Discovering Cinque Terre

During Easter in 2017, I visited Italy with my friends since one of them, Marta, was on Erasmus in Modena. We went to a lot of cities but the one that I undoubtedly liked the most was Cinque Terre. In English it means "5 lands" and they are 5 beautiful towns on the East coast of Italy: Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola y Riomaggiore. Cinque Terre is located next to the city La Spezia in the Golfo dei Poeti.

Going there was an adventure in itself, we had gone to a party the day before and even though we were able to go back early, we were a bit tired. Marta, who had already visited Cinque Terre had to practically drag us to the train station, trying to convince us of how much it was worth going to visit it. More than one of us slept on the journey there and we had to take several trains.

It was Spring but that day it was really warm, at each stop more and more people got on. When we arrived at our destination, the train was now full of young tourists attracted by this iconic place on the Italian coast. From a sign that we saw on the tracks on the way there we knew that we were in Riomaggiore, we got a bit of air, and then when we were ready to follow all of the tourists who were going into the town, Marta stopped us and said that we should take another train. She explained to us that the best way to visit Cinque Terre is going to the furthest town, Monterosso al Mare and going down visiting the others till we get back to Riomaggiore, which would be the last stop, after which we would take the train back to Modena.

When we were waiting for a train to take us to Monterosso al Mare, when we took it we felt like we had entered the mountains at certain points. The topography of this costal zone is an important element, the mountains attached to the coast, this rugged terrain which also gives these villages their characteristic shape. On the train, we went from being underground to having marvellous views of the sea, ground, sea, ground, sea, ground, sea... It was magical.

Monterosso al Mare

When we arrived at Monterosso al Mare we saw that there weren't too many people there, we had avoided all the tourists and we had found a peaceful coastal town where some families were spending their holidays. I remember that we went along the promenade and when we reached the end, we went down to the beach and we went on a small pier next to the port which had a beautiful view of the city.

We went back going along the beach with our toes in the water. I remember that on this beach there was only a mother and daughter. When we finished seeing this town, we took the train again.

Vernazza

The following town was Vernazza where there were a lot of people but it didn't become annoying. First of all, we went up to a square from which you could see the whole main street of the town. In Vernazza you can find lots of businesses and restaurants, it can be a good choice to get something to eat or buy a souvenir. In our case, lunch was some sandwiches that we had prepared the day before that we could enjoy sitting on the promenade in front of the town. We could admire the many colours of Vernazza, characteristic of Cinque Terre. And under our feet, we could see the little fisherman's boats that were moored in a small port which encloses the promenade.

After resting and eating, we decided to take the train to go to the next town. When we thought we had already seen everything, under the mountains from which the houses seemed to be stuck onto, we saw a small cave which we decided to go into, ignoring the "danger" sign. On the other side, we came across a small pebble beach that the more adventurous people had gone to.

Manarola

Manarola was the next stop, it is one of the most photographed towns since you can go up a cliff, from which you can see this colourful town perfectly. After going up, we had an ice-cream while walking along the streets and we went down to the rocks; where there were children plating and other teens listening to music and even having a dip. We spent a nice time there and then got the strength to go up the cliff to take some photos.

Both during the way up and once we were there, we came across people who were taking photos of themselves, and the landscape, which was spectacular.

Corniglia

We got the train again, now we only had three towns left. Now it was Corniglia's turn, when we arrived we couldn't see anything - where was the next town? Well, you had to go up an incredible staircase until you reached the top. Some of my friends weren't motivated and one of them even suggested staying down, but Marta didn't let us and made us climb up to the top.

This town was different from the others because it was very high up and it didn't have a beach, but the views were incredible; this point of view allowed us to see all of the fields of the local farmers which created a beautiful landscape. When we had the strength to go back down the stairs, we took the train and headed towards the next town.

Riomaggiore

The last town is Riomaggiore, the first one that we had stopped out before taking the train to go to the one which was furthest out. First, we went up to a square from which you can see the street and the little food stalls. Then we kept going up without really knowing where we were going and we walked down some alleys. There came a point where we had to go down a really narrow bit, we had taken the longest route but we were getting closer to the charming town. We arrived at the sea and we took some photos. Then we went to a small restaurant to have a snack since the sun had started to go down.

Finally, we took the train which took us back to Modena. We were completely exhausted, but in contrast to the journey on the way there when a lot of us were sleeping, now we were talking enthusiastically how beautiful the trip had been and how it was really worth going. It was then evening and we had left the marvellous Italian coast behind.