visit list. You hear such wonderful things about this picturesque area and it didn’t disappoint in the views. We found a nice Airbnb in Vernazza (the second town from the top) because we heard it was one of the better towns to stay in and we could walk into town in about 2 minutes. We had the goal of hiking between the five towns but sadly two of the paths were closed due to rock slides making them unsafe. Of course, those were the easier hikes and sadly it meant we didn’t get to do the “love walk” which I guess has some of the best views. We found delicious food and completed three of the hikes though.
Day 12: Travel Day
This was our longest travel day by far. We had a two hour drive back into Venice to catch the train. Then we took the train through Florence to La Spezia (all the way across Italy) and then jumped on a smaller train to Vernazza. It took most of the day but at least the main train had air conditioning and we could catch up on our books. We met our host (who was from the US) and walked up the short hill to the apartment. We grabbed something small for a snack and decided to hike to the northernmost town since it was getting late and we wanted to enjoy the trail when it wasn’t crowded and was still light out. I think we were surprised by the difficulty of the hike. It wasn’t horrible but it was a lot of uneven stairs and narrow paths. We definitely worked up a sweat. The path is beautiful though and we stopped often for pictures. The biggest surprise was running into a stand hidden on the trail and on one of the local vineyards. He owned the land and was selling tastings of the local specialty wine and lemoncello. Sadly he was out of lemoncello which Jenny and Hilary wanted but I enjoyed the sweet local wine. We finally reached Monterosso before it got dark. We wanted to get back to Vernazza for dinner so we didn’t have to worry about a later train back which came less frequently. We were curious about the water taxis so we went to ask and found the price a little too steep for us. As we were walking away, another one pulled up and called us over. Hilary was amazing and bartered the price down and we took it back to Vernazza. It was a fun ride but our driver was sketchy so we were thrilled to get to town and away from him. Finally we grabbed dinner at the local place and had wine and pesto. Cinque Terre is known for its pesto and I really enjoyed it.
Day 13: Hiking Cinque Terre
Everything you read says get on the trail early so it isn’t too crowded so we listened. I think our version of early and the Italian version of early is different though. We were on the trail heading south by 7:30 and saw almost no one while heading towards Corniglia. It was another beautiful hike and we were ready with water this time. I think it took us about an hour (should have written this post immediately after the vacation) and it was perfect timing to get breakfast in Corniglia. We found a cute café that actually served protein! We had been living on crossaints the whole trip so we were thrilled to mix it up with greek yogurt, granola, eggs, and bacon. It was a perfect breakfast to prepare us for the next hike. As I said earlier, the last two trails were closed because of rock slides. They don’t go into and over the cliffs like the first two did. These two hang out over the water and therefore are much less safe with rock slides and earthquakes. So we got to the train station thinking that was the way to the trail and asked someone to make sure. He was the first to tell us that the trails were closed but we could do the longer trail to the top of the mountain and over to the next town. He said it took around 3 hours. Hilary and I were instantly game for this since we had planned on hiking between the towns. Jenny took a little convincing and then she set a blistering pace. We climbed up and over (with a slight tour of the town at top) in around two hours. Lots of stairs and weaving around the vineyards and the views were still beautiful. It was well worth going up and around. Sadly there were no other trail to hike to Riomaggiore so we had to pay 4 euro to take the train 1 kilometer. That was mostly depressing for us and we didn’t spend much time there since it started to rain.
We made it back to the apartment in Vernazza just before it started to rain. We were planning to meet Chris and Linda to hang out and grab dinner but there was no wifi at the apartment and my phone didn’t work. We waited out the rain since it was coming down too hard to go out. We amazingly ran into Chris and Linda at the restaurant next door and decided where to meet for dinner. Then we were off to Wine Experience for a wine and food tasting that a friend recommended. It was a great time. We tried three wines each and he paired it with food. I even tried sardines (although it had been in olive oil for months) and didn’t hate it. He was very informative and the view over the water was beautiful. Then it was off to dinner where of course we had more pasta and wine and dessert. Oh and we had more chocolate peanut butter gelato which was so good!
I enjoyed Cinque Terre but I found 2 days was more than enough. We could have spent more time relaxing on the rocks by the water, exploring the towns more, or eating more good food, but I was happy with two days. We found the towns to be very small and commercial. The shops were filled with touristy goods and we didn’t think much seemed authentic Italian. On the other hand, the food was great, we had a great time at the wine experience, and the hikes were wonderful. Definitely a must visit, but I would limit the time spent there.
Day 14: Back to Rome
We took the chance to sleep in and grab breakfast at the local cafe. We went down near the water and explored or read before catching the train around noon. It was around a 3.5 hour train ride to Rome which got us into town in time for a snack. I needed to have bruschetta while in Italy so we found some across the street. Then we walked awhile for a food and wine tasting that a friend recommended. We sampled about 9 wines and each wine was paired with food including cheese, pasta, bread, meat, or dessert. We had fun and it seemed fitting for the last meal in Italy.
Day 15: Back to DC
It was an incredible trip and everything I had hoped for in Italy. Amazing food, wine, friends, and adventures. I have absolutely no regrets about this trip and will definitely return to Italy sometime in the future. Until then, I will use the knowledge on how to drink wine (Gira, Gira, Gira and smell) and try to recreate some Italian classics.