Cinque Terre

Much to our surprise, we were given 2 days off in a row in mid September. Without hesitation, we decided to head down to the northern coast of Italy. Cinque Terre was a place that I had really wanted to visit last year, but never had the opportunity, especially before the weather got too cold. For those of you that have never heard of Cinque Terre, it is an absolutely incredible place to visit. Cinque Terre is an area of coastline made up of 5 small towns built into the cliffs that overlook the Mediterranean Sea. Each town is pretty small and made up of many crowded and brightly colored buildings. To get from one town to the other, you can take the train, bus, or hike. Being the athletes that we are, we opted for the 5 mile hike. The hike took us all day long, that included stops to browse around each of the charming little towns. We started south in Riomaggiore and hiked north to Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza, and finished in Monterosso. The hike from the Riomaggiore to Manarola was only about 20 minutes. Of course we were telling ourselves "Wow, that was a piece of cake," haha...Little did we know what Cinque Terre had in store for us.

Riomaggiore

Once we got to the 2nd town, Manarola, we decided to sit outside for a drink at a little cafe. After relaxing for a bit, we went down to the water where locals were sunbathing on the rocks. Once we were finished looking around, we headed for the hiking trail. As the trail was wrapping around the cliff, we got such a great view of Manarola, probably one of the best places on the whole hike to take a photo.

The group with Manarola in the background

Perfect view of Manarola

The next town we would hike to was Corniglia. It took us probably about 1 hour and 10 minutes or so. This hike was quite a bit more rigorous than the first. Corniglia was one of the only towns that was perched up high on the cliff side. It had great views, but we weren't actually able to go down to the water until about 15 minutes into the hike to the next town. While we were in Corniglia, we found a neat little wine shop. We all took a nice break and shared some bottles of local wine from Cinque Terre. The owner, Mario, absolutely loved us haha.

The group at Mario's wine shop

After enjoying some wine, we were ready to take on the next hike to the 4th town, Vernazza. If I'm remembering correctly, I think this was the longest hike. It took us approximately 2 hours to reach Vernazza. The hiking trail from Corniglia to Vernazza had some great views of the Mediterranean cliffside. Once we could see the town from the distance, let me tell you, what a sigh of relief! Vernazza was probably the most impressive town and also had great opportunities for pictures. We stopped and had some pizza in Vernazza. It was about 3pm and there were so many people enjoying the sun on the sand and rocks. After walking around and exploring the town we began our last hike to Monterosso.

Here's a pretty view of Corniglia in the distance, taken on our hike to Vernazza

The town of Vernazza

The hike to the last town, Monterosso would take us a little less than 2 hours. Boy, were we excited when we could see the town far off in the distance! Monterosso had the best beach of all the towns, which was filled with people and umbrellas. It was late afternoon by the time we arrived, and we decided to sit down and relax at an outdoor cafe overlooking the beach. When it started to get a little chilly, we went for a walk around the small beach town. Some girls sat down and enjoyed a few beers while some of us kept exploring Monterosso. We walked down to the water to take some pictures and feel the water. The Mediterranean water was sooooo warm!

Almost to then end of the hiking trail leading to the last town, Monterosso

People enjoying the beach in Monterosso

Emily, Brianna, and I on the beach in Monterosso

As it got dark in Cinque Terre, we were sad that our fun trip was coming to an end. We had to hop on a short train back to Riomaggiore, we weren't about to turn around and do the hike again, haha. From Riomaggiore, we would then get on a bus back to our hostel, which was not too far away in La Spezia. All in all, I absolutely loved our trip to Cinque Terre. I would definitely recommend it to everyone who has the chance to visit Italy. No words can describe it's beauty and charm. Although the hike might not be for everyone, there are other alternatives to exploring the 5 towns. Some parts of the hike were quite challenging, but totally worth it for all the amazing views. In fact, on most of the hikes, we got split into 2 groups. Let's just say that one group wanted to get through the hike as quickly as possible, while the other group stopped to enjoy the beautiful scenery. And yes, I was in the 2nd group which stopped quite frequently to take pictures. Also, these hiking trails consisted of all sorts of terrain. Some were paved, others had stone steps, some were really narrow or steep, while most were trails made up of just dirt and big rocks that required paying close attention to your footing. Even though we did stop quite often to take pictures, we still managed to keep a quick pace when it came to hiking our way around Cinque Terre. Did I mention that the weather was perfect?! It was around 70 degrees outside, so you could imagine that we got quite the workout. So much for that day off haha. The next day we would have to be back in the gym ready for some volley. What a life!