Cinqueterre is for lovers

SUMMARY: Cinque Terre consists of five villages on the Italian Riviera. It is picturesque and beautiful and again, totally packed with tourists. We hiked, we drank, and we went to an anchovy festival. That picture up there is Vernazza's harbor, which is town #4. It was pretty ok.

Ok, for those of you who want more information (Hi Mom), feel free to read on.

Following the grand tradition of freshmen year behavior, we traveled with a group of about 15 people over to Cinque Terre. I was concerned that traveling with such a large group was going to be a huge hassle, but everyone was so easy going and considerate that there were no major issues. There were two other large groups from SAIS also going the same weekend and we all took over the train in a rather loud way. There were bottles of wine and snacks and our car was embarrassingly empty of Italians by the time we arrived. That said, everyone in Cinque Terre spoke English and the general tourist make-up seemed mostly to be kids studying abroad, and German senior citizens. The latter totally out hiked us.

The main trail goes along the water from Riomaggiore (#1) all the way to Monterosso (#5). The picture up there is from relatively early on in the trail. It gets more difficult (stepper, and less paved) as you go on. We took a break in each town to wander around a bit. In general, though lovely, the towns are so oriented towards tourism that I fear they have lost most of the charm that made them tourist sites to begin with. Perhaps with the exception of Corniglia (#3), because it is the most isolated, off the water and up almost 400 stairs. I know it is completely hypocritical for me to complain about, but that was the general consensus.
Once you get through Corniglia you are so high up that you are actually hiking along local vineyards and olive groves. The contrast of the beautiful green vineyards above the clear aquamarine water was incredible, and definitely worth the trip, despite any of my complaints. Also in the plus column, the area is famous for its pesto and its focaccia, both of which were infinitely better than anything else, ever. A local specialty is pesto with sliced potato and this thick tube-like pasta. So awesome. Additionally, they sell pasta in the shape of the Eucharist here, in case the religious consumption urge hits you. Lastly, I hear the seafood is also amazing, but I wouldn't know about that, despite my traveling companions' best efforts. I was harassed at one point by a talking fish named Fred, but I'd rather not elaborate.

Most of the mountainsides are heavily terraced, and reminded me of what I saw in Peru when I went to visit Gillian and Chris. Here is a lovely (almost) side by side comparison.
























We finally made it to Monterosso (#5), which I believe is the lowest town, and also the most sprawled out. The beaches were beautiful, albeit rocky, and if this posting wasn't so photo overloaded I would provide one. You'll have to google it instead. We hung out at the beach and went out for a great dinner, followed by wine in the streets while participating in the local Anchovy Festival. The Anchovies of Monterosso are a local specialty designated with a Protected Designation of Origin status from the European Union.* There was music and dancing and the locals seemed relatively amused by our terrible attempts to dance along with them. I knew I should have taken Ms. Thompson's ballroom dancing classes back in middle school.

To end the post, here is a picture of the coast, taken from the beach at Monterosso. Go ahead and see if you can find all four towns in the picture.


*No clue what that means. Blatantly stolen from Wikipedia.