liguria

Yesterday IES took us to Cinque Terre. Dear God, what an amazing place. Beachside Italian villas along the coast of the mediterranean with really great food and cute little houses. Boats galore. And oh, did I metion the MEDITERRANEAN SEA?

We took a boat from La Spezia (not a part of the cinque terre) to Monterosso, the second most northern town. Sky, Ross, and I had lunch and it was really good (what else do you expect? I'm running out of adjectives to describe Italian cuisine. You should just come and see for yourself), I had spaghetti with seafood (again, if you know me...)

Then we hiked. We probably shouldn't have split the carafe of wine that we did (I think after that I would have preferred to lay on Monterosso's beach), but we worked it off.
The Cinque Terre is a national park, and you can hike from one town to another, although you have to pay. People live and farm on these trails--they're up in the mountains and they farm by having leveled rows of grape vines or olive trees or lemon trees--those are some of their specialties. Some people even were even selling lemons on the hike (which I heard were actually slightly sweet). However, I didn't think it was going to be as many steps as there were...thats what really took me out. Plus, I was wearing jeans (which is dumb because I OWN spandex AND shorts. Or you can wear a really comfortable summer dress...just wear comfy shoes...) They told us that it was going to be a hike, but I didn't think it was going to be so tough (although the hike from Monterosso to Vernazza I hear is the toughest--I wonder what the other trails are like!). The toughest part was getting up all the stairs to do the hike, but once we were up...man...
We arrived about an hour and a half later in Vernazza, where we got a well-deserved gelato and then sat on a rock in the Mediterranean off the small beach there. The water was cold (think Cape Cod temperatures in August), but if I had had my bathing suit and towel I SO would have jumped in (and for those of you who knew me when I was a child probably would have cried about not being able to swim).

It was really beautiful. If you're considering a trip to Italy and really like the outdoors, I would consider spending a few days in Cinque Terre--spending a night in each town, hiking from one to the other and a few hours in each town and on their beach. I think I'd definitely like to do that some day. A week in Cinque Terre....
Anyway, after falling asleep in the sun on a rock on the Med. sea, we had to take a train back to La Spezia to catch our bus and go home. It was seriously a fabulous trip, and I kind of regret not spending the night there with some friends. Oh well, another time:

http://www.cinqueterre.it/



Italy, sometimes I complain. But I love you.