Cinque Terre

So I went to Cinque Terre last weekend, not really knowing anything about it. My original plans were messed up so I decided to go to Siena by myself before the mad Easter rush started on Saturday. I left Thursday afternoon on the bus to Siena, and when i arrived, a couple friends of mine from Texas A&M called me and told me to come to Cinque Terre. Me being the spontaneous human that I am, walked right back to the ticket counter and bought the first ticket to La Spezia (the connecting terminal) I could find.

I did not arrive to Cinque Terre until late Thursday night after getting lost twice and walking over three miles to figure it all out. The thing about Cinque Terre is, that it is not actually a town but five towns sandwiched between the Ligurian Sea and the Swiss Alps. I climbed a lot of stairs and walked up a lot of hills during my wandering around and I had only had a Snickers candy bar and Italy's version of Pringles for lunch as I was "on the go". Once I arrived in Riomaggiore, I met my friends at the top of more stairs but at a hostel surrounded by lemon trees and the most beautiful views imaginable.

We woke up the next morning and decided to hike the trail that runs through all five cities and take pictures. Because it was getting late and I was supposed to be back that evening, we decided to take a train to Montorosso where the nice sandy beaches are. After wine on the beach and walking around a little bit, we had lunch overlooking the ocean at what seemed to be a local joint and then I missed my train back to San Quirico. I had to improvise, so I decided to stay an extra night instead of risking getting stranded in Buonconvento (the closest train station) because the bus stopped running at 6:00pm. We drank wine with all of the dorm residents, went to Bar Centrale (Every town in Italy has a Bar Centrale, by the way) and when that closed down, we wandered off with some local Rastafarian gentleman. That was interesting, sitting there in his cramped one room apartment as he smoked hash and played bad reggae on his recorder only to be followed by excellent bongo drumming. We listened to Bob Marley and drank a few beers before walking back to the hostel later that night.

Overall, it was a great trip in a one of a kind place. Stealing lemons, eating anchovies and walking on the beach are all things that I have come to love and would do it all again in a heart beat.