Bell’Italia

I don’t possess the adequate words to describe the beauty of Cinque Terre….relaying all of the scents, sounds, images, tastes and breezes on my skin would be more appropriate, but impossible. I do my best with portraying beauty in imagery but it is a far far second from the real experiences. The nicest people in the world, the most delicious foods, the perfect weather; this is what creates those unforgettable sensory memories.

Cinque Terre (pronounced: chaynk wa terrah) consists of 5 small towns along the Italian Riviera. It is seemingly untouched by the ‘outside’ world as we know it. There are certainly tourists there but they still obey many building restrictions so it still feels Europeanly Old World-y. Out of the countless countries and cities I have visited throughout my life, Cinque Terre (Italy) and Bangkok (Thailand) have the absolute nicest people known to human kind today. I didn’t meet a sour face or an unhelpful local (even with my subsub-par Italian) the entire week we were there.

The Monterosso Marina, where the first day we took Angelo’s Boat Tour

Angelo, the Captain

Vernazza from the water

more boat tour

Monterosso near sunset

One of the main reasons we chose to go to Cinque Terre is its well-known hiking trail which they say attracts hikers from all over the world. Its an eleven kilometer hike through each of the 5 towns. Starting at Riomaggiore we hiked back towards Levanto (ending in Vernazza since we’d already been to Monterosso). It was a challenging hike that took us four hours and lots of sunscreen and water to get through. The scenic vistas were well worth the sweat and shaky muscles.

I believe this is Corniglia

Manarola

lots of colorful love-based graffiti throughout the hike

another beautiful cove where hot hikers take a moment to refresh in the Sea before forging on

a view of the cliffs where David and I went cliff jumping during the boat tour

Manarola fountain

downtown Manarola

berries on the trail

ending in Vernazza we were well spent and ready for the birra e vino luxury

how wonderful it is to get to see these magical corners of the world. I wish everyone adventure and uncommon experiences this summer.

bisous,

jessica.p