Sunday, May 18, 2008

Welcome to Cinque Terra

Arrival in the Cinque Terra...

With the weather not cooperating with us in Northern Italy, we spent Wednesday morning debating our travel plans, seeing if there was anywhere in Europe where we could have a few days of sun.  With no good last minute travel options, we decided to stick with our original itinerary of hitting the ‘Cinque Terra’ – and are SO HAPPY that we did.


The ‘Cinque Terra’ is a group of 5 small towns (literally translated as Five Lands) on the Italian Riviera that cling to a mountainous stretch of land between La Spezia and Genoa.  For centuries they lived quietly in isolation as fishing villages, with the only real access coming from the sea.  Eventually trains made the area more easily accessible, however there are still no cars (and thankfully no scooters!) in these towns – making it a welcomed reprieve for travelers from the hustle and bustle of other Italian destinations.  In the last 10 years the tourism industry here has skyrocketed, thanks to popular guides like Rick Steves listing it as a don’t miss, “Cinque Star” destination.

Two views of Vernazza.

From Florence we caught a train towards Pisa, skipping the Leaning Tower due to time constraints, and then jumped on a connection to La Spezia.  Our 3rd train brought us to the Cinque Terra, where we selected Vernazza, the 4th town in the chain, as our home base.  Vernazza is Rick Steves’ favorite city and is the epitome of the Cinque Terra, with a ‘straight from the movies’ harbor filled with pastel buildings wedged between terraced hills and aqua-blue water.

 

There are no real hotels in Vernazza – only a few local bed & breakfasts as well as a group of people that oversee small rooms scattered around the city.  With no reservations, we were taking a “Positological” approach that somehow we would easily come across a great place.  As is typical, we were loudly shooting pictures out the train window when we met a friendly transplanted local from San Francisco named Gary who tipped us off to a housing option.  As soon as we got off the train, I found a payphone (cell phones have no chance for reception here) and dialed the number for dread-locked local Christian, and 5 minutes later we were settling into a sweet 2 bedroom apartment for 25 euros per person. 

 

The weather our first day in Vernazza was incredible, and we spent the afternoon laying by the sea while Dale, Wei, and Eric scouted the area for the best sunset picture locations.  It was as if in the middle of our travels a vacation actually broke out!  Another interesting thing about the Cinque Terra is that because such weather and scenery puts everyone in an incredible mood, you find yourself meeting more people than you could ever imagine.  We shared Focaccia and Pinot Grigio with a lovely couple from Huntington Beach, shot Facebook-photos for a pair of 12-year olds from Calgary, and exchanged email addresses with honeymooners from Winnipeg.  When night finally did come, we welcomed it with the best $3 bottle of local wine we could find and later enjoyed an amazing meal of fresh fish and pesto pasta near the water.  (Pesto was invented not far from Vernazza, and if you go it’s best served with Trofie, homemade short pasta that is a local specialty.)

Sunset with friends...

... and sunset with family.

When we finally closed down the town’s only “after 10pm” hangout, we were officially crowned as honorary locals and vowed to make Cinque Terra – especially Vernazza – a place we would return to often.

~ J. Twice


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