Chapter 2: Cinque Terre

This is a series of five small towns on the coast that are linked by a national park and a web of footpaths. It feels a lot like Italy’s Key West. The weather was almost perfect when we were there, so it was one of the top five most beautiful places I’ve ever seen. This is one of the places that Rick Steves writes about in his many travels. We went on a weekend. The two of those don’t mix so well. We found the places to be swarmed with tourists, such as to make the places much less magical than they could have been. I wanted to do the hike through all five towns (about a five hour hike), but we ended up not doing so, hitting only three of the towns (on the hike, anyway). Still, that was one of the most beautiful hikes I’ve ever been on. The first place we stayed was kind of more of the same. Beautiful location, no ventilation, difficult to get to, but this one was very loud. We stayed in Monterosso al Mare, which is a lovely place, but very touristy and with an active nightlife. The second place we stayed was a hotel in Levanto, the town just north of Cinque Terre, connected to the place by train. Still lovely, and we could sleep.

Cinque Terre was a great place to swim, too. Neither Heidi or I had brought our swimsuits, so we bought some at a local shop, and went out into the ocean. Because the dropoff is so steep in the water, there really wasn’t much in the way of surf, and because of the salt content in the water, we were exceptionally buoyant. This made for very relaxing swimming. I did little more than lie on my back and float out a couple hundred feet. This was one of the most relaxing times in the whole trip.

Cinque Terre is a great place to visit, if only to see the place. I think it would have been more relaxing on a weekday, but it was a good break from the cities.