Cinque Terre

We jumped off a moving train…

Monday, September 29th, 2008 | Travel | No Comments

…and landed in paradise.

Well, eventually.  I was on the train with Lauren (my Claremont friend in Siena) and Hallie (our mutual Claremont friend, studying in Florence, who we met up with at one of the train stations along the way while the rest of our group went ahead to check into the hostel).  So the main train station into Cinque Terre is called La Spezia Centrale, but there is also a La Spezia Migliarina.  All we saw was La Spezia on the sign, and the train stopped.  Now, usually the doors open when a train stops, but every once in a while they don’t, and you have to run to the next car to get off, or on.  Our doors don’t open, so we pull the handle or something.  This sets off an alarm.  Hallie jumps off, and then the train starts to move, so Lauren and I hop off too.  Of course, there were two very attractive Australian guys on the train who we informed that the stop was “La Spezia” and they saw up jump off the train.  We get off feeling kind of bad for them, because they didn’t get off.  Ten seconds later we realize we’re at the wrong La Spezia.  Oops.  We waited for the next train to La Spezia Centrale, and of course when we get there, we come up the stairs from the platforms and one of the Australian guys is there saying “Hey Joe, check it out!”  One of them comes up to us and says “You guys got off a little early didn’t you??”  We had some good laughs…

Enough about that!! Cinque Terre was so beautiful that I cannot put it into words.  I do have photos though! Just to lay the foundation: Le Cinque Terre (or the five towers) are five coastal/cliff side towns in northern Italy, connected by hiking trails and a train tunnel.

12345

We stayed in Riomaggiore, the most southern town, in a hostel that over looked the water!  Absolutely better than we could have asked for.  After arriving Friday evening and going out to an amazing (though slightly costly) dinner, we spent Saturday doing Cinque Terre right!  From north to south you have Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza, and Monterosso.  We hiked from Riomaggiore to Corniglia, then took a train to Monterosso, because we wanted to make it in time for dinner and some (window) shopping!  The sights were absolutely breathtaking!

Alright, I have a quiz tomorrow morning, so goodnight!
Tricia

P.S. I posted pictures of Naples too!  Check out my Le Foto page!

Tags: , , , ,

Ciao!

See what I'm up to, and view my photo albums by clicking Le Foto, above! I'll try to update often, but there's so much to do here in Siena. At least I think there is a lot to do, the local people my age think it's a fairly small and quiet city. We'll see!

Archives

Search