Cinque Terre

Cinque Terre…if you’re into beautiful natural scenery, the sea, mountains, great food, hiking, cute towns, and basically just enjoying life, then it doesn’t get much better than this. Cinque Terre is a series of five cliffside villages in Italy – and when I say "cliffside", I mean "hanging on the edge of a cliff". Each village is essentially built into the side of a mountain, dangling precariously over the Mediterranean, making them almost inaccessible by land, and almost as hard to get to by water. Between the separate villages runs a series of hiking trails that have the sea on one side, and steep hillside vineyards on the other, making for amazing views the entire way. However, Cinque Terre has so much more…


"When life gives you a lemon grove, make limoncello." Can I just say how utterly amazing the lemons were? Easily, the best lemons ever. And I don’t just throw around the "best lemons ever" title. In the same vein, all the food was amazing. First, you’re in Italy, so the pasta is, by default, really good. Then, you’ve got the pesto, which Liguria is world-renowned for. (Note: due to the famous-ness of Ligurian pesto, I risked life and limb to eat it, as one of the key ingredients are pine nuts. After some scientifically-monitored taste-tests prior to the trip, I determined I am not, in fact, allergic to pine nuts, and can eat pesto without abandon...which I did…but that’s another story.) Lastly, the seafood is all freshly caught, a fact Sophia used as a reason to order it for every dish. The verdict? Unbelievable food, for 4 days.

How do you get to Cinque Terre? For us, we took the train. Yes, it was a 9+ hour trip, but we left at like six-something in the morning, so the first few hours don’t really count. Besides, train rides really aren’t that bad. Training through Switzerland is almost a vacation in and of itself, as you pass through great mountain views and some cute little podunk Swiss villages, not to mention the Italian part of the trip, which is basically a trip through beautiful lakes and insanely green fields. For some reason, the greens in Italy are simply more green than they are anywhere else – not sure how else to explain it. Anyway, we took some cheese, a bottle of wine, some dried meats and fresh bread, and not only had a pretty easy train ride, but an enjoyable lunch as well. You just can’t do that on an airplane…

As this was our first trip to Italy, we had to brush up on some Italian before arriving. Once again, I lament the fact we’re learning French, rather than a cool language like Italian or Spanish or even Slovenian. I think after spending four days in Italy, my Italian is already better than my French, of which I’ve been attempting for eight months now. Seriously – it’s so much easier! Anyway, it was actually fun butchering Italian, and I think we did okay with it.

If there is any downside to Cinque Terre, it’s the sickening amount of tourists that go there. Yes, we’re tourists, I get the point, but there’s a difference. When it’s us, it’s cool. When it’s other people, it sucks. I know it’s a double standard, and I fully embrace the fact that I am flaunting it so openly. However, the fact is, there are a lot of tourists that hit up the towns here, and they all suck. Except for us. That being said, the reason this is a problem is because the towns are insanely small to begin with. We’re talking one main street that goes for maybe two, three blocks, and that’s it. That’s part of the appeal – that you have this really small town, in the middle of nowhere. Unfortunately, when it’s crowded with hundreds of people, it loses that small town appeal. The bright side? Most tourists don’t come out in the mornings or at night, so if you’re up early, you see the locals, and if you’re up later, you see nobody.

Lastly, there’s the hiking. Hiking here is, simply, extraordinary. Of the four paths, two are extremely easy and very beautiful, and give everyone the chance to see some amazing sea views and vistas of the towns in the distance. The other two are winding and challenging, allowing you not only the amazing sea views and towns, but hills and valleys, creeks, old forgotten walled gardens, olive groves, hillside vineyards, a huge amount of varied vegetation, odd rock formations, and all sorts of cool stuff. The other great thing about the hikes is that you get to explore the towns in between, meaning you can rest and, in our case, get a gelato and / or lunch, before moving on to the next hike.

Which town was our favorite? Hard to say. We stayed in Vernazza, and therefore got to explore it the most, so in the end we probably liked it best. It was just the right size, meaning it had two gelato places, four or so restaurants, a plethora of winding alleyways, and you could explore it multiple times without getting bored. We also liked Corniglia, although its appeal is due to the fact that hardly anybody goes there (tourists shy away because of a 300+ step climb from the train station, and the only other way to reach it is by hike). Corniglia has that quiet air about it that makes you really feel like you’ve gotten away, which is nice. Monterosa is the main town, and while it has the best shops, it’s completely overrun by tourists at any time of day, which makes it feel like more of a spectacle than a vacation. Lastly, Riomaggiore and Mannarola are both small little towns that probably have a little too much tourism, and not quite enough room. However, they both have spectacular views, and once you get into the hills behind the town, there is good casual walking to be done, and some of the best gardens and terraces you’ll find anywhere.

One last thing about Cinque Terre; parsley grows wild here. That is, you know how if you look at the cracks in cement, or stairs, and sometimes there will be a weed growing out of it? Yeah, in Cinque Terre, that weed is parsley. No joke – it’s definitely parsley. How ridiculously awesome is life when, if you want to add a little flavoring to your latest meal, you just go out and pick the weeds, and put them on your food? It doesn’t get much better than that…

Next weekend: Burgundy + Visitors Deux