The view from the top of a hotel in Vernazza
The view from our hike from Vernazza to Corniglia
This weekend we took a trip (with 8 other friends from my program) to Cinque Terre, a national park in Northern Italy. It consists of five cities, which are Monterosso, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore. On our trip, we were able to visit all of them except for Riomaggiore. We stayed in a nearby city called La Spezia, which is about a 4 hour train ride from Rome. We arrived on Friday night and discovered La Spezia for a little while. We sat down at this amazing seafood restaurant where we had a seafood feast. The guy was going to bring us a few appetizers, but instead brought out ten plates of delicious seafood. There were various kinds of mussels, clams, octopus, squid, anchovies, fish, and a few others, and they were all amazing. Afterward, the main course came out, which was white fish in risotto, spaghetti with mussels, and pasta with squid. The next morning, we woke up at 6:30 and took a 30 minute train into Vernazza, where a couple of our friends were staying for a family friend’s wedding, and hiked from Vernazza to Corniglia. That hike took about 2 hours and it was almost all uphill, so it was somewhat strenuous, but absolutely beautiful. From Corniglia we took a train to Manarola, where we walked around for a bit. Then we took a train back to Monterosso and practically threw ourselves in the sea to refresh from the heat. After that, we returned to Vernazza by train and hung out at the hotel of the wedding, where there was an amazing view from the roof (as seen in the first picture above). From there we returned to La Spezia for dinner, and our two friends that stayed in Vernazza had to spontaneously return due to a lack of transportation options the next morning from the rail strike. We all went out to dinner and then had to trek home for half an hour in the lightning and thunderstorm, and we let our friends stay with us. The next morning we walked to the pier and then to a castle in La Spezia, and took the train home at 2pm. Due to the strike, the train station was like a parking lot, with empty trains all around. Our train was the only train that was running, and so it was very packed. Although I didn’t get much sleep this past weekend, it was definitely worth it. The experience has been amazing so far. Thanks, Mom and Dad.