Monday, October 4, 2010

Cinque Terre: September 30th- October 1st 2010

Whitney and I got up at 5 to take a train to the western coast of Italy to the region known as Cinque Terre which means "The Five Lands." There are paths and trails connecting each town that you can hike to get from one to another. We started out in the town of Monterosso and began the 6 mile hike. this hike was the longest but I thought it was definitely the most beautiful. It was raining when we arrived in Cinque Terre so the first hike was done in the rain. It was nice to have some cool weather because we were walking up many stairs. This part of the hike reminded me so much of Jamaica.

We found so many little waterfalls while hiking. They were so pretty. This hike also lead us through many vineyards and olive farms with beautiful views of the Mediterranean.
The next town we got to was Vernazza. The next to paths were not available for us to do because of all the rain they were unsafe surfaces. So we got on the train and went to Manarola. This was the second to last town. The clouds and started to clear up and the rest of the day was beautiful and sunny. The last path was paved and was known as Via dell'Amore, "Lovers Lane." All along the trail "lovers" will attach locks to the railings to secure their eternal love.

We finally ended up in Riomaggiore where we spent the night in a hostel, which was actually a couples house that they were not longer living in. I was happy to get away from the constant traffic noises in Rome for a night and enjoy a silent and peaceful night. I slept 12 and a half hours that night.
We left the next morning to go back to Rome but we made a quick stop in Pisa to see the leaning tower. We obviously had to take one of these pictures. Everyone else was too. (Not to scale) :)

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