Ciao Italia!: The Cinque Terre-- "The Five Lands"

This weekend we went to the Cinque Terre... famous for its beautiful little towns built into the cliffs of the Italian Alps, right on the Ligurian Sea. It is also the region of pesto! There are five towns in the Cinque Terre: Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza, and Monterosso. There is a train that connects the towns and the ride takes anywhere from 2 to 5 minutes between towns. We chose to hike our way through the mountains this weekend... one of the best and most enjoyable work outs I have ever had. It was incredible. We began in Riomaggiore on the Via dell'Amore (The Road of Love). Lovers had put locks all over the trail and paths in hopes of everlasting love together. The path in Manarola was closed due to a landslide (something that is fairly frequent in the Cinque Terre due to the steep edges). We continued our hike in Corniglia where we stopped and got a fresh nectarine and walked around the small town. There was a pretty little church in the center of the town that reminded me a lot of the chapel at St. Ursula. After taking a break there we began the hike to Vernazza. This was the tough part... We had heard that the hike from Vernazza to Monterosso was the most difficult, but after doing the entire thing, my roommates and I agreed that Corniglia to Vernazza is the hardest!! Along the way through all of the towns the views were spectacular. Being from the Midwest, we don't see a lot of mountains and oceans unless we go on vacation. In Italy you get to see things like that all the time and many times the ocean and the mountains are in the same place... its absolutely breathtaking to me.

When we finally made it to Vernazza, we were exhausted. We put our swim suits on and dove right into the harbor there in town. After a swim and some relaxation, we had a traditional Cinque Terre meal of pesto pasta. It was very, very good. After dinner we got some gelato (mine was some fancy name that tasted like cake batter) and watched the sun go down on Vernazza. There are anchors and nautical trinkets everywhere!! I bought a t-shirt that said "The Original Sailor, Cinque Terre, Italia" and it has a big anchor on it! Anchors away!!

The next day we were refreshed and ready to go and began our hike to Monterosso. The beginning was challenging, but we persevered and made it through. Once again the views were to die for. The water was a deep teal and you could see right through it down the rocks. The mountain's vegetation was a bright green with these vibrant purple flowers growing randomly. We were in the heart of the mountains... at this point the trails were very narrow and sometimes kind of scary! We enjoyed the hiking very much and it felt great on our pasta bellies!! When we made it to Monterosso we enjoyed a dip in the ocean and layed on the beach for the rest of the day... it was so relaxing and amazing. Amo la spiaggia!! I love the beach!! I get that from my Mama for sure! When we left the Cinque Terre we had another issue with the trains but we realized it was because they have been on strikes lately... annoying and very inconvenient. But we always seem to find our way back to Florence safe and sound :)

This trip was simply beautiful. I would love to go back and spend more time there... the whole vibe of the Cinque Terre is so neat. They have very few forms of technology... only a few places have internet or phones. Most of the locals own restaurants, are fishermen, or own small shops in the towns. The lifestyle there is simple. It's about the land and the water... about family and good food and wine... about their blessings from God. To me, it seemed like they had their priorities straight. In the United States, and even cities elsewhere in the world, our lives are always on the go. How can we get there faster? What can we do to fit this all in within a few hours? Our lives are jampacked with places to go, people to meet, things to do... and we do them all so quickly. In Italy, especially the Cinque Terre, people just sit. Relax. Take in the beauty of life. Kids play futbol on the sand. Families and friends enjoy long meals with a glass of vino and a caffe at the end. Time seems to move a bit slower there. Technology doesn't get in the way of their daily lives. They don't care about how fast it takes to get to the next town... they will probably take their little rowboat and row on over to Monterosso even if it takes 2 hours. I take back what I said about retiring to Burano... I think I'll move on over to the Cinque Terre.

This week I began my second course... Tuscany and Its Wines. It has been very interesting so far! I have tasted five different Italian wines in the past two days... it truly is a neat, neat class. I surprisingly did not enjoy a few of the wines today. One was a sweet wine.. amber in color with a intense aroma. It was very high in alcohol and it tasted as such... not my favorite. The white we had today I was not crazy about either... It was cheap we realized. Our professor fed us cheap wine!! Rude! I learned that if the finish on the wine is quick... it ends just as soon as you swallow, then that is the sign of a low quality wine. On the other hand, if the finish lasts a while and the flavors remain in your mouth after swallow it is probably an aged or at least a fine, high quality wine. We had a red, vino rosso, like this today. It was pretty good. Definitely very different than the wine I have had back home! I'll keep adding things when I learn them, so stay tuned!

Thanks for the mail, Gaga and Popsie and the McAfees! I honestly am not homesick... but I definitely miss being surrounded by my family and friends. I wish you all could join me in Bella Italia! Hope everyone is doing well. I'm sending my love from across the world!

Ciao for now!
Kimmy