Cinque Terre

I went to the Cinque Terre (which literally means "Five Lands") on Friday with the program and stayed overnight. I had been to Cinque Terre before in 2004, but it is so amazing, I had to return. I woke up at 4:30AM on Friday to catch the train to La Spezia and then a cab to the port of La Spezia where a tour boat was waiting for us. The boat ride was fantastic...it stopped in all five towns of the Cinque Terre: Riomaggiore, Manorola, Corniglia, Vernazza, and finally Monterosso al Mare. Three other girls and I booked a hotel in Monterosso and decided to drop our stuff off after the boat ride. We saw signs for the hotel and began walking because it was only 800 meters away. Well, the sign failed to mention that the hotel was 800 meters above the village. So it was grueling, grueling walk up the steepest, narrowest road I have ever seen. All we could do was laugh about it. We showed up to the hotel lobby literally soaked through in sweat and panting. I mean, signing the hotel bill, I managed to get the bill wet with my perspiration (much to the disgust of the anti-American hotel clerk behind the counter). The three other girls, Cassie, Kim, and Angela, still wanted to go hiking after our hike to our hotel...older and wiser, I stayed behind and had a leisurely lunch in the town followed by nice lounge on the beach for a few hours, people watching and reading. I found an amazing place to have dinner at...it is perched up a bit from the village and looks directly out to the sea. When we arrived, one of the restaurant workers was fishing off of the balcony...the place is very close to the water. We had a fantastic meal and stayed out that night getting drinks and dancing. There was a 4th of July party set up on this piazza right on the sea, complete with deejay spinning American music. We were probably really obnoxious, we did get the party started. The next day was spent on the beach and laying on a raft in the water. I had some octopus salad for lunch and some granita limone (like a slushy but better) because you can't be in the Cinque Terre and not have fresh seafood and lemons (they have a lemon festival there each year). This may be my favorite place on earth.