Cinque Terra

Two days ago, we arrived in Levanto, Italy. Levanto is just Northwest of Cinque Terra National Park in Italy. It is a strip of coastline about 12 km long containing 5 ancient villages with the most beautiful sparkling blue water, rocky shores, and colorful buildings imaginable. Actually, it is exactly what I have always thought of as the Mediterranean shores. Well that was in Levanto, not Levante. Yes, we got off the train in Levante, not Levanto – pretty funny looking back, we only asked 3 people if it was the same place – it wasn’t. That’s okay, minor 1 hour hiccup – everyone has those right? J

Right, arriving in Levanto, the sun was shining and we were happy to finally be off the train. We headed up to where we thought we would set up camp, only to find out there were 5 different camping options in Levanto, so we just stayed at the closest one, Pian de Picche, which was actually very nice. We set up camp and then walked into the main village on the beach. So gorgeous! We spent the rest of the afternoon enjoying the sun, picking up sea glass, and jumping in the crystal blue water. We had a great time, even though JJ got stung by a jellyfish and we almost hit a few people with our Frisbee. It was wonderful and we even watched the sun set over the mountains. For dinner, we ate at a fabulous place and enjoyed ourselves very much.

We woke up around 6am the next morning only because we could both hear thunder through our earplugs. Yeah, the whole camp ground was up, bracing for the storm that was due to come in! People were frantic, it was quite a scene. JJ and I were more sleepwalking around though and decided to actually go back to sleep. We woke a few hours later to a heavy rain and waited a little while to get up and eat breakfast. I assumed a down day was in order due to the clouds, although I should have known better. JJ and I weighed the consequences of the rain, less people, chance of sunshine, etc. etc. and before I knew it, we were on the blue trail of Cinque Terra, set out to hike about 9 miles on the way from the first village to the last. We had a great start in Monterosso and enjoyed a Farmer’s market there. The rain had stopped and we got great views of more picturesque Italian coastline. There was no sparkling, blue water, but we still enjoyed the people free trail and all of the great views. Next town, Vernazza, the rain had come back and was pouring down more than ever! We hiked up to the top of the village and had lunch at this very fancy place overlooking the whole village. Imagine us drenched head to toe, except for our awesome rain jackets, backpacks under our jackets so we look like turtles, and we show up to a fancy place for lunch and order hot cappuccinos before we even have lunch (this is most likely illegal in Italy). The waiter was not pleased. We had a great rest of the meal and laughed a lot. Outside, thunder and lightning was booming across the sky and the rain kept coming harder and harder. By the time our Tiramisu arrived, the sun was shining and the sky had cleared?! Can you believe it! We hiked on to Corniglia, Manarola, Riomaggiore heading back on the train to Levanto. Each town was so beautiful and different. We really enjoyed the hike and had mostly dried off by the time we returned to the tent and took a shower. Our tent had fared pretty well and nothing was exactly wet, just damp. In other words, no puddles, but definite moisture. We headed into town for delicious pizza and using the internet. We have really had the best food in Italy. Just to give you an example, we had pesto covered focaccia, green bean tart, spinach tart, etc. etc.. At the bar where we used the internet, I had a hot chocolate. The Italian version of a hot chocolate is more like a hot pudding. It is so thick you just want to spread it on something! As soon as we started with the internet, it began raining like cats and dogs again! Thunder and lightning, the whole works. We prayed for our tent and waited until the storm stopped. After walking back, we found our tent was still going to keep us reasonably dry from the rain and we slept very well.

This morning, we executed “operation: dry our stuff off as fast as possible” into place. We took everything into a sunlit parking lot in phases, laying it all out to dry, rotating, fanning, etc. It was a ridiculous scene and everyone was wondering what we were doing! We made it work though, and are now happily on the train headed to Interlaken, Switzerland to hike and bike around in the Swiss Alps! Our stuff is dry and we are filled on Italian Focaccia and the best Biscotti ever!