Rachel's Adventures in Rome!: Charmed by Cinque Terre

After our day in Grado and Aquilea, we went as a group to the train station. From there, our professors and some our classmates were returning to Rome, some were headed to Florence, and nine of us were off to Cinque Terre for a few days of fun in the sun. Cinque Terre are five fishing villages on the northwest part of the coast of Italy. The villages are connected by a train and also by walking paths, known as the “path of love.” After spending a night in a hostel on the outskirts of Venice, we took a three-hour train ride to La Spezia, the larger town outside of Cinque Terre. From La Spezia, the five towns are in this order down the coast: Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza, and Monterosso al Mare. When we got to La Spezia, we learned that the walking paths were closed between all of the towns except between Vernazza and Monterosso due to landslides. We were staying in the fourth town over, Vernazza, so we caught the smaller train that runs between the villages and went to find our accommodations. Instead of booking a hostel, we had booked inexpensive apartments, so when we got there, the man in charge of the booking met us at the train station and showed us to our apartments. Originally, I was supposed to be sharing an apartment with three other girls, but unfortunately two of them had gotten sick and returned to Rome at the last minute, so I would just be sharing the apartment with one other person. As disappointed as I was that my friends couldn’t be there, this meant that I had a room and a king-sized bed to myself. I could tell right away that I would get a few nights of very good sleep. The apartment was light and open, with a sizable kitchen and a terrace on the top floor. The seven boys were staying in two apartments just down the street from us. After getting settled, we enjoyed our first seafood lunch in our little town. Then we explored around Vernazza, checking out the beach, the pier, and some of the little shops. The little beach was fun because to get there, you had to go through a cave open on either end--a natural tunnel of sorts, which opened you out onto a beautiful little rocky beach. The town was tiny--just several blocks of a main street--and beautiful! We spent the afternoon outside, reading and journalling out on the pier. That night we each picked our own dinner-to-go from a place in town, either pizza, a panino, or a kebab for most of us. We brought our dinner and some wine back to the girls’ apartment and sat out on the terrace eating and enjoying the evening and each other’s company.

The next morning we woke up to a steady rainfall that didn’t look like it would let up in the near future. We spent the morning in a wonderful little coffee shop reading and watching the rain fall outside the window. The rain continued into the early afternoon, so we decided it would be a good day to explore the other towns. We got a train pass for the day, and spent the rest of the day in Corniglia, Riomaggiore, and Manarola. My favorite of these three towns was Corniglia. The town itself is perched up on the cliff, so from the train station we walked up several flights of stairs to reach the main part of town. Because of its position, Corniglia had several lookout points, which gave us a view of the vast expanse of the Ligurian Sea. Although it was still raining on and off, the view was absolutely gorgeous. Like Vernazza, Rio Maggiore and Manarola were right on the water and little harbors for docking boats. All four of the towns that I had seen so far were colorful places, with red, yellow, and orange houses. One of my travel companions had been to Cinque Terre about four years ago, and she remembered a favorite seafood restaurant in Manarola, so we ended there for dinner. The restaurant had a wide variety of delicious-sounding fish dishes, and we all decided to splurge and order multiple dishes. Several of us started with a homemade pasta with tomato sauce and lobster, then I had a seafood salad and stuffed mussels (a typical dish). It was all delicious, but I think the seafood salad was probably my favorite. It’s hard to beat good old simple seafood with a little bit of lemon juice. We headed to bed hoping that the weather would be better the next day.

We were not disappointed. We awoke to a beautiful, sunny day, and decided to try the hike between our town and the farthest town, Monterosso, which we had not yet visited. The hike took about an hour and a half at a reasonably swift pace. I am not a big fan of heights, and so there were part of the hike that I found intimidating because we were high up and the trail was narrow, but the view was unbeatable. The hike was also fun because we ran into a world of tourists: French, German, American, Italian, etc. Everyone was enjoying themselves on a beautiful day and was friendly as we passed them on the trail. We were hot and sweaty by the time we reached Monterosso, but luckily it is the town with a beautiful wide beach, and we had our swimsuits with us! Several other members of our program had arrived in Cinque Terre the night before and were waiting for us on the beach in Monterosso. Once we found them and spread out our beach towels, I jumped right into the sea. It was chilly at first, but after swimming around for a few seconds it was perfect and very refreshing after the hike. We spent several hours on the beach, swimming, reading, sun bathing, and playing volleyball. Of course we made sure to grab lunch and gelato during that time! We had enjoyed the restaurant from the night before so much that we decided to take our friends there that evening. That night I had salmon ravioli--also delicious! Following dinner we went back to our apartment for some wine and time with friends. Eventually we went out and sat on the pier and looked up at the stars. After the hustle and bustle of multiple cities, it was amazing to be in a place that was so quiet, and lit by the stars instead of by streetlight.

The next day was our travel day, but we didn’t leave until the afternoon, so we spent the day picking up souvenirs and hanging out by the pier. For lunch I grabbed Cinque Terre-style “fast food.” I got a paper cone filled with mixed fried seafood--calamari, shrimp, and anchovies. After lunch, we got gelato for dessert of course! After three-and-a-half wonderful days spent in the sun and on the beach with friends, it was finally time to head back to Rome and prepare ourselves to get back to work the next day. After such a full, fascinating and wonderful, but exhausting excursion north as a class, Cinque Terre was a beautiful and relaxing break. I enjoyed some hiking, beach time, and sleep, and lots of good food and good friends. At the end of the trip I was torn. I loved my new vacation spot and my spacious apartment, but I was also ready to go home, home to Rome where my apart-mates, classmates, and professors waited to continue our adventures in medieval history. We were lucky enough to get a direct fast train from La Spezia to Rome, and so after four hours we were back in the Eternal City. Although I was tired from my travel day, I was also refreshed from my days off, and I was ready to get back to school and back to work, ready to begin the second half of term!