A Day on the Trail

Waking up around ten Becky and I headed up to the office to use the free wi-fi and take care of some banking stuff before meeting back up with Tom at the apartment to leave for our big hike. As I said before the five villages are connected by a trail along the coast. There are actually dozens of trails in the Cinque Terre, but only one remains along the coast for the entire stretch of land. It had rained for a couple days before we arrived at the Cinque Terre and one of the trails linking the second and third villages was washed out so after completing the first trail we had to head inland for a bit. It was also in that time that I discovered that my camera had broken, meaning that I was now going to be carrying around two broken cameras with me for the rest of the trip. I was actually really bummed about this because everyone had told me how beautiful it was here, and I agreed that it was one of the most beautiful places I had seen so far on this trip and did not have a camera to capture the beauty and share it with you all. Fortunately Becky said she would copy her pictures with me, which let me forget about my stupid camera and enjoy the walk. Continuing inland to walk around the wash out we somehow managed to get lost twice and ended up just walking back to the town and taking a train to where the trail was again open. From there the hike became increasingly harder, but more and more beautiful with every step. It was absolutely breathtaking. Looking up the mountain all you could see was beautiful, lush green, lined with vineyards, and out to sea was that majestic clear-bue water that the Mediterranean is famous for. We would pass cliffs that had waves pound the shore, stirring the water and causing it to be even more clear and creating patches of lighter and darker water all the way out to sea.



Each of the towns are very different and it was great to be able to experience a little bit of each on as we took a breather each time we reached the next one. Just after the fourth town, after a particularily steep part of the hike we came to an outlook that was stunning. Looking back on the town I kept saying to myself this looks very familiar even though I know I have never been here before. Then it hit me. For Christmas seven years ago my Dad’s girlfriend, Norma, had bought three pictures from Italy and framed them beautifully for me (they decorate the walls of my bedroom at home to this day) and I soon realized that I was standing on the exact spot where one of the pictures had been taken.

Here we stopped here for a few minutes to take in the view of the brightly colored buildings of the town, back by endless green, and looking out over the sea. Breathtaking.


After taking a few pictures ourselves, well, after Becky and Tom took some pictures, we continued on for the last and most difficult stretch of the hike. Here the trail literally goes up 45 degrees for awhile, then down 45 degrees before returning to another uphill stretch. It was quite a hot day and I clearly remember telling the others how much I wished there would be a very cold Coor’s Light waiting for me at the end of the hike. Finally, after just over five hours of absolute, stunning beauty the last and largest of the villages appeared before us as we made our way over yet another peak. The end was in sight and I could already taste the Coor’s Light. There was a bar at the end of the trail, but unfortunately they did not have Coor’s Light (as I had suspected) but they did have a nearly frozen Corona that went down just as well!

After relaxing over a beer we made our way to the train station and back to Riomaggiore and to find a much needed meal. Back at the apartment we met some of our new roommates, a really cool Australian couple who had been travelling for something like five months, and also did the hike that day. We talked for a bit about the hike and how amazing it was before inviting them out to watch the world cup with us and grab a pizza. We found a great table near the TV and enjoyed a quite delicious pizza as we watched a very exciting soccer match. After the match we bought some wine and made our way down to the rocks to drink our wine and enjoy the beauty of the Cinque Terre at night. Another perfect ending to another perfect day…