| Getting Our Hike On In Italy's Cinque Terre |
A frequent topic of discussion we have with other backpackers is the list of cities we plan to visit. In fact, it's the topic that almost always comes third in line, right behind where we're from and what cities we've been to. We have this conversation sometimes half a dozen times a day with different groups of people. It's the backpackers' equivalent of dogs sniffing each others' butts, and it's how we get acquainted. I used to really enjoy telling people about our travel plans. The list is 21 cities long, we spent a ton of time planning it, and I guess you could say that we're proud of it. The problem is that many times we bring it up, people feel the need to interject their feelings about a particular place, which for some reason are often negative. We've been told that Amsterdam is just full of pot and Paris is dirty and the people there are rude. We've heard that Salsburg is boring, Nice has lousy beaches, and Berlin feels cold and unfriendly. People told us how we had better cling to our valuables in Barcelona and not waste more than a day in Venice. The problem with all this is that we've yet to go somewhere and not love it, which just makes all of the negative commentary seem a little closed minded. Sure, every place has a different feel to it, nobody is quite as clean and friendly as the Swiss, and the beaches of Nice are indeed rocky. But part of being a traveler as opposed to just a tourist is learning how to soak up and assimilate to different cultures and places, rather than simply criticizing them and comparing them to everywhere else. It's not something that comes naturally for everybody, but it's really not all that difficult. Tomorrow marks our one month anniversary since departing for Europe, and I believe that at this point the three of us have gotten the hang of it.
Well now that I've gotten through that, let me say a few words about a place that never got a bad review from anyone. Cinque Terre, pronounced CHIN-kwuh-TEAR, is quite the picturesque chain of little cliff towns perched by the Mediterranean. With pink, green, and orange houses stacked up the hillside and pastel colored rowboats bobbing in the tiny cove below, it's scenery like this that postcard photographers must dream about. And I must say, we rather fancy it as well.
After our series of trains on Saturday, we finally made it here and began wandering around by about 5:30pm. We were starving but soon discovered that like in Spain, Italian restaurants also take a siesta. We were positively famished and finally gave up a grabbed three slices of pizza each. Wanting a nice place to sit, we went down to devour our dinner on the rocks which form the town's small marina. Probably the most scenic place around, we were rather pleased with our choice of location. With one bite of that pesto pizza, I was rather delighted with our choice of food as well. We sat on the huge, warm rocks, enjoying the sea breeze and the rest of our pizza as the sun went down and painted the sky a bright shade of strawberry red. The glow reflecting off the brightly colored buildings in the town was dazzling. We headed back to our hostel with full stomachs to rest up for some long awaited hiking in the morning.
We started our day with the first eggs and bacon breakfast I've had since Margie's Diner in Rochester. It was actually more of a fried egg and prosciutto omelet, but delicious nevertheless. Our plan was to hop on a ferry to the northernmost of Cinque Terre's five villages, Monterosso. We could get off there and walk back on the hiking trails to our town, Riomaggiorre, at the very southern point of Cinque Terre. We had heard good things of about the five hour trip, so we were excited to by our €8 ferry tickets and get started.
It took between three and five seconds after boarding the ferry, which was bobbing like a cork in the waves close to shore, before I decided that we probably should have just taken the light rail train. The boat was packed with pushy tourists and was rolling around so much, I almost immediately started feeling seasick. I went onto the upper deck to get some air, while Marc stayed downstairs near the stern so as not to vomit on anybody if the need arose. Apparently he has a history of puking over the sides of boats, which he failed to mention when I naively suggested that we climb aboard this one.
My face was probably pretty green before we even made our first of three stops to pick up more passengers, but Marc and I both toughed it out and managed to disembark with stomachs still full. You can bet we sat down in the shade for a while though. After resting, we wolfed down a few pieces of focaccia bread and headed out of town on the well maintained trail.
Normally we like hiking because it's the most action packed and scenic activity that costs no money. This trail, however, actually requires that you buy a €5 ticket. We soon found out just how worth it that money is. The trail climbs steeply up the hillside, through vineyards and lemon orchards, and before long we found ourselves gazing downward at the unbelievably blue Mediterranean Sea. We were being treated to some fantastic weather, which only made things more fun. After a few hours of hiking, passing dozens of people and exchanging countless hellos, ciaos, bongiornos, and grazies, we arrived at Vernazza, the first town on our trail. We sat down by the harbor, which was filled with boats but also a good number of swimmers. Some were also on the beach and laying near the rocks. The whole place was bustling with activity. The best part was that, while the town was packed with tourists, they were all Italian tourists, so to a bunch of English speaking Americans, everything still seemed really authentic.
After another layer of sunscreen, we continued on our merry way toward Corniglia, the next town on the trail. On our way, we passed a point where the trail was only wide enough for one person to pass. At that moment, a group of ten very loud Italian people came from the other direction. We kindly stepped down off the side of the trail onto some tiny stairs to let them pass. I'm not sure what these folks had to drink with lunch, but at that point all ten of them began talking to us, all at the same time, perhaps to show their gratitude. We hadn't a clue what any of them were saying, but everybody had a big smile on their face. They even took a picture with us for some reason. It's nice to know we'll be making it into someone else's slide show.
We made it to Corniglia and on to Manarola, where the trail becomes more flat and takes on the name Via D'Amore, or essentially lovers lane. There are hearts all over the place and everybody seems to declare their love for one another in permanent marker on the walls. It's cool to see. By seven we were back in Riomaggiore for much needed showers and more pizza down by the water. We finished off our evening with some fantastic gelato, capping off a wonderfully full day of tremendous scenery, tasty pizza, and plenty of loud and friendly Italians. We hop a train to Rome in the morning! |
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buongiorno Michael! Sounds like you are enjoying the French & Italian Riviera. Glad you survived the ferry ride... not sure I would have made it. Clearly you are getting an immersion experience into European scenery and culture. Sounds like you are all having a great time. Enjoying your stories and your writing! Molto Bene!
Ciao! Con Amor Papa
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these are def a few of my favorite pics so far!! I'll have to change my desktop background :) Thanks for calling me! Sorry I was scatterbrained! I was driving and thrown off by new construction and was a little too close to getting in an accident.
<3 love and miss you!
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Thanks for all the blogging--I feel like I've been right there with you this past month! Can't wait to hear all the parts you've left out in O.C.
I really liked your reflection at the beginning--about the "backpackers' face-off". It's so true that people's opinions, even if they're trying to be helpful, can do little more than put a negative spin on a place. And people's experience of a city can be defined by so many variables that had just one of those variables changed--the weather, the people they happened to have met, the random turn down a side street they didn't take-- he would have told you to spend a week there instead of a day...And of course people are going to like dft things in general and even if you don't end up liking it, there's always value to that experience and understanding why you didn't like it, etc.
At the same time, when we were planning our trip last summer and while we were there, some of the things ppl told us about how to allocate time and to which cities ended up being really helpful and made the trip that much better. But I know you've got the right mindset to make the most of your time there, enjoying each new day for what it has to offer w/o comparing it to others, and not afraid to make some unexpected changes along the way.
Tzecha Leshalom VeShuvcha Leshalom--Go in peace and come back in peace. I didn't get to say the first part when you left, but at least the second part still applies. Take care, Eric
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buongiorno Michael! Sounds like you are enjoying the French & Italian Riviera. Glad you survived the ferry ride... not sure I would have made it. Clearly you are getting an immersion experience into European scenery and culture. Sounds like you are all having a great time. Enjoying your stories and your writing! Molto Bene!
Ciao! Con Amor Papa