Cinque Terre - Vita Pigra di Vernazza

August 5-6, 2009

Cinque Terre is a remote chunk of the Italian Rivera. It is made up of sun, sea, sand, wine, swimming, and super hard but rewarding hiking. Cinque Terre means five villages. We stayed in Vernazza and think that all of you should take your next vacation there! It is our NEW favorite stop by far! Vernazza is thought of as the jewel of Cinque Terre. It is a super small town with one main street that leads right to the beach, harbor and some cliffs that you can jump off of into the ocean.

Because the plane from Barcelona to Milan arrived too late to catch a train Ashley and I spent a night in Milan right near the main train station. That night we got some Italian food for dinner. It was very good despite the fact that they put cheese in Ashley’s pasta (she is allergic). That night we went to bed super early because we were so excited to get to Cinque Terra.
We arrived to Cinque Terre at around 2:00pm. It was still very sunny and beautiful. We walked down the cobble stone street toward the ocean our B&B right on the ocean. Cinque Terre basically had one main street that was We walked up the tall thin building to the 3rd level where an 80 year old woman (the owners mother) met us with the key. She was soooo sweet and didn’t know a lick of English. She talked to us for a while (we didn’t understand a thing) then let us into our very quaint room. It was perfect! We quickly threw on our bathing suits and were off to the water.

The beach in Cinque Terre is small but the cliffs are huge. We jumped off them for a while and then swam around to a more secluded area. Here there were very flat rocks that you could lay out on and catch a tan. There was one problem though… Ashley made a new friend earlier when we were diving off of the cliffs. He was a 60 year old man from Paris that wouldn’t leave her alone. When we were laying out on the rocks all of a sudden he comes up right next to her and practically puts his arm around her… the rest is history. He wouldn’t leave her alone for at least 4 hours. After we finished tanning we went to our towels that were right off of the beach. Needless to say Pierre (Ashley’s French lover) followed us over to that area. This is when he decided to give her and everyone else on the beach a show. He walked up the cliff so he was about 10 feet above everyone, turned around to look at the ocean, and pulled his Speedo bottoms up so high it made a thong (BORAT STYLE)!!! Then he continued to do some stretches and toe touches. EVERYONE was entertained. Once he was finished he came down to our towels and made his way right next to Ashley again to once again give the googly eyes. Ashley repeatedly told him she had a boyfriend but he didn’t seem to mind. (Although I don’t think Kevin would be threatened by a 60- year old man ;) Talked her ear off for about an hour and then gave her his digits, address, and email. We want to thank Pierre for an AMAZING laugh.
For the rest of the night we hung out on our towels with a great group of people; a couple from Florida, two sweet girls from Holland, and a group of guys from Australia. We grabbed a few bottles of wine, some pizza, and made our towels into a picnic. While we were eating an amazing band started to play. It was gorgeous music. It was a band of two, a drummer and a pianist. This piano was not a normal piano, it was three different levels. I would compare the Phantom of the Opera. Very gothic and powerful. It was amazing.

Day 2 in Cinque Terre we hiked from our village to Monterosso. The hike was very very hard but super rewarding. We were literally on the edge of the cliff the whole way there it felt like it was up the WHOLE time. It took us about an hour to get from Vernazza to Monterosso. The views were unbelievable. We were able to see Vernazza with a birds eye view. It is hard to describe how beautiful the scenery was hopefully the pictures will give you a little idea. Once we got to Monterosso we went straight to the water. Enjoyed a swim, swam to a cave and then grabbed some lunch. This was a very sad lunch for us because it meant it was almost time for us to leave. We only got 24 hours in Cinque Terre but it was the best 24 hours of the trip. We will both be back to visit and you should too!

Now off to Florence!