Taking You on the Cinque Terre Experience

Finally right around the 1 month mark, I made it to my most anticipated destination in all of Europe. After surviving 9 days of misery with Werner, a 50-bed room in Berlin, too many liters of beer in Munich, the general seediness of eastern Europe, and the lameness of Pisa, I am here: Cinque Terre.

I’m on my 2nd night here, and I can honestly tell you it’s lived up to the pressure I put on it. It feels like a little slice of paradise. The only thing that could make it better would be GoldenRod Kisses taffy shop opening a location here.

I lucked out a little because the 4 people I met at my hostel in Pisa (2 Americans, 1 English guy, 1 Polish girl) happened to be getting on the same train to Cinque Terre as me. The 4 of them were only taking a daytrip, but the American couple had already spent time here so they knew the lay of the land. They told me which of the 5 villages was the biggest and actually had beaches (Monterosso). They also recommended the hostel I’m currently writing from. On Wednesday, the five of us spent the afternoon at the beach before grabbing dinner. Around 7pm they had to get to the train, and I was on my own. I appreciated them letting me tag along, and they did their best not to make me feel like a 5th wheel. As a newly veteran solo traveler, I will say that the big cities are much easier for meeting people, either at the hostel or at bars. As a matter of fact, the only places I haven’t met people to hang out with are Lake Como and here. So even though I love this place and could probably get creative in finding a way to stick around a couple more days, I’ll be leaving in the morning for Rome. I have no problem spending some time alone, but it certainly is nice to be around more people.

What’s that you say? It seems like I’m wrapping up this posting without even saying much about what I did in Cinque Terre? Well OK then. Since I went on an incredible hike through the 5 villages today, why don’t I take you on a virtual tour of said hike. Give me a second while I get into “Virtual Tour Guide” mode.

Ok, welcome ladies & gentlemen. I’m glad you could all make it today. As you know, we’re in Cinque Terre and our goal today is to do the 5 Village Hike. My name is Ranger Ross and I’ll be your Virtual Tour Guide (VTG) for the trip. We’re all staying at a hostel in Monterosso, the western most town of the area. We’ve taken the train to the eastern most town, Riomaggiore, so that we can hike back towards our hostel. By going this direction, we will do the 2 easiest legs of the journey first, and the final 2 parts will be the difficult hiking. You may be ready to ask, “Ross, that doesn’t make much sense, why wouldn’t we do the hard parts first, while we have the most energy?” And here’s the answer: that would be very logical thinking, but I for one am not on vacation to think logically. So let’s just do it my way, OK?

Do you all have full water bottles or Camelbaks? That’s good because for some reason my water tastes like pure sulfur, so I’ll need some swigs from all of you. What is it, Aaron? No I don’t think it’s a good idea that you filled your Camelbak with Jaeger. I’m sure you can catch a train back from any of the villages once you begin to get sick.

Now for you less-motivated people (Matty P I’m looking in your direction), here are some pictures of where we’re trying to get to. This should help keep your spirits up:

All right, it’s time to go. This 9km hike is supposed to take nearly 5 hours, but I have a feeling we can finish in less than 4. Please follow your Tour Guide. He’ll be the idiot in the green bandana.

And if you really get lost, just keep an eye out for these symbols:

And away we go… As I said earlier, we’re starting in Riomaggiore:

The early parts of this hike will have us walking right along the coastal cliffs, a path called Via dell’Amore, which loosely translates to “Road of Dell Computer Lovers.”

Yep, that’s village #2 coming up already. I agree, that first part was easy…a little too easy. Here comes Manarola:

As you’ll notice, we’re going to be walking right through the villages as part of this hike:

Already we can see the 3rd village in the distance:

But first we have to get through this 2nd leg of the journey, including a treacherous bridge (we may have to pay a troll toll if he’s under the bridge today):

And we’re here, Village #3, Corniglia:

No, guys, we can’t stop at the beach yet. We’ll save that for the end:

Ok, final warning, this next leg is going to get a lot more difficult, and instead of taking 20 minutes to the next village, it’ll take about 1 hour. The terrain will get trickier:

At this point in our hike, feel free to take some scenic pictures of Corniglia & the ocean…and those roosters:

Great, Ben, you brought Smokey on this hike. That should really help us keep a good pace:

Ok, I’m gonna stop to pose for a picture that’ll be featured in “Tour Guide Weekly.” You guys keep going. Just follow that old couple in front of us to the next town:

All right I’m back. Well good work everyone. We made it to village #4:

Since we’re ahead of schedule, let’s take a 15-minute break here in Vernazza. You can do whatever you want. Anyone interested in Gelato? I sure am:

Rest time’s over. Say good bye to Vernazza:

Even though you all can see village #5 right now, don’t think this hike is over. This is known as the hardest leg of the journey where one misstep can send you to certain death:

How much of that Jaeger have you drank, Aaron? Because you really need to pay attention on these parts:

Everyone check your watches. I promised we’d be here in less than 4 hours, and sure enough it’s been about 3 ½. We’re here! Village #5, Monterosso, home sweet home:

As I promised in the beginning, the beach & clear water is your reward. Go enjoy it. The next hike begins in 1 hour:

I hope you all enjoyed the hike as much as I did. I forgot to mention this in the beginning, but I do work on a tips-only basis. So if you had a good time today, and thought I led you on a successful journey, please feel free to leave a tip. Enjoy the greatest place on earth everyone!