Cinque Terre

Cinque Terre was absolutely fabulous. And that is an understatement. We traveled with our companion Kristen (a fellow Biliken!) to the five small towns in Northern Italy. We were told that this place was going to be a memorable place of hiking and mountain exploring. It did not disappoint. At all.




We arrived in Riomaggiore (the first of the five towns) and literally ran into our hostel owner on the street. He showed us where our hostel was - a small apartment equipped with a kitchen, no heat and cold showers. Woop Woop. But we were right on the beach and could not complain. The first exploration we partook in was a stroll on top of rocks that jutted out into the sea. Although some of us (ahem Adrienne) could not stroll as gracefully as others it was still a wonderful experience. She fell in twice.

Because it was the off season in Cinque Terre it felt like we had the beautiful mountains to ourselves as we defied the fences that said we weren't allowed to hike, and ended up exploring the trails. Later that night we watched the sunset as Adrienne made friends with a guitar playing local and sang as the sun went down. Meanwhile Jana was making a rock tower on the beach and introduced herself to two people who spoke English. It ended up that the connection between Jana and they guy (Sam) was a mutual friend that Jana had from high school! Sam attends Drake University where he is in a frat with Luke Braland, a close friend from Olathe Northwest! We hung out with Sam and his friend Becca all weekend. They were a blast.

On Saturday we spent the entire day hiking and exploring the beauty of Cinque Terre. The weather could not have been better and we were very aware about how lucky we were. We had to take a train a couple of times between the towns because the major trails were locked down and we couldn't find a way around the fences, but that did not stop us from hiking and exploring our own trails once arriving in the towns.  Some of these adventures included exploring Riomaggiore at night and stumbling upon a creepy cemetery, striping our clothes and jumping in the freezing Mediterranean Sea in front of the eyes of entertained tourists and locals, and following a cardboard sign that said "nude beach" down a rugged mountain to an interesting sight to say the least.

On saturday night we left Cinque Terre at 1:30 in the morning to catch a night train back to Rome. Arriving safely back at the Rome center we crashed and woke up at 3 in the afternoon. We are consistently impressed and amazed that we are able to make it to foreign places and returning home safe and sound without too many complications.


We loved Cinque Terre. Up next: Ireland and Paris. What a life we are living.