Cinque Terre

   

Cinque Terre is my favorite place on Earth. I mean, do you see my smile right there?! Cheesin’ cheek to cheek!! 

Like I said in my previous post, I love being outside in nature. I prefer to walk places versus drive and I realized I only like working out when it’s outside, even all of the sports I play(ed) occur in the outdoors (running, tennis, soccer, softball, etc.). And that’s probably one of the reasons I love CT– because you’re outside in nature the entire time. Even if you do go into the towns, they’re so small that they’re all centered around the beach and ports. So beautiful. 
Let me tell you more about what I did with my time there in just two short days. I arrived in Monterosso and met Jenn who had gotten there the day before me. I decided to stay in Florence one extra night because I had gotten an eye infection and didn’t want to disturb it with being at the beach and in the sun. When this happens, my eyes are super sensitive to light and being at the bright beach may not have been the best idea. Anyway, when I arrived, I was greeted by blue seas and adorable bright colored houses, just like the pictures. 

  
Monterosso is one of the bigger towns, if not the biggest (?), so it doesn’t look as quaint as the others, but it does have the best and the biggest beaches of the towns we were able to visit in my opinion. We spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon at the beach there. We ventured near the cliffs and into a cave. We jumped off of the cliffs into the pristine, clear, Aqua blue water. The water was just the right temperature, and because of its extremely high salt content, seemed to have magical healing powers! 

  
My eyes hardly bothered me there, which was quite a pleasant surprise and the cut I got from a rock in the water was almost fully gone that same day from spending so much time in the water. We swam and we jumped and explored and floated. It was my favorite beach I ever been to in my life. I already know I want to honeymoon there. 😍

So upon leaving Monterosoo, we stumbled across the hiking trail to Vernazza. Many of the trails were closed due to landslides, but this one was indeed open, and only after  we got on the trail were we told that it was the mist difficult direction to hike. We were up for the challenge! 

  

So we hiked. And hiked. And hiked. Wonderful views, but so hot and so steep. I really felt like we were approaching Heaven. When we finally saw Vernazza, we were in awe! So pretty and colorful and full of life. We couldn’t wait to descend into this quaint little village. And so we did. We went down and down and down until we reached Vernazza and completed our hike! Then it was time for more swimming  🏊🏽

  
After Vernzza, we left for our Air BNB that was set on a mountain in what many refer to as the “reject village” of Cinque Terre, Portovenere. This was quite the adventure… We had to take a bus to get there then climb up the mountain to our refuge. 

We had trouble finding the bus station, took the bus the wrong direction, had to wait another 45 minutes for the last bus that takes you to Portovenere, got off too early at the wrong stop, then ended up taking the long way up the mountain by accident. I was getting so nervous that we wouldn’t find our refuge because it was getting dark that I told Jenn she had to stop taking photos. My demand didn’t stop her one bit haha. In the end, we made it and it was unbelievable. 

I am so happy we took the wrong trail because it was so scenic and we even passed an old stone castle on the way. A hike that should have taken 25 minutes a took closer to an hour. Now you understand my concern?! But I wouldn’t change one thing about it. 

Upon our arrival, we were offered a 4-course authentic Italian dinner. We couldn’t say no. We tried fresh anchioves in olive oil, sun dried tomatoes, some sort of bean, pasta, local fresh fish, and strawberries with sugar for dessert. We ate every last bite too! 😋

 
The next day, we explored Manarola and Riomaggiore. We didn’t have enough time to see Corniglia, but I’ll be sure to see it next time. We tried CT “fast food” which is an assortment of little fried fish- calamari, anchioves, sardines, etc. To our surprise, it was quite good, but nothing can compare to the focaccia pizza in those villages. Definitely both of our favorites. 

I hope you enjoyed reading about my travels through Cinque Terre. I apologize for any typos or grammatical errors. Italy is no place for proofreading! Until next time, 😘!