July 5th, 2011
Catching the 6am train to Cinque Terre, 5 villages on the northwestern coast of Italy, was absolutely worth it. Indescribable! It turned out to be my favorite place on this trip. I took the train from Florence to La Spezia, purchased a Cinque Terre National Park hiking pass for 5 euro at the station and hopped the next train to the villages. I had heard of a small hostel, Ostello Cinque Terra, in the village of Manarola and had tried to book a room a few days prior but if you don’t do it a week in advance you just have to call in the morning and hope that there is room when you get there. I called that morning and they had 4 beds left out of their 48 available but only for one night. PERFECT! I was only staying one night and I would be there in an hour so didn’t think the 4 would get taken.
The second I got off the train my jaw dropped and the entire rest of my time there was spent smiling, taking a million pictures, and experiencing breathtaking excitement.
***OSTELLA CINQUE TERRA at the top of the hill in Manarola
After dropping my bags, I put on my tennis shoes and hit the trails. There are hiking trails between each village that go up on the side of the cliffs, across terraces covered in vineyards, and through narrow walkways past resident front doors. There were pear, fig, lemon, lime, and madarine trees as well as small gardens with rows of beautiful italian parsley and fresh basil. Amazing!
It was a gorgeous day. I hiked from Manarola to the next village of Corniglia in 1 1/2 hours. It was a pretty steep hike and a bit scary close to the edge a few times (only cause I’m not a heights person) but absolutely worth the burn and sweat and wobbly knees from time to time.
***all the vegetation! 
***Hike along the trail
*** The walks through the villages on the hiking paths. You walk through narrow walkways past the front doors of peoples homes.
I stopped in a little snack shop and purchased a piece of olive foccocia, water, and an apple before hitting the trail again to the next village. Halfway to the next village, Vernazza, I stopped along the path to see the view and enjoy my snack. Absolutely beautiful! Happy Happy! What more could you ask for....a delicious snack, hiking, outdoor beauty, blue skies, water, beach and sunshine.
Each of the 5 villages are nestled into the cliff side at different sea levels. The buildings are all bright colors of red, orange, yellow and blue or green and are 3 or 4 stories high, all connected and piled on top of each other.
After another hour hike, I reached Vernazza, definitely the busiest of the village, but there is no wonder why. It was the one that sat down from the cliffs and was closest to the water so the beach was very desirable to many. I joined the crowd and stripped down into my swimsuit, jumped in the water and laid out on a big rock engulfed by the salty water. It was great to cool off and swap sweat salt for sea salt.
After an hour lying in the water, I walked around the shops in the village, purchased some local pesto and sat down for lunch. In terms of food, Cinque Terre is most known for foccocia, pesto and white wine from the surrounding vineyards. So guess what I ordered....Pesto foccocia and Cinque Terre white wine! Delicious! My most favorite simple meal. I sat at one of the outdoor tables under an umbrella, since the last 5 hours in the sun were starting to do a number on my skin :) This was one of the many times I was able to take in a little people watching and this time it was quite eventful with old men walking around in their itty-bitty speedos, one in Rip Curl swim shorts showing a little "rip crack", a woman screaming because her friend passed out from the heat while sitting outside at a gelatoria while a child walked by and asked his mom if she drowned :) , and a homeless cat going to war with an uninvited dog. Good stuff!
With a small bottle of wine in my system, I wasn’t sure I wanted to make the 2 1/2 hour trek back to my village so I took the train. It runs between the villages every 30 minutes or so and is very accessible. When you are hiking in the area, you are required to have a Park Pass and you can conveniently purchase a combined Park and Train Pass for a few extra euro.
That evening, I rested at the hostel, did a little writing and then made my way down toward the harbor in Manarola for dinner. Since it was along the water it apparently was a place to try the seafood and the majority of dishes on the menu included some sort of sea animal. I ordered the Ravioli with Lobster. It was one of my most expensive meals and my least favorite. The lobster tasted quite nice, all four bites of it, but the ravioli was very bland stuffed with spinach ricotta in a tasteless tomato sauce. Very disappointing. All a part of the experience though.
*** The picture of meal is about as blah as it tasted :)
After eating, I walked on the trail along the water to catch the beautiful sunset bounce off the houses on the cliff and chatted with couple from Ohio checking out the same view. With a full belly, an exploding heart, and exhausted body, I made my trek back up the steep hillside to the hostel and had my most restful night of the whole trip.
***Manarola at sunset
The next morning was the first morning that I didn’t have to get up early and be somewhere at a specific time. I slept until the village church bell rang at 7, went for a jog along the water and came back to the hostel for breakfast on the patio overlooking the village. Croissants are the common breakfast food and in the package deal at the hostel it was accompanied with coffee, a freshly baked roll with jam, and yogurt.
It was such a relaxed morning and perfect timing after a busy prior week in Rome and Florence. My trip was coming to an end. One more night on the road and then back to Heidelberg. What next? A couple days before, I had decided that since I am so close to the towns of Parma and Reggio Emilia, I couldn’t pass it up on my food tour without doing a tour of a Parmagiano Reggiano factory! This was the home to some of the most famous, well known cheese in the world! I researched online and found a hotel that booked parmesan tours for you as well as offered a tour of a balsamic vinegar production warehouse. Just my luck! This area is the home of REAL original balsamic vinegar too! Perfect! I was able to book it the day before leaving for Cinque Terra and this was the day I needed to get to the hotel in Reggio Emilia.
After breakfast at the hostel I packed up my stuff, said goodbye to my buddy, Ricardo, one of the managers at the front desk, and made my way to the train. I would definitely stay there again: clean, big rooms and lockers, friendly and helpful staff, and quiet atmosphere as opposed to the over crowded village of Vernazza. Bye bye beautiful Cinque Terre.
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