Day 6
We have another guest blog author today, introducing the famous, the extraordinaire, the Erika Rode (the crowd goes wild)....
The morning of the Cinque Terre hike had arrived. It caught all of us gals by surprise that we woke up at 1040am and felt like we could keep sleeping. I wouldn't attribute our sleepiness from the crazy nightlife in Torre del Lago though. Here is a little info for all of you...
After a beautiful day in Lucca, and a wine tour voted "Best of Lucca", we thought we would then continue the party in our little town. We arrived home, got ready to head out for a night on the town, grabbed our bikes, and went to our favorite little caffe for our first beverage. We were thinking this would just be the start...Malia and her aunt KD even "took it easy" and passed on the first drink. We finished up and headed out for our wild night. It was definitely a late night but it was not due to the club hopping in our little town. Nope, we just did a completely sober bike bar crawl MINUS the bar! Oh well, we had few laughs in the process.
So, we get ready for our big day in Cinque Terre (5 Lands) and arrive at the train station ready to go and dressed in our hiking gear.
This train ride went a lot smoother than before. You'll be happy to know we did not get kicked off any trains this time. The first stop was the first town of Riomaggiore. The tunnel out of the train stop to the first steps of the little town was extremely unique. The ceiling was a shiny blue gloss, and the walls were filled with eclectic tile and seashell schemes.
We all walked the streets of the little town. Incredible views and a lot of character!
Our plan for the hike was to take the little streets within the towns as much as possible. We were looking forward to seeing all the towns and getting a lovely little hike in. We had been given some advice from a street artist on our first day in the fifth town of Cinque Terre. So Malia, Mike, Janet, KD, Jamie, and I began the stroll towards the arrows pointing to the next town.
Wait a minute...now you all have to remember who you are reading about here. Before we began this long journey, we needed a couple glasses of wine! And some meats and cheeses looked tasty as well. Besides, all the information on Cinque Terre advise visitors to plan ahead to ensure they try the specific wines from each town. The regular table wine is straight from that area.
Check out the amazing view from the restaurant tables!
After some strategic planning for our hike, we set off to find the way to the next town, game faces and all. We all sacrificed our cute Italian planned outfits for this amazing rugged adventure we would soon find!
After some walking, a little backtracking, and finally Malia talking to a worker about the location of the path...we came to find out that a recent landslide had shut down the closest pathway. Unfortunately, due to safety concerns, the remaining hiking trails were also closed! After the unexpected turns we had encountered this trip, we were pros at adapting. We decided the train would have to be our way in between each town.
Second stop Manarola...and as you can see Jamie's photographing skills have not ceased.
We walked the streets, enjoyed the fact that we could get so close to the water, and yes you guessed it...tried the wine.
Malia also ordered us a gelato to share. I think she was bummed once all of us actually did share. It went pretty fast!
While waiting for the train to the third town, Malia and I decided to come up with a new way to wear your scarf in Cinque Terra.
Malia was pretty proud of her design.
Personally, I'm thinking the length of her scarf tie is all the rage.
Once we arrived to Corniglia, we were faced with our next important travel decision. Path 1 or 2? What would you pick with that kind of information? We believe strongly that we made the right one though. The hike was uphill, so we ended up not feeling completely stripped of our hiking experience. Plus we got to walk along the vineyards.
We made it to the top of the hill to find that most of the restaurants were closed until later that evening. But we found a cute little place to eat dinner.
And of course to have a few drinks. This was our first dinner we ventured away from the vino. Wait, I don't mean to say we didn't get wine too, but we also ordered some Italian cocktails. As you can tell, Jamie is really enjoying both of them. The one on the right was a passion fruit deliciousness and the one on the left was an Italian version of the mojito. Both were great additions to our dinner.
This was the best addition to our dinner. It's not everyday that you get a sunset view like this...
We all practically licked our plates and glasses clean.
And then us three girls headed off to the fourth city Vernazza. It worked out well because it had the most night life of everywhere we had been. And as you can tell from our outfits that day, we were very ready to be out on the town.
Malia found a nice little pathway that said it led to a beautiful vista. What we didn't know about the pathway was it really led us thru the town's neighborhood. But she assured us, we must go on...
More and more steps we went...
And we finally met the beautiful vista, I am so glad I listened to Malia she really knew what she was talking about. Look at these amazing views. They were breathtaking...
Don't you think?
Ok ok Malia, this one was pretty cool... I'll give you a little slack. Not much.... But a little.
We finished the night of course with a glass of wine and a margherita pizza.
Not sure if Jamie was mad about this or telling the pizza she is about to make it her b****.
Now, Malia and I (sorry Jamie), can say we have been to all of the five lands! Jamie can say four of them. But, we all can say we have tried wine from all five, we did make that happen for her.
Torre del Lago bound, only one more day in Tuscany.
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Location:Cinque Terre, Italy
