Cinque Terre
Angela and I traveled to Cinque Terre for a girls weekend when we studied abroad in Rome and I remember it being one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been in my life (and I had the photos to prove it). So when talking to Peter about which cities to add to our “must-see” list, the five Cinque Terre towns were definitely near the top. Our night in Sestri Levante was incredible, but we were both itching to get to the main attraction. Rick Steves describes the trains and boats as “syringes, injecting each town with a boost of euros… and they shoot up hourly through the summer.” OH, RICK. Great analogy though, because when we made it to Corniglia, our home base, there were SO. MANY. TOURISTS. And lots of Americans, too. It was like the first time we had heard English since leaving JFK airport. But no matter the tourists, it was just as beautiful as I remember! Clearly there is a reason so many tourists flock to Cinque Terre.
Peter and I both LOVED staying in Corniglia, as it was a nice, quiet town, but had plenty of quaint cafes, gelaterias, and lunch spots. The one beef I had with it though (and I’m just speaking for myself here; Peter quite enjoyed this part) was the INSANE number of stairs you had to climb to get from the train station to Corniglia. Corniglia is the only of the five Cinque Terre that is not directly on the waterfront, so it was quite a hike getting up there. Especially on our first day with all of our luggage. We made it to the top though, and without too much trouble since our legs were still pretty fresh from not having hiked yet.
The trek was DEF worth it though because the views from the top were stunning. After dropping our luggage off at our hostel, we had some wine and snacks at an enoteca (wine bar) with a great view of Corniglia and the water.
We took some time to freshen up at the hostel, then set off for a semi-long hike from Corniglia to Manarola, planning to spend the rest of the evening in Manarola seeing the sunset, eating pesto, and finally taking the train back to Corniglia. At Ostello di Corniglia, we had a nice private room (with our own bathroom!) and a great view of the town.
The hike from Corniglia to Manarola had some serious views, but not without pain. The hills (well, mostly one HUGE hill to the top of the mountain before descending into Manarola) were pretty serious too. Since we knew the region was well known for its white wines, we decided to take a pit stop in the town Volastra, close to the 5terre winery, which I had visited previously with Angela and crew. We also made sure to pack plenty of snacks for the trek, which we ended up destroying as soon as we entered Volastra.
The 5terre winery wasn’t difficult to find, but we did have to walk down a windy Strade Provinciale for a few minutes to get there. There was like almost no traffic tho, so it was totally fine. Just like the last time I was there, the woman who poured our tastes spoke absolutely no English, so we just nodded and pretended to understand what she as talking about when she described each of the three white wines we tasted. They were all delicious though, and I’m pretty sure “yummmm” means the same thing in every language.
After tasting three delicious 5terre wines, we continued our hike down to Manarola. By this point, the downhills were almost as challenging as the uphills had been because our knees were starting to feel the pressure. But after stretching them out just outside of Manarola, we made it into town no problem. Knowing that Cinque Terre has the BEST sunsets, I demanded that we hold off on dinner to watch the sunset. It as as gorgeous as anticipated. PLUS, the reward was delicious trofie with pesto ❤ Before catching the train back to Corniglia, we stopped at the only open bar for a post-dinner limoncello and were surprised by a local band playing music (INCLUDING A FLOUTIST!)
After making it back to Corniglia (but not after climbing the almost 300 stairs to get back into town!), we slept really well and woke up (not so bright and early) for another day of hiking. Since Corniglia is in the middle of the five towns, we hiked in the opposite direction of Manarola toward Vernazza. This hike was less challenging than the previous day’s hike, but still had plenty of uphill climb. The trails were also pretty crowed on this day, but it was fun meeting other tourists! Peter even ran into someone who graduated from his high school a year before he did (even though neither one of them recognized the other). The weather was even MORE perfect than the previous day because it was a bit cooler and there was more cloud cover, perfect for hiking. The view coming into Vernazza was amazing as well! I hope to bring more of my family and friends here someday.
We ate a delicious lunch of foccacia and wine on the harbor then took the train to Monterosso for beach time and a lovely dinner on the water. We had an INCREDIBLE weekend at Cinque Terre and can’t wait to go back with more of our family and friends! Until then though, there’s so much more of Italy to explore!
Baci!
