Cinque Terre (pronounced 'Chink-weh Tay-reh') literally means "five lands". It is a collection of five tiny Italian towns that line the coast along the Italian riviera. Each town is separated by only about a mile or two, and the main attraction are the hiking trails that run between each of the five towns, allowing intrepid explorers (such as ourselves) the chance to hike all the way from one end of the five to the other.
Now before we came here, it was advertised as a lot of different things, namely "The most beautiful place on Earth," and "an escape from touristy Europe."
After having spent two days there and hiking through, I can say that both statements are partially true, but neither is really 100%.
#1, It is seriously beautiful. The towns are all built on huge hills that run down to the water, and as such, they are built on top of each other. Tis Ed to the Brownstein-inspired nickname of "Cinque-Stairs," as going pretty much anywhere required either a steep climb or steep descent up or down stairs. Walking through the the villages and along the mountains, I would say it is on par with the beauty of, say, Santorini. It doesn't exceed it, however, mostly because of...
#2, while it probably was a non-touristy oasis of Europe at some point, this is no longer the case. Led by guidebooks boasting about the remote-ness of the area, the place has ironically transformed into a not-that-remote-anymore destination for Americans, Italians, Germans, and the French. Don't get me wrong, it was nice to not be waiting in line for entrance to a museum, but walking through the towns you got the feeling that every store existed only to serve the needs of tourists; we were not visitors to life in the town, we ran its economy. It was, as a result, a bit kitschy and manufactured.
The benefit of this though, is you have a highly-maintained, easily navigable trail system that criss-crosses the natural beauty of the area. But more on that in a second.
On our first day (we hiked on day 2) we relaxed in town number 1, Riomaggiore, getting our bearings and just enjoying having nowhere to be. At sunset, we met a very nice American couple from Minnesota who were traveling through Italy. Carrie (I hope I got the right spelling) is a real estate agent and Steve flies airplanes for Delta back in the states. While we chatted only a few minutes at first, we ended up running into them for drinks later at the only bar in town. They were exceedingly kind and bought us a round, and we ended up staying up til after midnight laughing and trading stories about traveling. Another great traveling moment for all of us. If you guys are reading this, post the picture of all of us!
On our second day in CT, we set out to hike the area. We woke up around 8:30, grabbed some breakfast and headed out. The hike was awesome. There are not too many words you can use to describe walking for 8-ish miles along a beautiful coast, so I hope the pictures do most of the talking. Each town we got to was prettier than the last, the views were spectacular, the weather was perfect, and the German old people trudging along with their unnecessary walking poles, were hilarious.
The trails were easy-moderate difficulty with lots of up-and-downs and more stairs than any of our knees truly cared for. The reward though, was undeniable, and truly worth the pasta weight that I lost in sweat.
After reaching the 5th and final town, Monterosso al Mare, we headed straight for the crystal clear waters of the Mediterranean sea. The water was cold but incredibly refreshing for 3 smelly Americans who just hiked for 5 hours. It was a perfect end to the day. When we returned home to Riomaggiore, we all showered, rested, and got pizza at one of the shops in town. We retreated to our hostel/house and fell asleep around 10pm, tired and satisfied from the day.
Currently, we are on a train, just having passed the Switzerland border (customs is aboard right now), heading to Interlaken, Switzerland. The weather is already cooler, and outside of the train windows, the hills have turned to snow-capped mountains. I think I speak for the 3 of us when I say we have no idea where the time has gone: we have only 4 more cities to go before we head home to the US. It has been an amazing time zipping through this continent, and its going to be a great last two weeks of Interlaken, Nice, Barcelona and Madrid!!
Swiss cheese awaits!
Greg
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