Italy, Part 1 - Cinque Terra Region

Hello! I just got back from a week long trip to Italy with my friend Megan from Denver. We went to many incredible places so I have decided to split the trip up into three segments. Our first couple days were spent in the Cinque Terra Region along the north coast below Genoa. We then got a car and explored Tuscany (part 2) for three days before heading down to Rome (part 3).

See pics here: http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/bbergey/ItalyCinqueTerra#

We left my flat around 6am on Saturday and had to get 4 different tube lines due to some unexpected closures, and caught the express train to Stansted airport. We were the first people on the plane since we had priority boarding and grabbed an exit row. We joked about needing an emergency evacuation and had our exit strategy all planned out; good thing since our descent ended up being pretty bumpy! After landing in Genoa, we had some time to spare before our bus came so we took a seat in the sun and had a snack. After catching the bus to the train station, we had another hour to waste before our trail left. We walked around the area near the station and finally caught our delayed train to Cinque Terra.

The Cinque Terra region is a beautiful and rugged area along the coast consisting of 5 small towns. There are no cars allowed in any of the towns and there is a coastline trail connecting each town. We arrived in Vernazza where we were staying for the night, which is the 2nd most northern town in Cinque Terra. We were immediately amazed when we stepped off the train and saw the town. It was made up of one main road that stretched from the station to the coast. It was filled with shops, restaurants and small boats rolled up from the inlet. The "side streets" were really just extremely narrow alleyways filled with random paths and a lot of stairs. You will also notice in a lot of my pics that there are clothes hanging outside most of the buildings. This is very common and we saw it throughout all of the areas we visited. All of the buildings were carved into the cliffs along the water and the town was built up on itself since it didn't really have anywhere else to go. Since our hotel was located on the main road, it was easy to find and after being buzzed in we walked up many flights of stairs to meet our host.

Megan spent a lot of time finding really great places to stay, and this was the first of many great rooms we had. Our host was an old Italian lady who spoke very little, if any, English. She greeted us like family with hugs and kisses on the cheek, and then started explaining everything about the keys, doors and room entirely in Italian. Thank goodness Megan was able to decipher most of it. The room was great and had a small balcony with a tiny view of the water through one of the narrow alleyways.

After we unloaded our packs and changed, we went downstairs to walk around town. It was just before sunset and the light was beautiful. It was the first of about 5 amazing sunsets we had over the entire trip. The town was amazing in every way. There is a very small inlet with lots of small fishing boats that are kept on the road in town. The colors, textures, stairways, and alleys are great and make the town even more beautiful. For dinner, we decided on a place up many stairs overlooking the sea and the village. It was perched atop a cliff and the floor was crooked! The food and wine were excellent and it was the first of many absolutely amazing meals that continued every day of our trip. I had spaghetti with pesto (pesto is the main local specialty for the area) and we got some of the house white wine. After dinner, we obviously had to grab some gelato, which we also had at least once every day of our trip. We then headed back to our place and sat on the balcony for a while before heading to bed.

We got up around 8am and our hostess delivered a small breakfast and Italian coffee to our balcony. We fueled up for the day, which included a hike (with our packs) through 2 towns to the southernmost town of the Cinque Terra region, Riomaggiore. The first part of our hike was between our town of Vernazza and the next town down the coast, Corniglia. The hike was pretty tough and climbed up the cliffside which included many steps. However, it felt good to be outside and the trail offered amazing views of the towns and the shoreline. Upon approaching Corniglia, we walked through a number of small vineyards that are terraced up the hillsides. These wineries fill the area and produce the most common local wine, which is a white whine. Corniglia is a bit bigger than Vernazza and sits atop a cliff directly above the water. We took a break outside a small "bar" and got some tea. In Italy, a bar is basically an Italian fast food place. Fortunately, Italian fast food is great! They offer teas and coffee, all sorts of other drinks, and many forms of fresh sandwiches, paninis and sometimes pizza; much better than McDonalds!

We continued our hike down the coast from Corniglia through Manarola and finally arrived in Riomaggiore. The trail during this portion was much easier, and busier, and stayed pretty level along the water. We took a short break at a small beach made entirely of smooth black rocks. The views were great and it was nice to touch the water! The weather was absolutely perfect yet again, with the sun shining and the temperature not too warm or cold. Upon arriving in Riomaggiore, we were supposed to call our host so she could walk down to let us in our room. Unfortunately we couldn't find the number but luckily saw the neighbor who called her for us! She came down, let us in and showed us around. Our room was amazing, by far the best place we stayed. The building sat above the town and we had a wrap-around balcony with the best view in town I think. You'll see from the pictures that we looked down on the entire town and had an amazing view of the water. We walked to town and grabbed some food and wine, and enjoyed the entire afternoon and evening on our balcony. The food we grabbed was incredible: fresh bread, cheese, salami, tomatoes, foccacia, grapes and some little cookies from a bakery.

The wine throughout Italy was surprisingly cheap and we only paid 2.50euros per bottle in town. It's also very cheap at most restaurants and it's cheaper to drink wine than beer. Restaurants are also a very interesting experience. The menus are split up into appetizers, first course (usually different pastas with sauces), second course (different kinds of meats prepared in different ways), vegetables, and desserts. As we traveled south through Italy, pizza became more popular and there would be a section for that as well. Generally, Italians order an appetizer or salad, a first course, a second course, and vegetables! We found that an appetizer and a first course was plenty of food, but we did splurge some times which you will read about in upcoming posts. Restaurants also generally close between lunch and dinner and don't open until at least 7pm. Dinner is usually eaten closer to 9pm which is when places get pretty busy. We headed down at about 10pm to the main place in town that was recommended to us by our host. Again, the food was amazing...I had penne with eggplant in a tomato sauce. Megan got a beef dish recommended by our waitress. After dinner we stopped to get some gelato and then walked down to the water for a while. On our way back to our room, I had to stop and get a 2nd gelato...it's just so good!

The next morning I decided to go for a run just after I woke up. I had my eye on a tower seen at the top of the hill above town and figured it would be a good destination. I ran up the road until it stopped and went the following way to the top using a hiking trail. The view from the top was great! After I got back and we were packed up, we stopped for some tea on the way to the train station. We got our tickets and were on our way to the town of La Spezia, and this is where I will leave you hanging until next time!