Bar hopping in Cinque Terre

Hiking from Vernazza to Monterossa 

We made it to La Spezia late on Friday night and were able to take a cab from a nice cab driver named Georgio who tried to add us on Facebook, which was a little weird.  Don't worry mom, we didn't give him our information!  We stayed at Hotel Corollo, which was bout 5 minutes from the train station and about a 15-minute walk under a sketchy bridge.  The hotel was nice except for the fact that Carly, Cait, and I had to squeeze onto a queen-sized bed!  It was like playing Jenga trying to fit all of us in semi-comfortably but we made do!  We're getting really good at this whole "winging it" thing.  The amazing breakfast(complete with eggs) at the hotel completely compensated for the teeny bed. 

 The views of Manarola 

Our first day in Cinque Terre was a blast!  It was a little rainy when we first arrived at Monterossa, but we were eager to see all the town had to offer!  It started to rain pretty hard so we hid out in a sports bar and grabbed a round of drinks.  Cait and I got margaritas, which were extremely strong... it actually tasted like a cup of tequila.  As we were planning what to do for our first day in this amazing place, we decided to bar hop between each of the 5 towns, exploring each town and getting a drink that represented the village at the best (and cheapest) bar we could find.  After Monterosso, we took the train to Vernazza and walked around the shops and walking paths.  On top of a hill, we found an adorable seafood restaurant on top of a cliff called Belforte Restaurant and bar.  This place was beautiful; it had 360-degree views of the town, cliffs, and the ocean.   We all split a liter of wine here and ended up staying for a couple of hours!  The cute chef even hit on me!  Our next stop was Corniglia, which was  a really small town that required you to trek up a steep staircase before you reached the town at the top.  This was a task seeing as it was stop 3 on Cinque Terre Bar golf, but we made it to the top, thank goodness!  This time, we stopped at a patio bar that overlooked the ocean, and was surrounded by beautiful flowers.  Carly ordered their specialty mojito that was freshly ground mint with a mortar and pestle...it was delicious! I ordered the draft IPA, which was best draft I've ever had.  After the trek back down the hills of Corniglia, we headed to Manarolla for a seafood dinner.  I honestly dislike seafood, a lot.  I don't like the fishy smell, taste, or texture.  I don't know why, but being in Cinque Terre made me crave any and all seafood.  Everywhere we went in Cinque Terre there were advertisements for fresh seafood, and you could tell it was a staple of the area.  We went to a seafood restaurant in the middle of Manarolla and ordered a risotto, muscle, and curry dish as well as a variety seafood platter to share.  After our long day of bar hopping along the coast, we were hungry and ready for some good white wine and fresh fish!  The food was incredible, and after polishing off our last bottle of wine, Caitlin dared me to eat the eye of the fish that was on our platter. 

FRESH seafood

I never like to turn down a challenge so my competitive nature set in and I actually ate a fish eye-- immediate regret.   Not worth it at all.  I think I have to go back to not liking seafood now.  Even though we hadn't visited the final island of Cinque Terre, Riomaggiore, we wanted to get back to our hotel before it got dark.  We met a girl from Georgia who was traveling alone on our train back to our hotel and she didn't know where to find her hotel, so we told her we'd walk her to her hotel before heading back to ours, which wasn't the best idea because we didn't really know where we were going, either.  It took a while, but we finally were able to show her where her hotel was, and we headed back to Hotel Corollo.  We woke up early and headed to La Spezia train station so we could do the famous hike from Vernazza to Monterosso.  The hike was really difficult to find, as it started in a hidden alleyway.  We never would have found it if we weren't directed by a friendly lady that we met at the "squatty potty," another term for a hole in the ground that Italians use for toilets.  Anyways, we were able to find the hike and begin the trek up hundreds of steps.  The hike offered an incredible panoramic view of Monterosso.  It felt like we were hiking through a tropical island because of the concentration of vegetation that we were surrounded by.  I tripped quite a few times because there was no way I was going to look at the ground when I had that view in front of me!  We arrived in Monterosso and grabbed a quick lunch from a little bar and hit the beach!  I picked up some cheap goggles from a little beach side shop and swam a mile along the coast.  This may have been the highlight of my day.  The water was so clear and I could see all of the fish swimming around and every time I took a breath I had a view of the beautiful city of Montorosso.  This was my first time swimming in the ocean and I felt a little defeated by the waves, but it was still such a cool experience to be able to swim since I haven't been able to in almost 2 weeks.. plus the view wasn't too shabby! After my swim,  Carly Caitlin and I went to a bar on the beach that played American music, and specialized in Beer-ritas.  The bartenders wore shirts that said "free refills on all daiquiris" and on the back, they said, "Just kidding!"  This was a total American tourist place but hey, if you can't beat em', join em'! After, Carly and I went stand up paddle boarding, which was a blast! However, if I'd offer any advice, I'd say don't pregame paddle boarding.  We decided that we couldn't come to Cinque Terre and only see 4 of the 5 "Terre’s," so we made one more stop at Riomaggiore before heading back to Verona. 

Riomaggiore had a lot to see, but unfortunately, we didn't leave enough time to spend more than 30 minutes there.  After this weekend, I feel like I won't be able to appreciate anything as being truly beautiful compared to Cinque Terre.  I probably sound so redundant saying that everything is beautiful, but impossible to give words to the places that we're seeing!   Cinque Terre is more amazing than any picture that can ever be posted, and everyone should visit at some point in their lives! 

We're currently headed back to good ol' Verona on a long 5 hour train ride back, but it's not so bad because if I look out my window all I see is rolling hills, vineyards, and rivers.  Tough commute;)  This man asked to charge his phone on my laptop and handed me his CD to listen to, it's really good!  If you like acoustic guitar, check out Rafou's CD 'Homeless' :)