7-8-07
Cinque Terre, or Five Grounds, is one of the most raved about places in Italy. The past study abroad students at Purdue insisted we go visit, our school scheduled special trips, and most importantly, cousin Kate wrote it under my “places to visit” list. Now I know why people love it so much. Monterosso, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore are the five towns that make up Cinque Terre. The colorful towns are built up on steep cliffs with hiking trails, railroads, and shuttles connecting them. They each have their own private, rocky beaches as well. Jessie and I decided that if we were going to visit Cinque Terre, we were going to wear our hiking clothes and hike the entire thing. I am proud to say that we accomplished our goal. We started by taking the train to the very last town to purchase our hiking passes for the day. They equipped us with a map and a water bottle and pointed us in the direction of the next town. We took a minute to look over the map and decided to tackle blue trail, which started hard and ended easy. The reasoning behind our choice was that we would rather be convinced early the trail was hard and be surprised later when it got easier. It was a great plan. The trail shot straight up for the first half hour and I quickly realized how out of shape I am. Hiking trails in Tennessee and Colorado used to be a cake walk! Because I am so competitive, I was irritated by my shortness of breath and shaky legs and started hiking faster with less breaks. Jessie, on the other hand, took tons of breaks. While she would rest, I would take pictures and look at the map. We reached the second city in about an hour and stopped along the cliff’s edge to look down onto the beach. The beaches have very little sand so people set their towels on huge rocks in the middle of the water. I am beaching it there before I leave. We walked around the city for a few minutes, grabbed an apple at the market, and started back up the cliff. Between the second and third city, the trail was more of the same. Hike straight up and hike straight down. The trail slowly started to move closer to the cliff’s edge and all I could think about was how mom would have been flipping out. Another hour passed before we arrived in the third city and we were starving. We found a small café off the main street and ordered focaccia caprese sandwiches to sit and eat in the shade. The temperature and the sun were starting to get to us. After sitting down for a good half hour, it was extremely difficult getting up and getting back on the trail. We only had two more towns, so we were motivated by our approaching finish. The trail started to ease up a bit and Jessie was much happier. We booked it through the last two towns because there was not much to see and I started craving gelato. Finally, we finished the 5 hour hike in Riomaggiore. We were so proud of ourselves and no one could believe we finished in one day. It was a great accomplishment and an even better workout. To reward our physical fitness, we ordered gelato. Hey, we deserved that strawberry and lemony goodness after working so hard. Jessie and I were more than ready to go home and hit the sack. We had a huge weekend, but it was the best we have had here. Partly because Jessie and I planned two amazing trips on our own, which was a first for both of us, and partly because it was our last weekend in Italy. Time is running out and I am starting to get sad about leaving my home away from home and my Italia friends. I have really bonded with Jessie and after this weekend, we decided to rendezvous in NYC for my fall break. We figured that if we could survive this weekend, traveling in American will be easy as pie. Next weekend…Paris!
Cinque Terre, or Five Grounds, is one of the most raved about places in Italy. The past study abroad students at Purdue insisted we go visit, our school scheduled special trips, and most importantly, cousin Kate wrote it under my “places to visit” list. Now I know why people love it so much. Monterosso, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore are the five towns that make up Cinque Terre. The colorful towns are built up on steep cliffs with hiking trails, railroads, and shuttles connecting them. They each have their own private, rocky beaches as well. Jessie and I decided that if we were going to visit Cinque Terre, we were going to wear our hiking clothes and hike the entire thing. I am proud to say that we accomplished our goal. We started by taking the train to the very last town to purchase our hiking passes for the day. They equipped us with a map and a water bottle and pointed us in the direction of the next town. We took a minute to look over the map and decided to tackle blue trail, which started hard and ended easy. The reasoning behind our choice was that we would rather be convinced early the trail was hard and be surprised later when it got easier. It was a great plan. The trail shot straight up for the first half hour and I quickly realized how out of shape I am. Hiking trails in Tennessee and Colorado used to be a cake walk! Because I am so competitive, I was irritated by my shortness of breath and shaky legs and started hiking faster with less breaks. Jessie, on the other hand, took tons of breaks. While she would rest, I would take pictures and look at the map. We reached the second city in about an hour and stopped along the cliff’s edge to look down onto the beach. The beaches have very little sand so people set their towels on huge rocks in the middle of the water. I am beaching it there before I leave. We walked around the city for a few minutes, grabbed an apple at the market, and started back up the cliff. Between the second and third city, the trail was more of the same. Hike straight up and hike straight down. The trail slowly started to move closer to the cliff’s edge and all I could think about was how mom would have been flipping out. Another hour passed before we arrived in the third city and we were starving. We found a small café off the main street and ordered focaccia caprese sandwiches to sit and eat in the shade. The temperature and the sun were starting to get to us. After sitting down for a good half hour, it was extremely difficult getting up and getting back on the trail. We only had two more towns, so we were motivated by our approaching finish. The trail started to ease up a bit and Jessie was much happier. We booked it through the last two towns because there was not much to see and I started craving gelato. Finally, we finished the 5 hour hike in Riomaggiore. We were so proud of ourselves and no one could believe we finished in one day. It was a great accomplishment and an even better workout. To reward our physical fitness, we ordered gelato. Hey, we deserved that strawberry and lemony goodness after working so hard. Jessie and I were more than ready to go home and hit the sack. We had a huge weekend, but it was the best we have had here. Partly because Jessie and I planned two amazing trips on our own, which was a first for both of us, and partly because it was our last weekend in Italy. Time is running out and I am starting to get sad about leaving my home away from home and my Italia friends. I have really bonded with Jessie and after this weekend, we decided to rendezvous in NYC for my fall break. We figured that if we could survive this weekend, traveling in American will be easy as pie. Next weekend…Paris!
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