cinque terre hike

I'm seriously annoyed with the Internet connection in this hotel right now because every time I try to upload photos to this post, it disconnects, and I can't do any justice to the experience I had hiking the Cinque Terre without pictures. I'll definitely upload them to Facebook when I finally get to my homestay in Florence (can you tell I'm counting down the hours?), and I'll try to add them in on here too.

The 12-mile Cinque Terre hike was on Sunday. The Cinque Terre ("5 Lands") is made up of five villlages connected by steep pathways (so you do a long and strenuous stretch of the hike and then you can take a gelato break when you reach each village...not a bad way to hike!) The villages are called Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza, and Monterosso, and they're so stinking cute it's ridiculous. And not a contrived cute, either-they're just PERFECT. So quaint and quiet and, quite literally, tucked away. Cafes on every corner, little puppies and kittens sleeping in the streets, elderly Italian couples sipping their Sunday vino under umbrellas, and colorful but antiquated architecture with zero indication that industrialization ever happened. Not to mention a bird's eye view of the Deep Blue Sea (aka the Mediterranean) practically everywhere you turn. Now: For non-Sewanee people reading this, a bucket list of definitive "Sewanee Student" things you must do before you graduate would have to include hiking the 22-mile perimeter trail around campus. One Saturday during the fall last year, some of my favorite people on campus and I decided to conquer the perimeter trail, and it turned out to be surprisingly easy, with the exception of the final uphill mile through Shakerag Hollow-and navigating McClurg afterward without toppling over and breaking a leg (for those of y'all that are reading this, I'm still proud of us!) So after finding the famous P-trail pretty "easy," I was expecting that the Cinque Terre hike, just over half the distance of the Sewanee trail, would be "super easy."

Ha. Haha. Hahahaha.

The hike consisted of loooonnnggg stretches of going uphill, then going downhill, then uphill, downhill, over and over again. This wasn't a typical hiking "trail" either-when I say "uphill," I generally mean up narrow stair after narrow stair. (One uphill stretch in the hike takes you up 382 stairs and has a sign congratulating you when you reach the top...if it had the number written at the bottom of the steps, I'm pretty sure waaaayyy fewer people would climb it). 12 miles uphill, with only the sun to keep me company for most of the way, on an insanely narrow path on the edge of a cliff, was just slightly more difficult than a 22-mile shady trail around the familiar Sewanee campus with plenty of friends to entertain me. At certain points during the hike, especially on the route between the fourth and fifth village, the path was so narrow that I seriously felt like if I breathed too heavily I'd blow myself off a cliff.

But all that made it so, so amazing. And finishing was SO ridiculously gratifying.

The scenery throughout the hike was absolutely BEAUTIFUL, the kind of beautiful that caused me to grin goofily throughout the entire hike, even while gasping for air and practically weezing. The kind of beautiful that makes me feel like I'm literally sinning by not including pictures with this post (stupid hotel wifi!). The views were so insanely gorgeous, it was difficult to even process the fact that they were real. There were times when I would look down to the Mediterranean and could clearly see the dropoffs in the water. There'd be a straight line dividing one shade of blue from another, plain as day from hundreds of feet in the air. I had to just stop from time to time and breathe and take it all in. God is big. For real.

And now I'm back in Lido di Camaiore, which, when compared with the Cinque Terre, is pretty much the armpit of Tuscany. Okay, armpit might be a little harsh. Maybe the Big Toe is better-necessary, but not particularly cute or interesting. Four more nights in the hotel here, then Firenze on Saturday!! I absolutely can't wait.
Good night! It's safe to say I love and miss everyone who might be reading this. (Hey, I rhymed...)