Day 4: Italy – Cinque Terre (Friday, July 2)

The second day in Cinque Terre, I woke up in the apartment to the sounds of the village coming awake. From my bed, I heard church bells, the fish vendor shouting, groceries being unloaded out of trucks, and restaurant waiters clanking dishes and getting ready for the day. The sun was streaming through the open windows as well. What a nice way to wake up!

For breakfast, we sat on our patio and ate chunks of baguette with fig preserves, fruit salad (with peaches, kiwi, and blood oranges), soft cheese, and scrambled eggs. After fueling up, we set out on another trek. Our goal was to hike from the third village to the fifth. In total, I think it was about 7 kilometers that day, but it was SO steep. Most of the hike from the fourth to the fifth village was big stone stairs. In addition, it was probably the hottest temperature that we had experienced so far! Not a great combo! Although it was rougher than the first day, the view was gorgeous. Every time we turned a bend, we would have to stop and take a picture. I am pretty sure I took like 300 pictures in Cinque Terre, but I know none of them will do justice to the real thing! No way could I capture that loveliness in a photo!

At mid-day, we took a break in Veneazza (the fourth village) for gelato (mango and limon), and for pesto pizza in the plaza. (YES, Rachy, PESTO pizza! It was so good and I am going to make it for you when I get home…and when you get home…so like Christmas? It’s a date!) Also, I bought a delicious cookie from a bakery – it had a little pool of chocolate in the middle, which of course was melted because of the heat. While we were sitting on some steps in the street eating lunch, we saw a bride and groom walk by with their families following them. It looked like they were going to the church! They were so pretty (she had a Greek-goddess-like dress) and they looked really happy! It was like something out of a movie.

Once we made it to the fifth village, we jumped in the sea and spent some time resting on the beach. The beach was totally rocky (very common here – not like in the US!) so it hurt a little to walk around, but at that point in the day I would have done anything to jump in that water! It was blue and very clear. We also saw some stupid kids jumping off the cliffs. It was crazy and very scary to watch. I kept thinking they were going to crack open their heads right there on the rocks! It was fine, though, just a little senseless, in my opinion! After a nice refreshing swim, we caught the train back to Cornigilia (the third village) and I made pasta primavera and bruchetta for dinner along with some nice vino, two types of salami, cheese, and limoncello.

That night, we went up the street (there is only one in the entire town!) to the gelato place. I had a cone of fruit de bosco, which is like mixed berry. We hung out in the street eating our gelato and met some other travelers from Oklahoma which was fun. It was another physically exhausting day and another late night, but it was fun to be able to say that we made it to all five of the villages!