Another one to put on the list of things that the Backpacking Battlers has done that is ridiculously romantic and therefore incredibly gay. Some of these places we should be visiting with our missus’ (when/if we get one) and not with each other.
Cinque Terre means five towns and to be completely honest, I hadn’t heard of it until I arrived in Italy. The other problem with two male backpackers on budget visiting such a romantic place is that we are, on budget. This meant that we weren’t able to stay in any of the five towns so instead we stayed about a ten minute drive outside of the first (or last) town of Cinque Terre called Riomaggiore; the town we stayed in starting with a B. We got there before we were allowed to check in so we sat outside and listened to unnecessarily loud church bells for the size of the town, building works and the sound of a half size bus, or really large mini van honking as it approached the hairpin corners of the town. The whole eighteen hours we were there I reckon I saw a total of twenty people; many of them were the same person I had already seen. I don’t even think tumbleweeds would go out of their way to visit.
We had dinner in Riomaggiore and romantically watched the sunset. In all seriousness, and no homo, the sunset was really beautiful.
The next morning we woke up early to get the 7:07am bus to La Spezia (main train station) where we locked up our bags and got the train to Monterosso, the last town (or first) where we would begin our walk back through the Cinque Terre. Eddie and I had learnt the night before that it was not possible for us to walk from each town to the next as the track between Corniglia and Manarola had been damaged from a mud slide last October.
Got off the train at Monterosso and were greeted by the most spectacular views. My first thought was ‘definitely bringing my missus here one day’. You’d get unlimited brownie points if you took her there.
Walked the track to the next town, Vernazza, by paying the five euros each to enter the national park. At the start of the track, the Backpacking Battlers once again found themselves in a very peculiar situation. After walking over a rusted metal pole that blocked the walkway and over a crate that also blocked the walkway, we found ourselves rock climbing across an almost sheer cliff. After a few hundred metres of bush bashin, we agreed that this hike wasn’t as romantic as it was probably supposed to be. We turned back and climbed over the obstacles we later found out were put over the track to signal the way we went was closed and to go the normal way up the stairs along a more trekked out path.
The whole hike and particularly the approach to Vernazza was breathtaking due to the mountainous terrain as well as the spectacular views. We walked around Vernazza and took some phenomenal shots as well as indulging in a peach, both of our new profound loves.
From Vernazza we got the train to La Spezia and then got the train to Florence via a changeover in Pisa and then on our first fast train of the trip to Venice. The trip from Vernazza taking up a good five hours or so.
Doing the walk was something completely different to what we have done so far on our travels and so we’ve both agreed to do more like it. Cinque Terre is definitely on my list of places to go back to. Need to spend a good week or so with a bit more money and as previously mentioned, with a missus to really let the beauty of the place soak in