Beauty, the Beach, and Bugs (Lots of Bugs)

Friday, May 31st through Monday, June 2nd

Cinque Terre! It happened!

We left for Cinque Terre on Friday afternoon and it was a pretty easy journey. We took the train from Siena to Empoli then on to La Spezia, which is just outside Cinque Terre. From there we had to take a bus to our hostel, but we missed the first one so we had to hang around until about 8:30pm before catching the bus to the hostel. In the meantime, we relaxed in a random piazza we found. I mostly people-watched which was really interesting. A couple of guys in our group found an old soccer ball under a bench and played keep-away with a dog.

view from our hostel

We finally made it to our hostel around 9 and got settled. I had never been in a hostel before, so it was definitely an experience. But hey, I've done enough girls' camp to know how community showers and bathrooms work (and for the record I still despise them). After dropping off our things we went out for a quick dinner then went straight to bed.

Riomaggiore

Saturday morning we got up and prepared for a long day of sunshine, hiking, and the beach in the Cinque Terre. In reality, we got a long day with only two of those things, but it was still a successful adventure. We got to Riomaggiore—the first of the five little cities—in the morning and the grey sky threatened rain, but it didn't actually start pouring until we made it down to the beach. Still, we enjoyed sitting on the rocks in the rain (since the "beach" of Riomaggiore is covered in rocks, not sand) for a bit before heading back to the town.

Riomaggiore beach

You are supposed to be able to hike from Riomaggiore to Manarola (the next town over) and then from Manarola to Corniglia (the third town) but the trails were closed due to falling rocks and cave-ins. Sooo that wasn't an option. Instead, we took a train from Riomaggiore to Corniglia and began our journey there.

We arrived in Corniglia—to get from the train station into the town you must climb about fifty million stairs, and sadly, I thought that was part of the hike . . . nope, we hadn't even made it to the town yet—and briefly looked around before beginning our hike to Vernazza (the fourth town). All the while, it was raining somewhat heavily but it was also really hot and muggy, so basically we were all drenched in some nasty mix of sweat and water while our shoes became coated in mud. But it was really fun, I promise.

Vernazza

The beginning of the hike was pretty strenuous, almost entirely uphill and very rocky (plus, stairs...they never end). But the views were beautiful and it was fun to be in a group of friends, taking our time and enjoying being in Italy. Because, I am in Italy! I won't get over that anytime soon.

Vernazza

Eventually we made it to Vernazza, which is bellissima. We spent some time taking pictures and also grabbed some lunch. As we were eating pizza and taking in the view of the coast, we decided as a group that one hike was enough for that day. So rather than hiking to the last town we took the train (a good decision, I think).

Monterosso beach

Monterosso is the place to go to the beach in Cinque Terre. The only problem is, everyone knows it. It was pretty crowded but we managed to get a pretty decent spot on the public section of the beach. We spent the rest of the day hanging out on the beach and swimming in the Mediterranean Sea—which is freezing, by the way—until we got hungry again and went to get dinner. Overall it was a relaxing day, once the rain and walking had both stopped.

Sunday was much sunnier. Hooray! Instead of going town to town again, we had a quick breakfast in Riomaggiore then took a train straight to Monterosso and spent the day at the beach. It was a great day for relaxing in the sun and swimming in the sea. That was until I got stung on my neck by a (possibly) bee while swimming, but that ended up being the least of my bug problems from this trip.

sunset in Riomaggiore

You know when you're walking or sitting or eating and suddenly you start scratching your leg because it itches, and then you come to the realization that the itch is only getting worse, and you are immediately filled with dread? Yep, that's a bug bite, and—lucky me!—aside from the bee sting I got eight bug bites this weekend. The price you pay to go hiking and to the beach. Regardless, it was a really fun weekend and, bonus, I got a bit of a tan! Woot!

Monday was a national holiday so we slept in before heading back to Siena. On the way back our train got delayed a while but we eventually made it to Siena in time for dinner.

As for today (Tuesday), I went to my internship—where they had literally nothing for us to do, which was kind of nice after a long and tiring weekend—and then hung around Siena for the rest of the day.

And that's a wrap! A fantastic weekend in Cinque Terre and a few more weeks to go! Can't wait for more adventures.

A domani,
Ciao!

p.s. we had some takeout pasta,
because apparently that's a thing