Greetings from Cinque Terre! I visited Cinque Terre Friday October 4th and Saturday October 5th with my friend from Tulane Rachel Towe (hi Rachel thanks for reading lol). We spent all day Friday and Saturday in Cinque Terre and only stayed one night in a Hostel right outside of La Spezia. The weather was perfect for hiking around all five towns over the course of the two days and visiting outside of the touristy season meant that crowds were at a minimum. Thursday: Rachel arrived in Milan super late Thursday night, so after I picked her up at Milano Centrale, we went back to my apartment since our train to La Spezia was early Friday Morning. Friday: We took the train from Milano Centrale to La Spezia at 8:10. We almost (lowkey) missed the train. We were in line in Milano Centrale getting breakfast and coffee at 8:03. We managed to make it though AND we had delicious croissants filled with nutella and pistachio cream and large capuccinos for the 3 hour ride. When we got to La Spezia, we purchased the two day Cinque Terre pass which got us access to the train line, the bathrooms in the train stations, and the hiking trails between the towns. Our first stop was Corniglia. Corniglia is the only town out of the five that is not directly on the water, instead its up along the cliffs. The town was super adorable. There were even street portraits along the streets of famous figures with scuba gear. After we walked around the entire main area (it was pretty small), we got gelato at a place called Alberto Gelateria. I had a cona picola con crema portofino e miele de corniglia, which is a small cone with a scoop ricotta gelato with chocolate chips and pistachios and a scoop of local honey gelato. It was very refreshing and tasty. From Corniglia we took the train one stop to the town of Manarola. Manarola was even more beautiful than Corniglia. We explored the town again before climbing on the rocks in the marina for some of the best views and photos. After we got a late lunch / snack at an aperitivo place called Nessun Dorma. Nessun Dorma is insta famous for all the right reasons, its picture perfect and has delicious food and drinks. Rachel and I shared the Ligure Bruschetta (pesto bruschetta) and a Volastra Foccace (sandwich with mozzarella, arugula, and tomatoes). I also had the "alchemy" to drink which was basically the best vodka sour I will ever have in my entire life with passion fruit. If I could only have one cocktail for the rest of my life it would be this one. It was that good. After Nessun Dorma, we went to the last town of the day, Riomaggiore. Riomaggiore was much bigger than the other two towns and was just as beautiful, if not more. We climbed along the rocks in this marina as well. Riomaggiore's rocks were much harder to maneuver around than Manarola's, but that made it that much more worth it. We stayed on the rocks, hanging out until the sun was mostly set. Then we went back into town and got dinner at a place called La Lampara. I had green gnocchi with seabass, chickpeas, a little mozzarella, and bottarga. Rachel had a margherita pizza. Post dinner we walked up through Riomaggiore's main street to where the Hostel's shuttle was picking us up and went back for an earlier night. Saturday: On Saturday we got up early and had a walking breakfast in Riomaggiore, cappuccinos and little pastries. We took the train from Riomaggiore to Vernazza. In Vernazza we walked around, exploring the town. We also went up to the top of the old castle. Castle wise, it was fairly simple, but the views of the water and the rest of Vernazza were wonderful. We also got gelato at Gelateria Vernazza. I enjoyed the gelato in Corniglia, but this gelato was among some of the best I had ever had. I had a small cone with bacio (chocolate and nuts) and crema cinque terre (sciachetra - the sweet wine - cream). Once we finished our gelato, we hiked from Vernazza to Monterosso Al Mare. This hike gave us the best views of Vernazza and was incredibly challenging and rewarding. Rick Steve's calls it the most challenging hike of the bunch. Rachel and I did not do any of the other hikes, but this one was super difficult so I have to agree. There were a lot of stairs and narrow pathways up the cliffs. There were also points where hikers in the opposite direction tried to get past you and there just simply was not enough space on the path. Most of the hikes between the towns are now closed off because of safety reasons and the possibility of falling rocks. I honestly think that this hike will eventually be closed off also, so I am especially glad that Rachel and I were able to experience such a rewarding hike. After just under 2 hours, Rachel and I arrived in Monterosso Al Mare and went straight to the Hostel's recommended restaurant in the old town for a slice of a traditional dessert pie. The pie was DELICIOUS and such a perfect reward following the demanding hike. After our pie break, we walked over to the newer section of Monterosso Al Mare to lounge on the beach and eat lunch until it was time to head back to La Spezia for our train back to Milan. Cinque Terre is known for its fried anchovies and fish, so I braved a slightly ridiculous line at a beach shack for fried fish as my lunch. I was hesitant to only get fried anchovies in case I did not like them, but they were definitely my favorite item out of the cone. The cone also had calamari, shrimp, salmon, and mussels. Delicious and so beachy! Rachel and I relaxed on the beach in our bathing suits even though it was not quite the right weather and enjoyed our last few hours of "summer" weather. I can only imagine how wonderful the beach is over the summer and how absolutely overcrowded it is with tourists. Before we left Monterosso Al Mare, we got one last pesto pasta to eat on the train ride home as our dinner. Our train was at 6:38 and even though we were sad to be leaving Cinque Terre, the past two days were extremely exhausting so we welcomed the rest. Best Moments:
I greatly enjoyed visiting Cinque Terre in the "off-season" even though it was not super warm at the beach. There were SO many less tourists running around which definitely helped us see all 5 towns within 2 days. I also can not imagine doing that same hike in warmer weather. My favorite town was either Manarola (it was beautiful but also Nessun Dorma and my cocktail ugh) or Vernazza (equally as beautiful and exactly what I pictured before doing any research on Cinque Terre). I am so glad Rachel and I managed to fit this action packed trip in to a two days, one night!!
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