Bidding farewell to Rome, we took an hour and a half train
ride to Florence, Italy. We arrived late in the evening so we went straight to
our hostel to rest for our tour of the Cinque Terre the following day.
Cinque Terre, meaning “five lands” in Italian, is exactly
what its name means. It consists of five smaller villages on the west coast of
Italy, sitting upon the Ligurian Sea, and is known for its wine, pesto and fresh
seafood. I heard of the
Walkabout tour through a friend studying in Alicante, Spain. She highly recommended it, and I
would recommend it to other travelers as well. The tour was well organized and
everything from our train tickets to lunch was provided.
During the two and a half hour bus ride from Florence to
Cinque Terre, our guide gave us a nice historical synopsis of the surrounding
towns. I was really glad he did this because it was nice learning about the
area and was rather entertaining. We arrived by bus to the first tow of
Manarola. It is the second smallest village of the Cinque Terre, so small that
we spent less than thirty minutes here. We walked up a hill on its side to
take some pictures of the colorful houses with the blue Ligurian Sea in the
background. After snapping about fifty pictures we ventured to the city’s train
station and headed to the smallest village, Corniglia.
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| Manarola |
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| Corniglia |
From the train station of Corniglia, we had to climb 382
steps to reach the city (a lot easier than it sounds). We walked through the
quaint village to see some amazing views and then headed to the restaurant for
lunch. The food was superb, savory, exotic, and freshly caught at 3:00am. It
was easily the best seafood I have had in Europe. The appetizer was a seafood
platter consisting of a lemon-cured anchovy, potato mousse, a crab fritter,
octopus and potato salad, tomato stuffed anchovy and octopus and muscle salad.
I never thought I would enjoy this bizarre mix of seafood, but it disappeared
from my plate in less than 5 minutes. The main course was pesto pasta with the
Cinque Terre flare of green beans and potatoes. This course was tasty as well,
but completely overshadowed by the seafood. After a look at the menu, I
determined that the meal was about 23 Euros, so I felt like we definitely got
our money’s worth from the tour. After a quick photo shoot of the scenery, we began our hike
to the next village of Vernazza, known as one of the prettiest villages in
Italy.
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| The amazing seafood platter |
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| Pasta with pesto, green beans and potatoes |
The two and a half mile hike was picturesque, right along
the coast. Flowers were everywhere and the quaint villages sat in the distance.
The hike was somewhat difficult however with steep inclines, so I would not
recommend this tour to anyone who is not ready to break a sweat. Granted, some
French visitors did do the hike in nice clothes and fashionable flats, but it
is not recommended.
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| The view during the hike |
Vernazza is the only village with a natural harbor, and was
incredibly charming. The city had quaint little pizza shops and souvenir stores
along its main street. The harbor surrounded by colorful buildings had plenty
of seating amongst fishing boats. We grabbed some gelato and a seat
overlooking the sea. I could have relaxed on a bench in the plaza and just
enjoyed the hills growing with grape vines, the blue sea and the colorful
buildings for hours. However, there were still two villages left to explore so
we were off to the next.
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| Vernazza from above |
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| Julie and I enjoying some ice cream! |
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| The quaint little plaza on the harbor |
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| Monterosso |
If the day provides good weather, the tour usually takes a
boat from Vernazza to Monterosso. Unfortunately, it was windy that day and the
sea was choppy so we had to take a train.
Monterosso has the only extensive sand beach in the Cinque Terre and
would have been a perfect place for a swim if the weather had been warmer.
Parts of this city date back to the Middle Ages, with a church dating from
1282. The town also has a tower that used to defend the city from pirate
attacks. We had a little bit of free time here so Zara, Julie and I, along with a
majority of our tour, opted for some wine and the mysterious “pan frito” (fried
bread) we had heard so much about. It was simply bread
stuffed with some type of cheese and deep-fried. It was delicious and I could
have easily eaten five of them, but I contained myself. At only a Euro each it
was a perfect mid-day snack.
The next and final stop on the tour was Riomaggiore, the
village closest to Tuscany. We walked around the town, bought some pesto and
enjoyed some panoramic views of the Sea. Since the boat ride had to be
cancelled, the tour provided us a free glass of wine at a local bar. The white
wine, Cinque Terre DOC, is a dry white wine only made in this region. It was
nice that the tour incorporated so much of the Cinque Terre’s specialties into
the tour.
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| Riomaggiore |
I am so glad we spent the money and enjoyed this marvelous
region of Italy. It was so refreshing to have a planned day, where we did not
have to worry about anything. It was a definite highlight of this grand trip
and is a hidden gem of Italy. Cinque Terre still maintains its beauty even though it is becoming a big tourist site. So big that I met a current sophomore at
Butler here on vacation with her family. Small world right?
Tips:
1.
A tour is a great option if you just want to see
the Cinque Terre and take some pictures. If you want to relax and enjoy every
aspect of each city, I would dedicate two to three relaxing days to the five
villages.
2.
Trains and trails connect each of these towns,
so getting from one village to another is rather easy.
3.
If you enjoy hiking at a medium level, Cinque
Terre is the perfect place to take day hikes, with the villages as middle points.
4.
Make sure you have a back up camera battery
because you will take an extreme amount of pictures.
Other photos:
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| Zara, Julie and I |
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| Vernazza |
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