Cinque Terre Day Trip

Today we took a day trip with a guide, Luca, to Cinque Terre (pronounced Chink-eh Tear-ah). Cinque Terre is a protected region of five cities that sit on the Italian coast of the Mediterranian Sea. We took an added detour to Pisa, which meant that we were only able to see 3/5 cities in Cinque Terre.

Pisa

My thought the entire time we were in Florence was that we were in Italy, literally an hour away from the tower, and I was not going to miss seeing it. Pisa itself appeared to be a rather boring and unimpressive city so I'm glad we only took about 10 minutes to see the tour and then were on our way.

The tower in all its glory.

Cinque Terre

We arrived and parked in Riomaggiore, the eastern most city. All 5 of the cities are connected by trains, so once we were in Riomaggiore we only walked and took the trains. There are also paths that connect the cities but Luca told us that many of the paths are unsafe and or closed because of the mudslides that have occurred after heavy rain in the region. We saw some walkers, carrying walking sticks and wearing hiking boots, but we did not attemp the walk.

Riomaggiore

Vernanzza

Vernanzza was our second stop, and the 4th city in the chain (2nd most westward). One of the larger cities, we stopped for lunch here and also got to climb a tower for a view. Lunch was amazing. I had the best pesto of my life, with thin gnocchi like noodles and the largest fried calamari I have ever seen. The restaurant was called Trattoria del Capitano and I would highly recommend stopping there if you're ever in Vernanzza!

Emily and I with our guide Luca

Rooftops in Vernanzza  

Lunch! Pesto and seafood pasta. Nomnomnom.

Manarola

Manarola was the last island we visited and the one I thought was most picturesque. It is one of two smaller villages but the only one of the two smaller towns that is located directly on the Sea. People in Manarola park their boats next to their homes much like we park our cars. We took a lovely walk along a look out where I snapped upwards of 50 pics of the absolutely stunning view. Again, the pictures probably don't do the view justice.

Looking up the mountain

The streets of Manarola

Plz take me back.

Like now.

Happy spring quarter Northwestern.