Cinque Terre, Italy

(Tom here). Finally, the day Sarah, Hailey, and I were waiting for on our Summer vacation - A day in Cinque Terre. Ever since visiting four years ago and NOT bringing our bathing suits we were brimming with excitement as we earnestly anticipated how nice the water would be. The Cinque Terre (Italian for five villages) is also referred to as the Italian Riviera because of its beauty. It is 18 kilometers of sheer rocky coastline in northern Italy, terraced hills and vineyards sloping steeply down to the sea. Five little villages are built into the rocks between the beach and the hills. You can hike, swim, drink red wine, and watch blazing Mediterranean sunsets away from the heat and the mass number of tourists who invade most Italian cities as well as the French Riviera. Centuries old footpaths and mule tracks wind about 500 to 1,000 feet above the sea, leading through olive groves, vineyards, lemon orchards, and chestnut woods. Each village has its own sweet character and they're just a few minutes apart by train. There are almost no cars, as the villages are not easily accessible by any road, but the main railway between Rome and Paris runs along the coast, mainly in tunnels.

Our boat that took us back and forth to the 5 villages

Hailey enjoying the ocean air

The day was everything we expected as we hit Monterroso, the most Northern of the five villages and worked our way down. We bought our yacht pass and hit the beach as we had an hour before the boat would pull in to take us to Vernazza. The water was amazing and unbelievably clear. As soon as the boat pulled in, we muscled our way to the front and set out to sea, and more importantly, to the best of the five villages, Vernazza. As we were pulling into port, I saw what I had seen four years ago…people jumping off cliffs into the clear blue water. I couldn’t wait, so as soon as we hit the shore, me and the girls said good-bye to Michelle and my Aunt and Uncle and hit the water. The girls and I found a secluded spot off the jetty that was awesome. One minute you’d be standing on a rock, and the next, you’d be swimming in 30 feet of water and seeing the bottom as if it were only five feet deep. Wow! It was awesome. After spending about an hour swimming, it was time to go join the locals and do some cliff diving. My claim to fame was doing a front one-and-half off a 30-foot cliff as the boat was pulling in to take us to Manarola. What a rush!

The Family along the rocky cliffs and Mediterranean Ocean

The other two villages were nice, but the stops were short, and we eventually made it back to Monterroso for dinner. Dinner was great, as most of us had seafood and the local white wine to compliment it nicely. The day would have been perfect had our train been on time. Unfortunately it was late, which is very common for the train coming into Cinque Terra. The late train helped us miss our connector in La Spezia, and we ended up sitting there for two hours until the next train came. We ended up getting back to Camp Darby at 0130, but we will still remember this Cinque Terre trip as our best ever. Check out the posts on each individual village and what we did there.

Heading back to Camp Darby after a long day!