CINQUE TERRE

This past weekend I went on an amazing trip to Cinque Terre with some girls from Richmond in Rome with me and other girls from Richmond studying in Perugia. Cinque Terre is in the Liguria region of Italy, to the west of the city of La Spezia. "The Five Lands" is composed of five villages: Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore. The coastline, the five villages, and the surrounding hillsides are all part of the Cinque Terre National Park and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

We took a train there early Friday morning and arrived around 2. We checked into our hostel, which was surprisingly very nice. It was a bit of a walk to get to our room. There were about a billion steep steps, but I guess it helped burn off some of the pasta I've been eating?  

View from my window

The view from my room was unbelievable. We all took showers and rested for a bit before going out to dinner. The region we were in is known for its pesto, so I got gnocchi al pesto for dinner. It was delicious. 

Richmond Girls!

The next day we woke up at 7 to embark on an 8 hour hike along the five villages. The hike was challenging, but it was so amazing to see each little town we left and then see another town in the distance. There were a lot of stairs and I was sweating bullets. In the third town, we stopped for lunch and gelato. I got lasagna al pesto, which was really amazing, potentially the best meal I had all weekend. Then we hiked to the next town, Vernazzo and decided that we wanted to get to the beach as soon as possible, so we hopped on the train to Monterosso and went straight there. I threw on my bathing suit and jumped into the Mediterranean. So refreshing and so beautiful.

We went back to our rooms to rest up before dinner. I was so exhausted! But I showered and got ready. We went to this really amazing restaurant and we made friends with the owner! He was so nice and kept bringing us extra bread that he wasn’t charging us for. I ordered the seafood risotto, which was so good. I’m learning to love mussels and clams. Yay! The shrimp still had heads so I strayed away from those. But it was delicious. I, of course, got gelato after dinner. I tried biscotto paired with caramel and was extremely surprised by how good it was. Definitely one of the best flavors out there. YUM.

Beautiful sunset from my window

We had to check out the next morning. I got to explore the little town of Riomaggiore, where we were staying. And then it was off to the train to go back to Rome. I LOVED Cinque Terre. My only regret was not hiking from Vernazzo to Monterosso. Now I have an excuse to go back again. It’s my new favorite place in the world!