Cinque Terre

This past weekend I went to Cinque Terre with Danielle, Natalie, Chelsie, Ryan, and Oliver. We had quite the adventure. As we were about to walk out of the Villa to head to the train station, we decided we should Google Map where our hostel was quickly. I typed in the address, but it said that it would be a six hour hike to arrive. Something had to be wrong. So I tried it with the driving directions, but it said it would be a fifty minute drive. Still confused, we left for the train station and decided we could call the hotel once we were settled on the train. We all were able to easily get tickets and found our spots on the train. It was a little over a two hour train ride just over the border of Tuscany into Liguria. We were trying to call our hotel, but no one was answering. Once we arrived in La Spezia (the station that connects to Cinque Terre), we decided to consult tourist information. The woman at the desk was very kind to us, but also confused. Finally, she found the hotel in her guidebook, and we discovered that our hotel in La Spezia with an oceanfront view was about an hour away. Our only choice was to catch the bus at 6:00 pm and hope that they would provide transportation for us the next day, as there would not be any buses. We were still trying to figure out what to do and even wondering if our hotel existed as someone had the bright idea to call our director, Elizabeth. We called her and explained the situation and gave her the phone number of our hotel. She worked her magic and called us back twenty minutes later. She had finally reached through to the hotel and told them that we needed a ride there. We agreed to be in Levanto (just north of Cinque Terre) at the train station at 11:00 pm to meet a black van that would take us to our hotel.

Comforted that we finally had that settled, we continued on by train to the first town, Riomaggiore. Not realizing that the actually town was behind the mountain by the train station, we continued on to the next town, Manarola. The hike was breathtaking. I have never seen anything more beautiful in my life. The water was rich hues of blue and green, but so clear that I could see the bottom. It was a beautiful day, the sun high in the sky and the temperature warm enough to cause a sweat. I could not believe where I was. When we arrived in Manarola, I immediately fell in love with the look of the towns. They are all built into cliff sides overlooking the ocean. There is nowhere in town without an ocean view.

On one side of the town, there is a graveyard. However, there is only limited space. Each family has a grave site, but each person is buried only until someone in the next generation dies. Once someone else is ready to be buried, they remove the old body and throw it down a sinkhole and put the new body in until the next death.

We arrived in Corniglia, ready for gelato and swimming. We thought we were walking down a staircase to take a boat to Vernazza, but instead found the perfect swimming spot, at least for a few of us. Natalie had an encounter with an old Italian man that was trying to throw her into the water. I did not swim, but the water was beautiful, and we were able to watch the sun set in the distance.

Because it was getting dark, we took the train to Vernazza. We were all starving, and decided on pizza for dinner. While some of us were ordering and waiting for the pizza to be ready, Ryan and

Danielle found the perfect spot for us to eat. They found a little spot by the water where we could eat on the rocks. It was the perfect end to a perfect day, that is, before we headed off to meet the black van. We finished off the best pizza I have ever had (it was made on focaccia bread) and trained up to Monterosso to look around before we went to Levanto. We arrived in Levanto a few minutes before 11:00. We waited outside the train station, but fifteen minutes later there was still no sign of this black van. We were starting to get worried, but I figured "It's Italy, of course they would be late." A few minutes later, a black van came screeching into the parking lot. Out of the driver's side came a young guy wearing a biker leather jacket and ripped jeans. Praying for protection and that it would all work out fine, we got into the van. We were going up a very windy, mountainous road in the dark with absolutely no idea as to where we were headed. After a fifty minute ride, we made it to the hotel. It was one of the strangest places I have ever seen. The next morning, the woman gave us a tour of the hotel. There was a playground on top of the roof with Astroturf and lounge chairs, a full sized discoteca, and many other strange rooms. We were very ready to leave. It was a beautiful drive down the mountain and we learned a lot about the little towns. Every town in this area has several paint colors that people can choose to paint their homes or any other buildings. Some towns are pink and red, others are green, some yellow.

We arrived back in Levanto and headed back to Monterosso al Mare to take in the sun. The beach was rocky and took a toll on our feet, but it was very worth it. The water was a beautiful aqua color and because it was so clear, rocks that were ten feet deep looked like you would be able to stand on them. We found "cliffs" near deep water where some other tourists were jumping, and we decided to follow suit. Not much later, we boarded a boat and headed off to see the other towns from the water. I had kept getting the names of the first two towns confused and thought that Manarola was the first town, so while Natalie, Ryan, and Danielle got off at the real Manarola, Oliver, Chelsie, and I stayed on the boat until the first town, Riomaggiore. We soon realized my mistake, but figured we would meet them back at the Villa if we did not run into them. We enjoyed the town and ate pizza again on the rocks overlooking the ocean. It was a beautiful day, and we ran into our other half when we arrived in La Spezia.