Cinque Terre: even more beautiful than the pictures.

The first two weeks in Italy have gone by so quickly! After getting settled in, going through numerous orientations, the LIFE program, the daVinci Challenge, and the beginning of classes… we finally had some time to relax. Here’s a few pictures from the Da Vinci Challenge. We climbed a 12 foot wall, crept through a “spider’s” web, and avoided lava by getting from one platform to another. We also did a few exercises that focused on trusting one another.

And after both of these crazy, intense weekends….. it was time to travel! More than half of us decided to go to Cinque Terre, and before we knew it, we were all on a five hour bus trip to the Italian coast. It seems that I’ve been on a hiking “high”; last week we hiked over twelve miles up and down Monte Grappa, and we were heading to another mountainous area that I was ready to conquer.

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Cinque Terre is made up of five small villages, from north to south they are Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore. The villages of Cinque Terre run parallel to the Apennine Mountains which creates valleys where the towns sit. Because of this, the villages are beautiful beyond belief, and each are unique in their own way. The gaggle of ladies I traveled with, all ten of us, stayed in a dorm style hostel in the south-most village of Riomaggiore. And boy, was it gorgeous.

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The whole gang of us decided the best plan was to head over to Monterosso which is known to have the best beach of all five villages. Who doesn’t love some beach time? We soaked up some sun, explored the beach and surrounding area, and all together just enjoyed ourselves. The beach definitely did not disappoint, but we wanted to see as much as possible during the weekend so we decided to take the hike to Vernazza.

Up, up, up! The first half of the hike was all steps… and my legs were definitely feeling it. Even though I was tired and pushing myself, it felt so good to be surrounded by such beauty and to be breathing in the fresh, crisp air. Fun fact: Cinque Terre was carved into the mountains in order to make it possible for farmers to plant on the terraces all the way up to the top. What a cool sight to see all of the crops and vineyards as we took on the winding paths of the trail. Have I mentioned how delicious the wine is here in Italy? It has been a really great experience to see vineyards in all of the parts of Italy that I’ve traveled to so far. Seeing the actual grapes that will be turned into the wonderful wine is really, really cool.

Back to the hike. As we trekked over the mountain, it finally hit me that I’m in Italy. I guess it hadn’t hit me until that point in time because we had all been so incredibly busy with the first two weeks of school. But when it did hit, I was almost overwhelmed with emotions of happiness, excitement, and disbelief. To be completely surrounded by blossoming friendships, the beautiful sea, and the ability to travel virtually anywhere we want was an indescribable feeling. And before we knew it, we were looking at the most amazing view of Vernazza. In awe, we hiked down the last bit of the mountain and enjoyed the sunset and then a delicious dinner before heading back to Riomaggiore. This is where we met up with the whole group of CIMBAians to enjoy the festivities of the night.

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On Sunday, the final day of the trip, I had two goals: 1) see the other two villages — Corniglia and Manarola — and 2) cliff dive. My group of five wonderful ladies succeeded in both. We headed to Manarola by train and enjoyed the view of the coast and the clear blue waters. Although it was a smaller village than the other three we had visited prior, it was just as beautiful. Next, we headed to Corniglia. There we climbed 365 stairs in order to get to the town… another great leg workout. At this rate, I’ll have legs of steel soon.Corniglia is the smallest of the five with around 200 people living there, but it was still gorgeous in it’s own way.

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Since we were running out of time, we decided to split up to get food and the girls that wanted to go cliff diving headed straight to the cliff we had scoped out the day before. Cliff diving has been on my bucket list ever since I had decided to make a bucket list in the first place. Now that it was actually happening… it didn’t feel real. The three girls that were diving with me (Taylor, Jenny, & McKenzie) had to change into our bathing suits, climb up the cliff, jump, change back, and then race back to the station to catch our train. The rush was totally worth the jump. As I jumped from top of the cliff and fell straight into the clear, blue sea, I felt more exhilarated than ever before. What an amazing experience… one that I’ll surely be partaking in again!

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Overall, Cinque Terre was such an enjoyable weekend. It’s not easy to put into words how lovely a place can be, but I guess that means you all will just have to come see for yourself.

Ciao,
Natalie