Le Cinque Terre

-



Hey Blog People,

Last week I went on my first official trip with ACA. We traveled 2 hours away to Le Cinque Terre, which I said before, means the five towns. These towns include Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernassa, and Monterosso. I'm excited to tell you all about it. 

On the way there!
We woke up early and left the school around 7 a.m. We took the bus to the train station in Le Spezia, which is a town that has the starting point for the Cinque Terre train tracks. Then we were set free into the town until around 4:30 in the afternoon. The thought of having free rein in a bunch of towns I didn't know felt a little intimidating. But on the way there, my friends and I made a plan for the day. I researched what there was to do in each town, and ultimately decided to walk around three of them: Manarola, Vernazza, and Monterosso. It should not be a surprise that I needed a plan for this day. 



We stayed on the train until we got to the second town, Manarola. We got off the train station and headed toward the water. Immediately I was in awe of the quaint little town. There were cafes and little shops everywhere. People walked all around us, but it didn't feel too crowded. We walked down toward the water and saw a bunch of rocks that people were jumping off of. The water was a bright blue and didn't seem to be very cold. We looked at a few shops and then took a small walk to get a good view of the town. Some of my favorite pictures of the day came from this town. Afterward, we went to a nearby bar (cafe) and got cappuccinos to start our day out right. We learned that at this bar, and probably others around Italy, you seat yourself and the waiter comes and takes your order after you sit down. We headed back to the train station and waited 20 minutes for the next train. I have become used to the Florence train line that has trams at each station about every 5 minutes. So waiting 20 for a train seemed unusual. You also had to be careful about which train you go on. One of our friends got on a train and it took him to a small town right outside the Cinque Terre and didn't stop at any of the other towns on the way. But once you figure it out, it's simple. 

After our stop in Manarola, we went to Vernazza. In preparation, I read Rick Steve's section on Le Cinque Terre and saw that Vernazza had a lot of places to eat. This town was also very beautiful. But it was more crowded than the last one. We walked around and looked for a place to eat. We didn't really find anything, but I did buy a bracelet to commemorate my time there. We also saw the water and the cool rock formations near the shore. As we waited for the next train, we walked around some of the backstreets and less popular areas. Interestingly, the noise died down a lot the farther away you got from the main street. It was nice to get a little quiet moment and just stand surrounded by people's normal lives. It's weird to think that people just live in Vernazza and go about their normal lives there. 


We moved on to Monterosso, where we spent the rest of our time. It started raining on the way there. We knew it would rain at some point that day and I'm glad it was in the afternoon and wasn't throughout the whole day. We got food at a local restaurant. Pesto originated in the Le Cinque Terre area, so we decided to try some focaccia with pesto. It tasted pretty good. But I liked the chocolate cake we got better :). But for real, the pesto was really good. Afterward, we walked around the actual beach for a little bit and sat down to rest. By the time we were ready to do something, the rain had stopped. Earlier in the day my friends had talked about going swimming, so a couple of them decided to go for it. I didn't fully swim, but I did wade in the water for a little bit. Monterosso is the only town that has actual "sandy" beaches, and I say "sandy" because in most areas it was a lot of little rocks by the shoreline. It honestly hurt, but the water felt nice after walking around all day. Our last little excursion was getting gelato to finish the trip. I hadn't gotten gelato up until that point and it was SO good. I got a small cup of mango and honestly wanted more when I was done. But we met up with the group and took the train back to La Spezia. Then we walked back to our bus and rode back to campus. Everyone was exhausted and most people slept on
the bus ride. We arrived around 7 p.m. (19:00) just in time for dinner. 

My first trip was a great experience. I loved having the freedom to explore while also having a sort of plan with the group. I expect future trips to have more planned tours and activities with the school. But I liked the organization of this one. I would like to go back sometime and spend more time in each of the cities. There were two we never walked through, and you could spend a whole day in Monterosso. But I can just add that to the bucket list. 


Here are a few more pictures from the trip: 

Vernazza

Manarola Cappuccino


Bakery goods

Cool Statue in Monterosso

Cloudy Skies

The Gelato Group


Ciao,

                    Ellie 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Venice: City of Masks and Water

-
Image
 Hello Blog People! It's been a bit longer than I had wanted, but I cannot wait to tell you about my trip to Venice.       For the first time since we have started traveling, Villa took us on the train up to Venice. We got a little bit of a later start, and rode for a few hours. Once we got to Venice, we left the station and started walking. As soon as you step out of the station, you are met with a classic Venetian view: water, a bridge, and old buildings. I got really excited when I saw it, I even skipped around a little bit. I also forgot to mention that we went to Venice while Carnival is happening. So we also saw people dressed up in masks, waling around the train station and in the streets.  As a theater kid, I LOVED seeing all the costumes. I am still in awe at the amount of time and effort that goes into each of the masks. They are covered head to toe, and all everything is sparkly and elaborate. The dresses and suits were inspired from different th...
Read more

Hey Dave!

-
Image
 Hello Blog People!      Welcome to another recap of Ellie's week. Again, not super exciting, but I have some things I can talk about. So let's go! :)  First off, we had 10 days of prayer meetings every day on Friday, the 26th, and went through the whole week. It was nice to get together with people, listen to speakers and pray together for about an hour. All of the speakers spoke in Italian, but we were given translation so we could understand what was being said. My little worship team (made up of me, Natalie, and Brianna) did music a few times. I love playing with them, and it added another fun element to the spiritual moments.       Last weekend was really nice. On Saturday I went out to a coffee shop with my roommates and took some pictures together in Florence. I love spending time with them. And the pictures turned out great! (One is the cover pic for this post). Then Sunday I got to sit outside in my hammock for the first time in a wh...
Read more

Assisi

-
Image
Sunsets are my favorite! Hello Blog People!      I have completed another week of school and got to travel to another town in Italy. It was a pretty typical week, but I learned a bit and it has been good. I can’t wait to tell you about it.       Last Friday, since we didn’t have classes, my friends and I decided to show some of the newer kids around Florence. Our first stop was getting coffee and a coffee shop by the Arno. And guess what! They had iced coffee there! That was exciting, cause it can be kind of hard to find iced coffee. And it had lavender in it! It was really good. Afterward, we walked around the city center a bit, then to Santa Croce, a famous church with a gorgeous facade in the city center. We then found this awesome glass shop that had tons of gorgeous earrings and necklaces for sale. I didn’t buy any that day, but I will definitely be going back and buying a pair. We watched the sunset from the sidewalk along the river and then hea...
Read more