Cinque Terre (5 Lands) Part 1

Typical train station in Cinque Terre. The awesome scenic view begins not off but on the train! 

After Milan and Genova, we had the chance to visit Cinque Terre with our friends Su-won and Kaneko. Cinque Terre, literally translated to "Five Lands" or "Five Towns," was without a doubt our favorite vacation spot during this week! It is a very touristy spot composed of 5 little towns along the coast of Italy. The train traveled along a ledge next to the ocean...and it was beautiful!

Vernazza, the town we stayed in

We got to stay in the 4^th town out of the 5 called Vernazza. This was the smallest and cutest town out of the 5, probably averaging a population of about 1,000 people, although it seemed more like 200. Our hostel host “LuLu” (the hostel was named ‘LuLu Rooms’ after his baby daughter, but we called him LuLu) seemed to be everywhere we went within the town!

Our host LuLu

The boat we took to travel to Monterosso

Vernazza was very cozy, but there wasn’t too much to do there. We grabbed a nice pasta and swordfish lunch, and decided to move on to the next city, Monterosso. We agreed to take the boat which came every half an hour or so, but this was not the best idea. City people like us get sea sick pretty easily, and by the time we got off (like a 10 minute ride…haha) we were kissing the ground thank you!

Monterosso

One of the greatest attractions of Cinque Terre is the various hiking trails that lead from one town to another. We, however, didn't want to be too main-stream, and decided against hiking everywhere. (We actually didn’t have walking shoes…and were lazy) Monterosso was very beautiful as well, but the best part was our spontaneous night swim in the beach! People were staring at us as if we were…either very fun-loving people, or borderline insane. But we didn’t care! It was quite refreshing to be the only ones at the beach, close to pitch darkness. 

The towns people having a chat...and staring at the Americans

 
The BEST part of Cinque Terre, and all three of us will agree, was Town number 3, Corniglia (Cor-nee-lia). Now, according to our Cinque Terre guide we got off the internet, this seemed like the most boring out of the 5, especially since it told us that in order to reach the town from the station, we had to climb 450 stairs-- obviously we didn't want to do that. So we didn't! Call it luck or fate, or whatever you want to call it, but we met Zio Antonio, a retired Navy who loves adventure. He offered to take us to paradise, to the land of milk and honey, to give us an unforgettable experience. (He didn't actually say that, but he was speaking Italian, so who knows?) We came across a what seemed like an abandoned train tunnel, which any normal person would have refused to walk through. However, we had Antonio, who adeptly guided us through the literally pitch-dark tunnel. We walked through that tunnel for at least 15~20 minutes. It almost seemed sketchy, until...

Camy smoothly conversing with Antonio in Italian

Our Indiana Jones moment in the pitch black tunnel; don't be deceived, there is light only because of the flash of the camera!

Paradise

We reached the other side, and were greeted by THIS! (See Pic) We had to climb down some vines and a steep cliff to reach this place, but it was definitely worth it. "Sometimes you have to struggle through the dark times in order to get to the light at the end of the tunnel" - Kaori Becker

The water was clear blue, the weather was perfect, and the best part, we were the only ones there! (Well, there was an old couple there, enjoying the beach "naturalist" style...if you know what I mean) So that's how Corniglia turned from the lamest town to the absolute best town without us setting foot into the actual town!

The Crew

To be continued...

Isaac