October 9th 200770 steps every day, multiple times. That’s how many steps it takes to get up to my pensione (Hotel). These steps are what I had hoped would train me for my experience in Cinque Terre. This past weekend I experienced one of the most beautiful places in the world. An area that stretches only about 12 kilometers long on the outer coast of the province of Liguria stands these five quaint seaside towns.
Arriving in the town of Monterosso around sunset I was glad to get off the bus after a 4 hour bus ride down winding roads that only seemed to fit one bus instead of two. 110 students invaded this quaint seaside town of several thousand and we filled two hotels that seemed to small to fit us all. An American flag greeted us at the Hotel Souvenir!
The first day (Friday) 110 of us took to the hardest trail between Monterosso and Vernazza. After 2.5 hours of intense hiking and possibly accomplishing 1000 steps we arrived in the small port town of Vernazza. My favorite of all the five towns, Vernazza is complete with a small cove for a marina and a compact feeling of serenity and peace. After a 20 minute break we continued our hike through vineyards, pines, and cliffs to the town of Corniglia. After another 20 minutes we then proceeded to the town of Manarola. As the hike continued the hiking got easier as well. In addition to the trails being narrow and dusty, the temperature was averaging 80 to 90 degrees. It was hot and sweaty! I definitely turned a few shades darker after this weekend. The hike concluded in the town of Riomaggiore. Here in this town we went swimming and cliff diving. I chose to pass on cliff diving since it was somewhat of drop and choppy sea. The water here was much more blue and pristine than on the Island of Elba.
Each town had its own unique personality and each was very different than the first. Some had marinas while others didn’t. The one thing that was very interesting about the Cinque Terre is that they are all interconnected via an elaborate and impressive network of trains. The trains go through kilometers of tunnels and the cost of riding is fairly cheap, comparable to riding the bus, 1.20 to 1.80 a trip. It was at first a challenge to learning how to use the railway system but after a few mistakes it was a breeze.
On Friday night after a long day of hiking, swimming and sunbathing the school provided us with a meal at Restaurante Belvadere in Monterosso. One of the most popular restaurants in the town we had the traditional Trophie Pasta with Pesto, potatoes and green beans. This was only the first course. In addition to a magnificent start the restaurant provided us with fantastic Cinque Terre biano vino. Bottemless to be exact. It was a great time! Our second course was pan seared swordfish with potatoes and for dessert the exquisite pudding called tiramisu! It was a great evening and of course having too much free wine to drink we kept the town of Monterosso up for a long long time.
Our second day in the Cinque Terre I chose to get up at the crack of dawn…9:00 am and hike to a small hermitage on top of a nearby butte. I was expecting it to be an easier hike than the day before, however, I was unprepared for 80 degree weather at 9:30 am and an incline of 500 meters in less than an hour. It was grueling, probably climbing a couple hundred steps chiseled into the mountain. At the top was a small ruin that was formerly a Benedictan hermitage. As a group we took a group photos by sex, boys and girls. We then strode down the mountain to the town of Levanto, north of Monterosso and a lot larger. There, a 3 kilometer sandy beach greeted us and a backyard stroll through Ferrari’s and Fiat’s summer villa. In addition, we also walked through a wedding at one of the medieval churches. We (20 of us) stopped to congratulate the bride and groom. The large wedding thanked us and also threw rice at us to ensure that we all grew up to be great husbands and wifes as well as being very very fertile. It was a great cultural experience.
In Levanto our tour guide, named Peter, an Austrian who knows several languages and serves as our travel agent brought us to a historical bar where he shared with us a large traditional Levanto Cake. It was delicious, a split between a pound cake and coffee cake. For a late lunch we stopped at a Foccaccia restaurant, freshly baked and tasty. Foccaccia and pesto were founded in the Cinque Terre. The rest of the day we basked in the sun on the beach and swam.
That evening a summer festival in the town of Bonassola welcomed us to witness thousands of paper lit lanterns floating in the bay and a grand spectacle of fireworks. The festival was a celebration called FESTA DELLA MADONNA DEL S. ROSARIO. A large storm passed through the festival and I thought for a moment the festival would be cancelled. I was wrong. Luckily the storm passed and the festival continued. I participated in one of the activities known for the festival. Basically a lottery game, I entered my two euro for two tries. I pulled out two numbers and whatever my numbers were, I would get two prizes based on the numbers I pulled out. My friend Elizabeth was lucky on her first try, coming away with a Cinque Terre wine. I on the other hand won a cheap can of Danish Beer and a small bowl of apple sauce. There were many other prizes that I wish I could have won. I restrained myself from spending more of my euro and proceeded to watch the fireworks show that began at 10:30pm. It was an amazing show. The fireworks were shot into the water and explode before hitting the surface causing a great shower of flame and sparkles. Thousands gathered on the beach and old railway viaduct to watch the amazing show. It was a great conclusion to our trip in the Cinque Terre. Italians do know how to party or at least celebrate Patron Saint days!
Sunday, I awoke early and met with my friend Elizabeth, Kristin, Jessica and Debrah at 9:00am. We checked out and made our way to the train station. We joined a few other Gonzaga students as we boarded our train for Pisa. Here is where Elizabeth, Debrah and I experienced how the Italian train system can be confusing. We boarded the Intercity Plus train to Pisa, we bought our tickets from the automated ticket machine. Apparently, the tickets from machine were only for regional trains not for intercity plus trains. The conductor thankfully was kind and let us supplement our tickets for a few euros more instead of a massive 100 euro fine. Our small group made it to Pisa where we left the rest of our peers as they headed back home to Firenze for homework. We stayed and walked our way to the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Definitely a tourist trap we made it to the piazza and did touristy things such as taking goofy photos with the tower and walking through the city. Too expensive to climb the tower (15 euro) we visually pleased ourselves instead by looking for free. Pisa was fun and was well worth the short stop to see the famous tower.
I have taken so many photos that I wish I could post them all up. When I return I will be so happy to show them all to you. However, at the moment things are going soo good that I kind of wish I could stay longer.
Classes are going well. I have an animated Economics professor who has a thick Italian accent and loves to use his hands to describe the global economy. I have a sweet professoressa for Italiano and an interesting professor for Management and operations. He loves himself and seems to lecture only about his experience at Procter and Gamble and how he is trying to increase our learning here in Gonzaga in Florence. He loves teaching us online……I think he is just lazy. Besides my disappointing business classes I enjoy my other classes. Art is fun, yet at times frustrating. I am having a great time and am looking forward to all of the things I have yet to do and explore.
I have truly decided to stop worrying about money. Its too hard to write everything down on what I am spending on….mostly food and not enough on exploring or traveling. My trip to Spain was cancelled after the fares increased too much and my planned trip to Ireland also may be cancelled since I only have two weekends to do it in and the prices are somewhat unfriendly as well. Instead from Oct. 31 to November 5th my friend Elizabeth and I will be taking the Eurostar speed train to San Marino and Ravenna for a five night exploring on our own away from the crazy Gonzaga trip to Bosnia and Croatia. It is costing me a little bit more, however, I think its worth learning how to travel in a foreign country and trying to communicate with the locales, especially the ticket agents who don’t speak English!
This weekend we are off to the Amalfi Coast, Sorrento, Naples, Island of Capri and Pompeii! We leave on Thursday at 4:00 pm.
Today I bought a small pocket AM/FM radio or if you are older a small pocket transistor radio. I love it! Italian music and talk shows are entertaining and I am able to understand bits and pieces.
Oh yea and also tomorrow Wednesday, I begin volunteering with my friend Stephanie at a soup kitchen for several hours during lunch. It should be fun and interesting to witness how Italy’s social welfare system works. In addition to volunteering I am meeting with my Italian conversation partner from the University of Florence. She seems like a well rounded individual who dances ballet, and jazz and knows Spanish and English fairly well. Hopefully this will be a good sign and indicator that she will really help improve my Italian.
Its getting late almost midnight. Tomorrow will be another fun and exciting day. Ciao for now!
