Cinque Terre

After Grandma and Grandpa left on Friday night, Danielle and I began out adventure to meet up with our friends at Cinque Terre, a five-town hiking adventure in the mountains along the beach on the northwest coast of Italy. The overnight train- well let's just say it was an experience we would rather not try again. We arrived to a very lovely apartment though which made our night better. Our apartment was in the first (Southern most) of the five towns. The next morning we started out on the trail along the water to the next town. This trail was very easy and short. After arriving Manarola we started on a vineyard walk I had read about in my Italy book. It was fun and we got to steal some grapes which we very delicious. The vineyard was on the side of the mountain so the view was of the entire town below us as well as all of the ocean beyond that. The trail to the next town was closed so we had to take the train. This town had a massive staircase consisting of 300+ stairs just to get from the train station to the town. And of course the town was so small and had a few places to eat and that was it. So we left quickly only to be hit with the two hour walk through the mountain to the next town. Although this walk was ridiculously hard the ten of us made jokes and had a good time anyway. We then got to the fourth town, Vernazza which was definitely my favorite. We were welcomed by a street band playing songs that reminded us of the football games at school that we would be missing that day. Then we had the best pizza in the world. I had a pesto slice, regular pizza topped with pesto, and then one with salami that was the closest to pepperoni I have seen since I got to Italy.

After that we walked around that town for a bit while the weather turned on us. The sea was also getting rough at this time so it was fun to watch the stupid tourists climb the rocks in the harbor and then get smashed by unexpected waves! Then we took the train back to our town and got all fancied up for a nice dinner on the water where I enjoyed more pesto! After dinner we all went to buy Cinque Terre wine from a local store and hung out at the apartment.

The next day went to the last town, Monterosso, and went straight to the beach. It was cold and cloudy but the water was so clear and I couldn't resist so I went in anyway. Then we walked around the town a little bit and took the train back to our town. After getting pizza there the skies opened and down poured on our 20 minute walk uphill to the car. We left Cinque Terre and on the way home stopped by Pisa to get our famous pictures in front of the leaning tower. It was weird because it was really shaddy town that seemed to only exist because of this architectural mistake. And the tower itself is just randomly inside the town, you can see it from the road. Then we continued the journey home, and after getting lost in Rome for an hour we were home sweet home!