The Five Towns

Livorno, Italy

Last time I was here, I was a trip leader for a tour-de-Italy, visiting almost every possible tourist destination in Italy over the course of six days. Meanwhile, the rest of the RDs were off exploring Cinque Terre, 5 tiny villages on the northwest coast of Italy. Cinque Terre literally translates to the five towns. You can hike in between the villages and it makes for a lovely adventure.

As soon as we arrived, I headed for the train station. I had to change trains in Pisa, so I thought I might as well stop and get a look at the leaning tower. When I turned the corner and the tower came into view, my first thought was, “Yep, it’s leaning.” It almost looks fake, cartoon-like, like someone drew it into the skyline as a joke. Apparently, you can pay to go to the top, but not wanting to contribute to the further lean of an Italian national monument, I declined. Also, I would rather spend my Euros on pizza and gelato.

Upon arrival in Le Spezia, the step off point to get to Cinque Terre, I checked in at the visitor’s center to plan my route for the next day. The only thing was, I neglected to check if the hiking trails between the towns were actually open. Apparently they had been closed since October due to landslides. A cab driver also informed me that it was going to cost half my budget to get to my hotel, which was a ways outside the city. I had a Skype interview that evening and had chosen this hotel based on the reviews that it had good wifi and that I could get a private room. After finding some clarity over a hot fudge sundae, I finally figured out how to get to my hotel, only to find that my computer didn’t start and that I had no other way to get back into town as the last bus left into La Spezia left an hour before. I managed to email them from my iPod and hope to goodness that they let me reschedule.

The next day, when I arrived in the first town, accepting my fate that I would have to take the train in between instead of hiking like I’d planned, I ran into one of my students who had stayed on for the Enrichment Voyage. She was travelling with her best friend and grandpa in tow. They had checked in at a different visitor’s center and had gotten insider information that one of the trails, while technically closed, was actually hikeable so off we went. We hiked in between Corniglia and Vernazza. While there were a lot of literal ups and downs, the ocean views and view of the other towns in the distance made it all worth it.