Paradise in Cinque Terre

    Last Sunday (9/12) my roommates and I went on a day trip to the beautiful city of Cinque Terre. Cinque Terre is located on the west coast of Italy and is a 2 hour drive from Florence. The city name translates to mean "5 Lands" because there are 5 small towns spread along the cliffs of the coastline: Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza and Monterosso.

   Our day began bright and early (or should i say dark and early?) at 6:00am. We all crawled out of bed, threw on our clothes, gathered our things and were out the door by 6:45 in order to meet our bus at the train station at 7:15. On our way to the train station we saw a side of Florence we had never seen before. The streets that are normally crowded with people and vehicles, were completely empty. Although it was very different from the typical hustle and bustle it was quite nice being able to walk the streets without having to worry about being run over by a car, vespa, motorbike, bus or a combination of the four. Anyways, it was a side of Florence I really enjoyed!

   After a two hour bus ride we made it to Cinque Terre. Because the city is located on the cliffs we had to take a train through the hills to reach the first town. Riogmaggiore is more of a pit stop to the rest of the towns so once we got there we grabbed a small bite to eat, lathered on some sunscreen and began the hike to the next town. We climbed a small set of stairs, turned the corner and got our first view of the ocean. It was absolutely beautiful!

First view of the ocean in Cinque Terre

   The path to get to the next town of Manarola was cut into the side of the cliffs so we were able to enjoy the beautiful view during the entire walk. Here are a few more pictures: 

Me, Caitlin, and Stesha

The water is so blue!



  The next two towns we visited were Manarola and Corniglia. Manarola was a cute little town with colorful apartments that dotted the sides of the street and Corniglia was pretty much just a train stop with a pretty view of the ocean. We spent a few minutes wandering around each, but we wanted to get to the more popular towns of Vernazza and Monterosso so we could enjoy their beaches.

The girls and I in Manarola

Manarola

   The next town we went to was Vernazza. Vernazza is much larger than the previous three towns and is located right on the water. Caitlin, Stesha and I walked through the streets, visited a few shops and then decided it was time to eat lunch. We each bought a slice of pizza and sat down right on the dock to enjoy our meal and the beautiful view:

Our view of Vernazza during lunch

   After we finished our pizza, we took the train to the last town of Monterosso which is famous for its beach. When we got off the train and saw how beautiful it was, we immediately decided that we would spend our remaining few hours swimming in the Mediterranean and soaking up the sun. We ran to the bathroom, threw on our suits and headed to the beach. We grabbed the first empty lounge chairs we could find and then decided to take a dip in the Mediterranean. We tiptoed our way to the water (the beach is made of rock, not sand, so it hurts your feet!) and walked right in. The water was turquoise blue and clear and was so much warmer than in California. We all took a dunk and enjoyed ourselves for a little while before we went back to our lounge chairs and relaxed. Here are a few pics from Monterosso:



  After a few hours of paradise it was time to leave Cinque Terre. We rinsed the salt off our bodies (the water was so salty you could literally see it on your skin!), grabbed some gelato to go, and took the train back to the first town where we met our bus to go home. We were sad to leave, but were so happy that we had experienced the beautiful city.

   When got back to Florence it was 9:30 at night. We were all very tired after our long day, but little did we know, it wasn't over yet. We were all about to crawl into bed when three bats flew through our living room window and into our apartment! We all screamed like girls, ran out of the room and closed the doors leading into the living room. We watched and waited for a few minutes, hoping that they would fly back out the windows, but we had no such luck. Instead they flew up into Stesha's room (her room is a loft and is connected to the living room). We were all freaking out (and laughing so hard at the same time!). None of us knew what to do and nobody wanted to be the one to chase them out! Eventually Caitlin decided she would take one for the team. She would go up to Stesha's room and open the window and try to chase them out with a broom. She grabbed her broom, suited up with a rain jacket, pulled the hood over the towel that was wrapped around her head (she had just gotten out of the shower), and headed up. The next 5 minutes were a blur of Caitlin screaming, army crawling across the floor of Stesha's bedroom and running up and down the stairs as she tried to avoid the flying bats. It was probably one of the funniest things my roommmates and I have ever witnessed. We were all DYING of laughter. (Thank God we have it all on video! hahaha) Unfortunately Caitlin's attempts to coax the bats out the window were unsuccessful and we weren't able to get them out until some of my roommate's guy friend's came and took care of them for us. To say the least the whole experience was absolutely hilarious and was definitely the perfect ending to the perfect day.