The day before I ventured out into the Tuscan countryside to explore Siena and San Gimignano, I trekked up North to Liguria, home to five of the most beautiful cliff side towns that make up the area fondly known as Cinque Terre.  These five villages are Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza, and Monterosso al Mare.  They are very secluded and you can only reach them by walking paths, boat, or train.  Each towns have picturesque cottages of many different colors that spot the hillside and are all surrounded by vineyards and gardens, hills, dramatic cliffs, and the most beautifully clear blue water.  There are walking paths of all distances and elevations that bring you along the coastline from one town to the next.  Unfortunately, torrential rains in October caused massive landslides and flooding, which took out almost all of the paths, and nearly completely destroyed Monterosso and Vernazza.

I took this day trip with one of my friends who was staying for the entire weekend.  Her hostel was in the town of Riomaggiore, so we started our hike there with the Via Dell'Amore path.  This path is completely along the water and connects Riomaggiore to Manarola.  I had never seen water so perfectly blue and clear in my life- you could see straight to the bottom, as well as the schools of fish, sea urchins, and all sorts of marine life.  We walked down this path, admired the art along the walkway, explored the cliffs you were allowed to go onto, and then headd to Manarola.  There, we walked around the village, visited the church, wandered the paths on the surrounding hills, and had a snack on the rocks by the harbor.


Prior to coming here, some friends told us that they had gone the previous weekend and were able to sneak into some of the trails that were shut down.  We tried our absolute hardest to find these trails, but everything was unfortunately gated and locked.  Eventually, we did find walkable paths, but they were all uphill and several kilometers long.  We decided, however, that we came to Cinque Terre to walk along the paths and did not want to town hop via the train, so we went for it.  The hike, for me, was comparable to climbing Mount Doom- it was one of the most physically exhausting things I have ever done and was SO happy that I wore sneakers, a tank top, shorts, and brought along water and my inhaler.  By the end of the hike, I was out of breath and my legs were shaking underneath me, but I also got to see some of the most spectacular views of the cliffs and of Manarola and Corniglia that we never would have seen had we taken the train.  We walked through little villages that were spotted along the hillsides and saw flowers and other plants that I have never seen before.  As much as I struggled both up and down that path, it was so worth it.


We got to Corniglia and had no other choice but to take the train to the last town of Monterosso, where we wanted to go swimming and get dinner.  Unfortunately, by the time we got to Monterosso, the sun had gone down too much and it had gotten too cold to swim.  Instead, we walked around the limited parts of the town that we could, then found a restaurant on the water for dinner.  Whenever I go to a place anywhere near the water, I always have to get seafood since it's not a popular dinner to make in Florence.  So, like usual, I ordered pasta and clams.  One of the specialties that Cinque Terre is known for is their pesto (which I LOVE), so my friend and I decided to split an order of pesto bruschetta; it smelled and tasted just like a garden.  It was one of the most delicious things I had ever had in my life, and, if I had had enough money on me, I would have happily ordered a second plate.  After dinner, we went down to walk on the beach.  Being the beach bum, ocean lover that I am, I refuse to wear shoes while walking on sand and must ALWAYS go wading in the ocean, even if its just up to my ankles.  The water was FREEZING, even in comparison to New England standards.  With dusk settling and the lights of the town coming on, the reflections in the water and the shadows of the surrounding hills made for an incredibly beautiful landscape.

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