If I could move to Cinque Terre tomorrow, I would in a heart beat. It was beautiful, romantic, relaxing, and interesting. The food was great and the company was even better. It was seriously one of the best weekends I've had with John Ralph. Just wonderful.
We stayed in the town just north of the five Cinque Terre towns, called Levanto. We got in late on Friday afternoon and made the scenic walk to our hotel from the train station. Everyone has citrus trees in their yards and the town has a nice beach town vibe (think Edisto, not Myrtle). I immediately knew the towns would probably make my "Favorite Places" list.
We woke up to gray skies on Saturday morning, but geared up and headed out to hike anyway. The weather ended up being perfect. Not too hot, not too cold. Just the perfect amount of overcast so the sun wasn't too overbearing, and the rain held off until late that night.
We decided to ride the train from Levanto, down to the fifth town and then hike our way back. It was just a quick train ride, maybe 15 minutes. From the fifth town you can walk along the ocean into the fourth town. It's a simple walking path, not a hike, but it's still gorgeous to walk along the ocan cliffs.
From the train station in the fifth town, you walk down some hidden little stairs and it spits you out into this quaint little fishing town. There are boats all along the sidewalks, the houses are the colors of the rainbow, and the ocean is their front yard. Not a bad life, if you ask me.
We followed a smaller trail around the side of a cliff and ended up on a small pebble beach. I wanted to stop every five feet just to take another picture. It reminded me so much of our trip to California. Not the landscape I'm used to growing up in the South, but it literally took my breath away every time I looked in another direction.
We've become quite the masters of setting the self timer on our camera. Even though this isn't the best picture in the world, we decided to jump on the opportunity for a photo shoot when the sun decided to peek through the clouds.
The walk from the fifth town to the fourth town is known for being a lovers walk. You're supposed to seal your love by attaching a lock to something and throwing the key into the ocean. While I, of course, thought the idea was romantic, John Ralph was gagging at the sappy gesture. I did manage to get him to sit on the lovers seat and seal our love with a picture.
One side of the hike has hillsides filled with grape vines and olive trees. It amazes me that they are able to grow so many things on such steep hills. The paths to pick the grapes are so tiny and I couldn't imagine working during harvest time. They do have little buckets on roller coster type tracks that they can drive up and down the hills, but it is still crazy to think about all the work it must take to grow things on such a wild terrain.
Once we got into the fourth town we decided to hike up and around the mountain and into the third town. We needed our energy, so a shot of espresso got us ready to go.
There are boats all along the streets in all of the towns. At first this seemed a little odd to me, but then I realized they roll them down the hills and into the water when they are ready to use them. It has to be a bit of an ordeal to get your boat into the water, but judging by some of the seafood we ate, it's worth the effort!
(Side note: Look at the old couple in this picture. So in love. Simply perfect.)
Along the start of the hike between the fourth and third towns, you are still walking along parts of the town. We decided to play a game called "Which House Do We Want To Live In When We Retire". You could probably set up a cardboard box in a back ally and I would be happy. That's how much I loved this place.
Here is the view of the fourth town from the start of our hike. They sure do make the most out of the space they have.
John Ralph did a great job deciding to make the hike. Cinque Terre suffered from landslides last October, so several of the ocean walks are now closed. At first, we considered riding the train between the other towns, but decided it would be worth it to do the longer hike around the hills. Let me tell you, it was so worth it.
The hike took just under three hours and we rewarded ourselves at the end with pizza, beer, and gelato. In the next post, I'll have pictures from the trail and from our delicious dinner. I wanted to take my time posting all of the pictures from this trip, not only to share the experience with you readers, but so I don't forget what a wonderful time we had!
More to come soon!
No comments:
Post a Comment