Yes, it's true: in writing my last post, I forgot about this event which I have cited as "the best day of my life so far" on multiple occasions. I blame the concussion. Anyway, this day was amazing. It started at 5:30, which I was not okay with initially. We met in the train station and got on the first train. After transferring to the second (we were to take three trains), we heard rumors of a train strike. They're not too uncommon here, so of course we began to get concerned. After we reached the next station and got on the final train, we discovered that the strike was, in fact, happening that day, and it would prevent us from riding the trains until 5pm. This left us in the town of La Spezia with nothing to do. Fortunately, Professor Tom Kealy was determined to get us to Cinque Terre.
After asking around, Tom discovered that the best way to get us where we needed to be was to take a bus out to Portovenere, from where we could take a ferry out to each of the villages. The bus ride was uneventful, though it was nice to finally see the water after having spent so much time inland.
The ferry was probably the best mistake that could have happened to us. After reaching the port we realized that this ferry was a tour out to the Cinque Terre, stopping at each one (Cinque Terre means Five Lands, signifying the five villages along the coast and hillsides). We sat on the top level of the ferry in the open air and watched the water and the villages as we passed by them. At one point a water helicopter came out to pick up water, spraying it in front of us and causing a rainbow. At another point, we ended up in the middle of a pod of dolphins! The dolphins came up to the side of the ferry and started jumping alongside us!
After circling the dolphins a few times to allow everyone a decent photo opportunity we finally ended at Monterosso, the farthest village. It is a decently populated, compressed village with an abundance of tourist-oriented shops. Here we stopped for free time to wander the village, get lunch, sit on the beach, and dip our feet in the water of the Mediterranean. I had a panini, dessert of gelato, and skipped a stone eight jumps. After an hour or so we began our hike.
Our hike didn't last long before we decided to take a break. The reason? We discovered a rock outcropping down a side path to jump across the rocks and see the coves in the ledges up close! We made our way down and explored the rocks for a bit. Yulia even jumped into a particularly deep part of the coastline from the higher rocks! I dunked my head in the water to cool off (and moreover because I dunked my head in the Mediterranean -- how many of you from back home have done that?) and then we continued on our way.
The hike was breathtaking. I'm sure you can find pictures online (or on my facebook page) of Cinque Terre. It's gorgeous. The walkways are extremely narrow: we had to pass others going the opposite direction multiple times in areas where one would need to get off the path and onto a ledge or tree's trunk to allow space to pass. The views, though, were amazing. We were on the side of the hills facing the sea, of course, so most of our hike was lined by water on one side and earth on the other. occasionally we walked along a vegetable garden, an old well, or a brook in a small valley. It seemed to take forever, though! Fortunately the guys and I packed shorts, so we changed partway down the trail and were much happier for the last half of the 90-minute hike.
As we neared the village of Vernazza, the views were gorgeous. We were high above the village, allowing an amazing sight of the entire town with the sea as backdrop. The trail took us right into the middle of town -- one minute we were flanked by rock ledges, while the next saw us walking past someone's door. We sat by the sea for a few minutes and then wandered around town in search of food. We found a lovely little to-go pizzeria, whose food we took out onto the rocks to eat and watch the beginning of the sunset. Our viewing experience, however, was cut short by our dash to the train stop -- had we not made it to the train in time, we may have been stranded in the little town until almost midnight, returning to Florence around 2am. Despite this, we had a wonderful time. The train rides weren't even too bad, especially with company to talk to and Vonnegut to read.
As a small side note, I'll mention that the evening was the perfect ending to this superlative best day; sitting on the steps of the Basilica of Santa Croce, I enjoyed people watching and sharing discussions about literature and philosophy with my companions.
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