Cinque Terre

Okay, if you've visited Italy in the last ten years, you may have heard of the Cinque Terre. If it's been awhile, this may be unknown to you. The Cinque Terre consists of five small towns (all mostly with just a main street and then some buildings on the sides.) Up until a few years ago, these towns were only accessible by water. There was no land transportation to these towns. A hiking trail connects all five of the towns, with varying difficulty levels between each. (The hiking trail is rumored to have started as a path for young lovers because it was otherwise accepted that you would only marry from your own village.) On the second day, we had to take in the famous Cinque Terre Trail, frequently stopping for pleasant swimming and site seeing breaks. We started in the morning and didn't get back home until well after dark.

A train now connects the towns to modern civilization and a road also now exists high on the hillside. (I heard from someone that the road was just put in about ten years ago.) Fortunately (or unfortunately for some) cars not allowed in the villages. If you have a car, you must park it at the top and walk down to the villages. (Prior to leaving for this trip I read many a review of people complaining about all the walking they had to do in the Cinque Terre... I knew this meant it would be perfect for Greg and I!)

We rented a private apartment from a local woman. I was supposed to call her and she would meet us when we got off the train to show us where the apartment was. Lucky for us, there were no phones near the train station... Also lucky for us, the owner spoke no English. And I don't mean to say that she spoke very little English, I mean she spoke NO English what-so-ever, not even hello, Good morning, or the necessitated "I want you to pay me now, not later." Not that I'm the type of American that demands it. I'm visiting their country, I respect that. I listened to some Italian CD's prior to leaving the states picking up some key vocabulary that I thought would help us. And it did in on a couple other occasions, but I ran my limited Italian to its end on this occasion. I could tell this lady who I was and that I had a reservation, but picking a meeting spot with her, or picking her out of a crowd was another story altogether. I couldn't tell her what I looked like, she couldn't seem to tell me anything I understood.

In the end I just kept repeating "Bar Centrale," "Bar Centrale." She gave up whatever it was she was trying to tell me. Eventually a lady timidly walked up to us near the bar and we timidly approached her hoping our backpacks gave us away... She reached out her hand and we exchanged names. It was her. Sigh.... We followed her up several narrow walkways between buildings (even with English directions, we never would have found it.) Laundry was hanging from the windowsills and excitement raged in my tummy.

Basically our apartment consisted of a narrow hallway with sink and stove that lead to a bedroom. There was no main sitting area, except for the outside terrace. Ah... The terrace. We had a view of the pastel colored buildings lining mainstreet to the left, and a view of the sea to our right. We ordered a whole pizza (one of many that we would eat throughout our travels) and a bottle of wine. We took them to our terrace and relished our first evening in Italy.

I liked the Cinque Terre because it was extremely laid back. Everyone seemed totally content to partake in the makeship beaches on the big rocks that lined the seashore. While the mid-day siesta meant that stores were closed, it did not necessitate that people moved any faster outside of siesta hours. The hiking was also wonderful. Supposedly there are also some good mountain biking in the hills. I could have easily spent a few more days lounging around the Cinque Terre.