Cinque Terre + San Giovanni!

Ciao a Tutti!

Wow, I don't even know where to begin. I went to Cinque Terre yesterday, and it was by far one of the most absolutely gorgeous places I've ever seen in my life. Cinque Terre is on the coast of Italy, and its about a 5-7 mile hike that goes through 5 coastal cities. It's a pretty tough hike, going up and down cliffs, but its simply amazing. The five cities are: Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza, Monterosso, and Riomaggiore. We got to the train station around 7: 10 yesterday, and spent the whole day Cinque Terre. From the train station, we took a 2 hour bus to Manarola, which is where the day began. (We went on a tour because Cinque Terre is pretty large, and we figured it'd be nice to have someone to help us navigate.) Our tour guide's name was Douglas, and he was really wonderful. We ate breakfast on the bus, and stopped for coffee along the way. (Now we had no excuses for not having energy during the hike!)

Once we stopped in Manarola, we began the day by hiking to Corniglia, which took about an hour and a half. We spent some time in Corniglia, ate lunch there, and then hiked for 2 hours to Vernazza. The hike from Manarola to Corniglia wasn't too tough, and it was a pretty comfortable temperature, which was perfect. During the last part of this leg of the hike was a staircase built into the cliffs that was 382 stairs. It definitely worked up an appetite. We ate lunch at a beautiful restaurant on a cliff, overlooking the water. How much better could this day get? We then did the hardest part of the hike to Vernazza. It was pretty hot, and we were walking on pretty narrow pathways up and down the cliffs. When we got to Vernazza, the first thing we did was eat gelato, and it was by far the best gelato I've had yet. (Good thing I went hiking yesterday!) We explored the city of Vernazza for a while, which had a beautiful clock tower that's been there since 1318! How incredible is that? We then took a 5 minute train ride to Monteroose and spent some time at the beach there. This beach was apparently rated the sexist beach in the world in 2009. After that, we took a 40 minute boat ride to Riomaggiore. Not only was this whole day wonderful with the hike, beach, amazing food and train ride-but we also went on a boat ride!! It was beautiful because we went back past all the cities we hiked through, and it was amazing to be able to see them from the opposite perspective. Once we docked in Riomaggiore, we walked back to Manarola.

The pathway from Riomaggiore to Manarola is called "Lovers Lane". On lovers lane, its a custom to hang a lock along the fence and throw the key in the ocean. It's supposed to signify that couples will stay together forever. Our tour guide joked that these days people have combination locks in case they want to break up. :-) I happened to have a lock in my backpack, so I hung it on the fence and threw my key in the ocean, just for my own good luck! Hopefully my lock will still be there one day when I come back!

Two hours later, we arrived back in Florence. After hiking in the sun all day, you would think we were done for the day-but we weren't! Yesterday was a Florentine holiday in honor of the Patron Saint of Florence, San Giovanni. There was a festival throughout the city all day, mock medieval fighting matches, and fireworks over the river at night. We missed most of the festival, but we showered quickly and made it to one of the bridges to see the fireworks. The fireworks lasted for about 40 minutes, and were absolutely beautiful. The city shoots them from the Piazzale Michealangelo, which is one of the highest points in the city.

What a day right? The only way to describe it is perfect. A gorgeous hike at one of the most beautiful places on earth, amazing fireworks, and all of it with really wonderful people. I'll never forget it. (Hopefully I'll be able to post a link to pictures soon!)

Arrivaderci!