Chapter 12: Cinque Terre

Nope, not "sink tare", not "sink-que tear" either. It's actually pronounced "CHEEN-kweh TEH-rah", and it turns out that you can actually say it out loud, wrong, multiple times before anyone will correct you. Embarrassing? Perhaps, but hardly the first or last thing I pronounce badly in Italian. My foreign language skills are not what you might call impressive. Anyway, this was the most beautiful place I think I've ever seen! Cinque Terre is a cluster of five little villages along the north-western coast of Italy. (Cinque is the Italian word for 'five', and Terre means 'lands') They're all tiny, beautiful, and the perfect taste of unadulterated Italian sea, sand, and sun. Dana and I took a train there from Florence, and arrived in the early afternoon. We planned to stay that night and return the following afternoon. Most people only go to Cinque Terre as a day trip, but we wanted to relax and soak in the quieter, more relaxed side of Italy- especially after our chaotic weekend in Rome the weekend before. I couldn't find any hostels online in any of the towns, so we just showed up and wandered the narrow, winding streets until we found one. We found it a little bizarre that the people at the hostel didn't ask for our passports, our IDs, or even our NAMES, but just took our cash payment and showed us our room. A little different from America? Good to know I have somewhere to go if I'm ever a fugitive.



There's a hiking trail that links the five villages together, and it's about a five hour trip along the Mediterranean coast. I can't even describe how much I loved it! I love hiking, and I LOVE the ocean, so having them both right next to each other, on such a warm, clear day was the most perfect thing I could imagine!


The hike was hard work, it started out easy and became a sweaty, uphill obstacle course towards the end, but it was worth every minute. Each little village looked a little bit different, and they were so beautiful! The water was a perfect blue, there were vinyards and lime trees growing up the sides of the mountains, and I felt even more like I was inside a postcard than I already did.

We stopped for dinner in the fourth village, because it had gotten too dark to hike to the fifth, and before we ate, we grabbed two beers, ripped our shoes and backpacks off, and sat on the rocky coast watching the sun go down over the ocean. It was honestly the happiest and most relaxed I think I've ever been in my life. I couldn't identify the sea creature that appeared to be swimming around my plate of pasta afterwards, but it was hard to complain.

The next day, we took a ferry boat (my other favorite thing on earth) to the fifth village, where I swam in the bluest water I've ever been in!

It was a little chilly, but I couldn't resist. I may have cut my feet and legs on the rocky beach (in salt water, of course) got one of the worst sunburns I've ever had (and believe that I've had my fair share), and took the wrong ferryboat at the end of the day-a nightmare that caused us to miss our train back to Florence... but it was still the happiest weekend of my life!