Following the Dream

Christian September 19th, 2008

     The train ride from Nice to La Speiza was very scenic.  Much of the ride was spent looking out over beaches, which luckily were on our side of the train.  Once in the town of La Spezia, we had some time to kill before our train to Riomaggiore in the Cinque Terre.  Having this time and there not being a line at the ticket window, we decided to try and book our tickets to Florence, Rome, Naples, and Venice.  We really thought that we caught a break when we saw that the lady in the ticket window had an the all important british flag on her nametag.  At many trainstations the attendents will have small flags on thier nametags, symbolizing what languages they are fluent in.  This lady must have borrowed someone else’s nametag.  We asked about reserving the train to Florence first.  She said “NO PAY”.  Okay, that is fine, it is a regional train we don’t need reservations, perfect.  So then we asked about Florence to Rome, again “NO PAY”.  We knew we needed reservations for this train and clearly the lady was not understanding our question.  We kept trying to explain it to her, but everytime we would start talking, she would simply say loudly “NO PAY”.  We gave up when she wrote “NO PAY” very large on a piece of paper and held it up to us.  We walked away and decided we would make our train reservations at another point.  There was a Mcdonalds at the train station so we decided to take advantage of that when we saw a 1 Euro menu that had a strawberry milkshake on it.  I must say, our first meal in Italy was quite good, even if it was McDonalds.  We hopped on the short 7 minute train ride to the town that we were staying at, Riomaggiore. 

     To get to the town from the trainstation, you have to walk through a small tunnel.  At the end of the tunnel, you are greeted by the view of this small town that consists of one main street that is lined with brightly colored building winding up the hill.  Luckily, the office of the rental agency Mar Mar that we used was right at the start of the town.  Unfortunately, our apartment was having some plumbing problems so we were offered our second choice, which was a double room with no kitchen.  It was about a 1 minute walk from the office, and we were plesantly surprised.  The room was very clean, and was in good condition.  After dropping our bags, we made our way out to explore the town.  It did not take too long to explore.  We walked up to the top of the town, which was much smaller than we had imagined.  We saw a bunch of people in bathing suits, so we figured there had to be beach access.  Making our way down to the marina, we saw why everyone recommended the Cinque Terre.  We walked up to a balcony that overlooked the water and cliffside views.  Looking back at the town, you can see multi-colored houses built into the cliffside.  We sat there for a while, just taking in the views.  We walked back into town to stock up on supplies for the next day’s hike to all five towns.  Unforunately, there was no large grocery store, so stocking up consisted of buying some cookies and water.  After our loading up on rations, we walked back to the lookout and watched the sunset.  It was so amazing.  The only bad part was that the sun dipped into a cloud while it was setting over the ocean.  Without a kitchen, we were forced to go out for dinner.  The Central Bar, across the street from where we were staying seemed to have the best prices.  Casey enjoyed some lasagna, while I had some Pesto Pasta.  It was very good, but the portions were quite small.  We went to bed early so that we could start the hike before it got hot out. 

 
     We ended up not setting an alarm and getting a later start than we wanted.  It was cloudy out, so the heat was not as bad as the day before.  I loaded up my backpack with all the essentials: cookies, a pack cover, water, camera, and a few other odds and ends.  We set out to conquer the five towns which are on a 5 mile long hiking trail.  First off, we had to figure out where to pick up the trail in our town.  Luckily, we were able to find it, not that difficult of a task.  The first part of the trail from Rioggamoire was super nice and easy.  It was all flat and actually more like walking along a sidewalk.  This part of the trail was called “Lover’s Walk”.  The views from the cliffs were fantastic and it definitely stood up to the name.  As we continued along, the trail began to get a little more rugged, with loose stones and hills.  Even for being a cloudy day, the trail was breathtaking.  It was all that we hoped it would be.  For a lot of the time, we would not see anyone else on the trails.  Most people would just wander from one town to another, usually one of the end towns.  When we started reaching the towns in the middle, there were fewer and fewer people around.  The trail at points was only a couple of feet wide, so this meant to pass someone, you had to move to the side since two people could not fit on the trail side by side in many places.  Our cookies proved to not be enough nurishment for the hike.  We did stop and take some water breaks along the way, but our stomachs were aching for some real food.  The last couple of towns seemed like they were spread out very far.  By the time we reached the last town, after countless uphills, rain showers, and stone steps we were ready for something cold to drink.  As luck would have it, as we were walking into the town there was a little store serving up icy cold slushees for the cheapest price we have seen them for.  We shared one and it was done in no time.  It was perfect timing getting into the last town, the train back to our town was leaving within the next 15 minutes, so there was not a long wait to get back to shower.  We got our shower and ate some take out pasta, which was amazing.  After the pasta, we walked back down to the “Lover’s Walk” for sunset.  It was the perfect sunset we had been hoping for. 

     The clouds had disappeared from the sky, the air was the perfect temperature, the sea breeze was blowing against you, the waves crashing on the cliffs below.  It was amazing.  Of course I had forgotten my camera.  I made a mad sprint back to the room to grab it, dodging people as I ran as fast as I could.  Luckily, it was only a five minute round trip, and I still had time to take in the sunset before it was over.  I returned out of breath, camera in hand, trying to capture this amazing moment.  To top the evening off, Casey and I got some ice cream before calling it a night and drifting to sleep. The Cinque Terre was a great time, the scenery is spectacular, and the hike between the five towns is memorible to say the least.

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