The Hike to My Twenties

This weekend was amazing. Everything about Cinque Terre was incredible and, like I say about everything in Italy, I will definitely be going back there. For those of you who don't know, Cinque Terre means 5 towns in Italian and consists of 5 towns which hiking paths connecting them. The length of each varries but the two trails at the end are 1.5 hours and in total it should take 5 hours to hike. Unfortunately, one of the long paths was closed because of the rain but we were still able to see all of the towns. Each of the trails varried in level of difficulty as well so we got a lot of variety throughout the whole day. So....we got to Riomaggiore around 10:00 in the morning on Saturday and began our adventure! The first path, from Riomaggiore to Manarola was pretty easy and took about 30 minutes. It was called Via dell'Amore (Road of Love) and it was basically a walking path on the coast. Very beautiful but definitely crowded.
When we got to Manarola we took the train to Corniglia since the path was closed. The hike from Corniglia to Vernazza was about 1.5 hours and definitely much harder than the first hike. The water kept getting bluer and the cliffs kept getting more and more dramatic. Everything was lush and untouched. It was raining a bit during this trek but not too hard where it became uncomfortable. And despite the clouds and rain, it was beautiful.
Hungry and in need of energy, we decided to use Vernazza as our lunch stop. Vernazza was one of my favorite towns out of the five. It was right on the water and had the cutest shops, cafes. After lunch we chilled for a bit on the pier we noticed the clouds moving away and the sun finally shining. That was our signal to get moving to the last town so we could relax on the beach for the rest of the afternoon. Of course, with the sun comes the heat and we definitely noticed an increase in temperature on the last leg. It was also the hardest trek in total because it was so much uphill and downhill. Lots of old stairs and precarious paths on the cliffs. I loved it though. Nothing feels better than being out of breath going up a really steep hill and then getting to the top and looking around at the gorgeous view: crystal clear turqouise water hitting against the cliffs, surrounded by lush green medeterainian landscape.
We got to the last town, Monterosso Al Mare at about 4:30 or so and the sun was still shining! The first task however was not to go to the beach, but to find a place to sleep for the night. We had a lot of trouble finding a hostel open for that weekend so we managed to find a random apartment. We decided that since the apartment had no name and no reservation policy (the guy on the phone asked me my name and told me to call him), that we would try when we got there to find a legit hostel. Fortunately we found a great place where all eight of us were able to stay in one apartment for only 25 euros each.
Once we found the hostel, we quickly changed into our bathing suits and headed straight to the beach! It was SO nice to just lay on the beach for an hour (before the sun started to disappear and the heat left) after a long day of hiking. I was really happy that we got atleast three hours of beautiful weather! For dinner we went out at this cute restaurant. Shelly and I split a pizza and it was delicious!
We definitely ended our day with a bang. After dinner we wandered around the town and stumbled upon a concert on the pier. The band was playing Italian music and there were a few people dancing, so we decided to join in and get the party started. And we did. So well. The eight of us dominated the dance floor and after a few songs (warmup) some locals joined in. Soon enough the dance floor was pretty filled and we were learning Italian line dancing. Perfect. Nothing like dancing with Italians at the beach.
We called it an early night (one of the earliest I've had since coming to Italy) so we could get up nice and early and enjoy the day. Unfortunately,when we woke up, the weather was really crummy. We went to breakfast and by the time we were done it looked like it was about to downpour. So we went to a cafe and played cards while it rained. Eventually we made an executive decision to try and take an early train back to Florence. The weather wasn't as nice as we'd hoped and we all had a bunch of hw to get done before the week. So we caught a train back to Florence and we were back at our apartment by about 5 45.
All in all, despite the crummy weather, this weekend was amazing. It was beautiful (check photos) and a physical challenge, which is always fun. Next weekend I'm going to Elba with my roommate Shelly and the weather looks perfect. So that will be my beach vacation!
Tonight for dinner Shelly, Nami and I went to Danny Rock, an American 'diner' around the corner. We were going to cook but decided we were too lazy. It was a great end to an incredible weekend and a great start to my twenties!