Cinque Terre Adventure

   Last Weekend Ali and I did something we had wanted to do for awhile. We went to Cinque Terre.

Cinque Terre is a group of 5 seaside fishing towns on the Italian coast in the mountainous part of the Liguria province north of Tuscany. Cinque Terre has been declared a national park by the Italian government because of its preserved culture and beauty. What makes the towns of Cinque Terre so different is that they are built right on the mountain and they are not easily accessible by car. These two factors have prevented them from the massive expansion that has occurred on many other seaside towns. Instead of being surrounded by more city, the towns of Cinque Terre are surrounded by water and terraced mountain farms and the towns are really only accessible by trains that run through tunnels cut in the mountains that link the towns along one line, or by boat of course. Our trip to Cinque Terre was not simple by any means at all however and we managed to see a bit more than just Cinque Terre. Our first day of traveling was just one thing wrong after another. It all started with our hotel we booked a few days earlier. Ali and I got up at 4am in florence and caught the first train out. Florence is near deserted at this hour and the train station is almost empty. Its pretty cool

On the way to the train station at 5:20am. The city is so peaceful at this hour and its all lit up. I think its neat.

A peaceful, quiet station. On the right you can see the fun electronic ticketing machines. These things are great!
We left Florence while it was still dark and on the sun started coming up about halfway through our train ride. When the sun did come up, it was super foggy and it took awhile for the fog to be all burned off. On the way we passed some mountains that have marble mines on them. It was pretty neat.
At about 10:00 or so we arrived at Spezia. From Spezia, you take the train to the towns of Cinque terre. Ali and I first wanted to get settled and drop our bags off at our hotel so we asked around to find out where Corvara was located and this is where our unexpected adventures began. It took awhile before we found anyone who had heard of Corvara and it was only after a little researching, did a lady behind a desk find out about it for us. Corvara was actually really far away from Spezia. It certainly wasn't within walking distance. Ali and I were both hungry and wanting to get food at Cinque Terre and we were tired of carrying our backpacks around so we called the hotel to try and cancel our reservation and possibly book one in Spezia. After a little while on the phone, we found that we wouldn't be refunded our money to stay at the hotel so we decided to take the bus to Corvara and deal with it.

The view from the bus stop. Even Spezia has the cool colored buildings.

 Spezia and a lot of the other towns around here have their power lines in the middle of the street and they just hang the street lights from them. They even have the cool glass caps to stop the flow of electricity along the line.
We waited for about a half hour and talked with our broken italian to some of the locals to learn that we had to take the blue bus to get out of town. Our bus ride was rough, especially on a super hungry stomach. we were so carsick as we swerved around narrow mountain roads going up the mountain out of Spezia. The driver would honk the horn on each blind turn he made to tell the bikers that were flying down the mountain to slow down and there was a big bus coming. We kept asking the driver, "Corvara? Corvara?" on each stop as more and more people got off as we got further and further into the mountainous countryside. Each time he said, "Nope" and something else really fast in Italian. Finally when there was just Ali, me, and another lady on the bus, the driver stopped at the bast of a hill with a street sign for Corvara and he pointed up the hill and said, "Corvara" as he dropped us off. Ali and I got off and noticed a sign for "Hotel Paese Corvara" right under the Corvara sign and so we headed on up the steep hill. This hill was pretty much climbing a mountain along the road. we were hungry, thirsty and tired. Luckily, we had some water and we took a few breaks carrying our bags up to get some water and take some photos.

Walking up the mountain, enjoying the view!
The walk seemed like for ever especially with our bags seeming to get heavier with every step and our bellies rumbling. We couldn't really complain however, the views were fantastic! Even for Ali who lives on a mountain in Vail Colorado and see's mountains all the time.

 Were getting close!

More Awesome views. Small houses were starting to show up- an encouraging sign.

We finally made it to Corvara and around this little house we went up another small hill and then we saw, "Hotel Paese Corvara". We couldn't believe our eyes, we had found the needle in a haystack! The town of Corvara is really neat and it is a classic small european mountain town. The front yard in some houses is all just one big vegetable garden with green beans, squash, and some other plants growing. "uvas para vino" or "grapes for wine" was a popular thing to grow and sell around here (and in Cinque Terre). We were shown our room by the lady at the hotel and after I told her I didn't drink coffee, she offered to make me a panino, but I didn't want her to go through all the trouble so I just took the bread and gave Ali a piece as well as a snack (we were sooo hungry!). The lady at the hotel told us that that we could catch a bus back down to the town of Ricco and then from there we could find a bus back to Spezia. She also warned us that the last bus back to Corvara leaves Spezia at 7:00 and if we missed it we would have to take a cab or something. It was about 1by now and we just wanted to see the blue water of Cinque Terre and eat the good food there. All we had eaten was a muffin for each of us at 5 AM and the small piece of bread we just split. We just wanted to be at Cinque Terre.

At the town of Ricco, waiting for the bus. I like these streetlights!

 Once in Ricco we went to the Tabbachi (convenience stores with everything from cigarettes to bus tickets) across the street and got some tickets.

Biglietto de Autobus (Beel-yay-toh)

 After about an hour wait the bus came and again, it was the same deal, go through a long tunnel under the mountain, and snake your way through tiny twisting mountain roads. Good views though!

I snapped a quick photo of the view when we were coming back down to Spezia.

 We finally made it to the train station. once here, I went to the Cinque Terre tourist center room at the train station and asked which train would I get on and which station would I stop at to get to Cinque Terre? She told me to get a ticket to Sestri Levante.

 The train to Sestri Levante actually had a final destination in Milan and the train was really nice. I like how the Spezia train station has these cool flipping displays to show the trains. Its fun to watch them change. In Milan, Fashion week is going on right now and a bunch of my fashion classmates are going to Fashion week. If I wasn't in Cinque Terre, I would want to go too.

 This train was really nice and we had been assigned cars and even assigned seats!

We sat across from a young Italian couple with a pet rabbit named, "Bonne" (pronounced like Bunny).
The rabbit did not like the train ride. Riding the train was really cool because it was dark almost the whole time as you went through the tunnels and every now and then there would be a flash of light usually with a beautiful split second view of the ocean. Along the way, we passed many stops and some of them looked like Cinque Terre towns but we wanted to stick to what the lady told us at the desk so we stayed on the train.
Eventually we arrived in Sestri Levante. Ali and I immediately searched for the nearest water and it didn't take long for us to find it.

 The view was beautiful and the beach was really big. I couldn't fit everything in the viewfinder of my camera or even see it all. There was just so much to see. There were beaches on both sides of the town and it was all locals there.

Ali and I were happy to be by the water but we were still starving and Ali (who has been to Cinque Terre before) said that she thinks that this is just another town. We needed food though so we stopped in a little shop and grabbed a quick panino to split.

 The beach was on both sides of Sestri Levanti. After the Panino, we walked around a bit more before Ali said that this isn't really a Cinque Terre town and she thinks we passed them on the train stops before. We could feel ourselves thinking better with food in our stomachs. We don't know why the lady at the desk told us to go here but it was gonna cost us another train ticket to get to the Cinque terre towns.

 That house on top of the mountain looks really neat. I bet it has a rooftop pool. Houses with rooftop terraces are pretty common here and they are really cool. I want to go to one to eat dinner in Florence. After finally finding a map, we returned to the train station to but a tickets to Monterosso.

There is our train.

This train had cool compartments. I have never ridden in a train like this before. With all the train riding I'm getting to do today, Im getting to ride in a variety of trains! When we finally got to Monterossa I could immediately see the difference between the Cinque Terre town and Sestri Levante. Monterossa was very small with no cars. It was as if the mountains had squeezed the town right up onto the ocean. It was really cool.

 Monterossa had a beach that spanned the entire town. The beach wasn't really sand but really fine pebbles instead. There were lots of tourists but it seemed like Monterossa was mainly a locals town. There was even a swing set and fenced in mini soccer field that a bunch of kids were playing on. It is nice to see that the town isn't over run by tourists.

 You can see the mountains and even some other towns of Cinque Terre. The mountains are covered with terraced farms and it seems like there are amazing views wherever you look weather it is a beautiful big mountain or a big ocean, or a colorful town. It was a beautiful city. Ali and I were still starving and we walked up and down Monterossa before finally settling at a touristy beachfront restaurant to eat at.

 Ali couldn't wait for dinner. Neither could I, we were so hungry.

I got "Frutti di Mare Spaghetti" (seafood spaghetti). The Shrimp come with the heads still on them. In Italy, it is illegal to sell many things with the head taken off because it could be anything. A skinned rabbit without a head could be mistaken for a cat. On menus in restaurants in Italy, they have to disclose weather the product you are getting is frozen or not. I always stay away from the frozen foods

Dinner was good. I liked it. After dinner, we ran over to the train station to catch the earliest train we could so that we could make the last bus back to Corvara. It felt so good to have food in my stomach again.

 The view from the train

 The bus ride back was mobbed! I have never been on a bus so crowded! I got in the door and couldn't move it was so crowded. The ride up the mountain was a tough one as we were all standing but with food in our stomachs, we didn't feel so carsick. The bus however didn't go all the way to Corvara and it stopped at Rico. the sun was setting as Ali and I decided to stop in a little restaurant to get water and see how far Corvara is. They said Corvara was 7 kilometers away so I figured it was about 3 miles. Instead of trying to deal with the taxi and spend even more money, we decided to walk. As we were walking through Ricco, the sun was setting and it got dark pretty quick as we walked along the road.

 This is a "Ferrari" flower store we passed.
I dont have too many photos because it was so dark. We walked through Ricco, then through a wooded part of town and past a small restaurant/pub which we stopped in and asked for directions to Corvara. Then we walked for awhile along a river. It was so dark that I was glad whenever a car came because they lit up the road as they passed. After walking on the road along the river for awhile we started to go uphill. We walked uphill for so long! we walked through a few small villages and past grapes growing for wine and along the twisting mountain roads. Every time we saw signs for Cinque Terre and our hotel it was a good sign.

 Eventually, (around 10:00) we made it back to the hotel. We found the needle in the haystack hotel once again and it was so great to be back! We definitely walked over 7 kilometers. Ali and I figured at least 10 kilometers with all the hills and turns we walked up. We walked up a mountain to get to the hotel!

 At the hotel, we enjoyed some of the leftover bread from the restaurant we ate at and although there were a ton of Europeans eating dinner and being really loud at the Bar/ Restaurant downstairs, Ali and I had no problem falling asleep after such an eventful day. Day 1 of our Cinque Terre trip was unexpected and filled with errors but nevertheless, it was still a very fun adventure. I will post day 2 as soon as I have time to write it.