La Spezia, Italy → Cinque Terre, Italy

It felt like Christmas, and going to bed was really difficult. I set my alarm for super early in the morning, double checked the train schedule, and laid out clothes so I could just get up and go. In the morning, I was going to Cinque Terre. Finally.
I had originally planned to do the towns in order. I wanted to get off the train in Riomaggiore and hike through all of them the first day. However, as soon as we arrived in La Spezia, I had to run into the Cinque Terre tourist office to get train cards for the next day, and they informed us that all but one of the trails between the cities was closed. Boo! But I came all this way! I decided, no matter, I would do the one trail I could, and look into the higher up, longer hikes through the mountains for the other towns. Everything would be okay, because I was here, finally, where I'd been trying to get to my whole life!

So it wasn't quite like Christmas. I woke up and was made painfully aware of the fact that I hadn't showered in two days, what with all the traveling, so that needed to happen. And then I was starving, so leftovers were warmed up and scarfed, and then there was the waiting around for certain other people to get ready. But finally, finally we headed to the train station.

Birds en masse on the street, and birds on wires, everywhere.

The train schedule is set for Cinque Terre from La Spezia, and the whole set up is rather self explanatory and easy to figure out. However, if you're not used to the trains in Europe, as we were not yet, it doesn't occur to you at once that they can go in both directions from the same platform. The train we needed was leaving from platform 2, and as there was a train there already, we hopped on it. And it sat for a long while. And people had luggage. And I began to feel very uncomfortable. "I'm sure this is the wrong train," I kept saying, but we stayed, waiting. When its scheduled departure time came and went, I got really anxious. Noah finally asked some people who had just boarded and sat beside us if this train went to 5Terre. They looked at him blankly. I tried in horribly broken Italian to ask, and the man shook his head, looking across at his wife, who was seated beside me, for help. He asked her a question, pointing at the map that Noah was pointing at. She answered back, and I realized suddenly that I could understand them. "Hablan Español?" I asked excitedly, and the woman, startled, put her hand on my shoulder and said, "Sí, sí!"
And then I, in all my brilliance, go "Moi aussi!" ....which is French. I catch myself immediately, and correct myself, but they find this immensely hilarious, and have a nice laugh at my brain not functioning properly. In any case, I am now fully able to ask them where the hell this train is going, to which they reply, "Pisa."
I don't want to go there yet! That's not for, like, five more days! They say it's nonstop, and it's leaving quite soon. I jump out of my seat, and they push me forward, telling me to hurry as we yell thanks over our shoulders. Running back out onto the platform just as the train is starting to go, we stand there, feeling rather stupid, and realizing we've now completely missed the train to where we're going. Ugh.
So it's back down the stairs, through the underground tunnels, then up the stairs, to the 5Terre office, "Where does the next train leave from?" She takes me outside and points to where a train is just arriving, and this looks more like it. There are tourists, and people with beach towels and sunglasses, and decidedly less clothing than the train to Pisa.
And it's crowded. When the train finally goes, all the seats are taken and people are pressed against the doors, including me. And they're all loud and annoying, but I don't care, because I'm going to 5Terre.
The train tracks were laid through a series of tunnels blown into the mountains on the coast of the Mediterranean. Thus, most of the train ride is in the dark, inside the mountain. But there is this one part...the train has been going for a while, and you can feel it, that you're almost there. And with no warning at all, the darkness of the tunnel breaks, and there is a flash of blue sky, and sparkling blue sea, a verdant green mountain cliff stretching down into the water, flat and glassy as an opaque mirror, the sun sparking off that pure blue in a dazzling display of light. And the whole train gasps. It's amazing. All at once, all talking stops, and there's a sharp intake of breath - from everybody - and then "How beautiful!" "Did you see that!" "It's gorgeous!"
It was lovely.
A few minutes later, the train slows and we pull into the station at Riomaggiore. The first town of five, and I can't help it - I step off the train and my eyes well up, and I'm so happy to be here I'm going to cry. It takes a lot of will power to keep myself together. To be totally honest, I didn't think I'd ever really get here. But I'm here, walking in this place I dreamed of for years, in a different country, surrounded by a language I don't speak, breathing this air thousands of miles from home, by a sea I've never seen, and I want to stay forever.
We head out of the station and up toward the Via dell'amore. This is the famous walk (and the easiest of all the hikes) - the Lover's walk - where you bring a padlock and lock it to the railing, throw the key into the sea. It's also the shortest of the hikes, heading toward Manarola, but as it's closed, we decide to explore the rest of Rio before heading on to the next town. Heading up in the opposite direction is a steep hill and a little path, climbing higher up the cliffs. The view is amazing.

The path winds up and then down, down, down, through narrow little walkways that two people can hardly squeeze through, and steep, tiny little stairs, back down toward the sea. My favourite part about all the towns is that they made me feel like a little kid at a particularly extensive playground. There was so much to explore, so many nooks and crannies to investigate, corners to hide in, alleys to turn down - it was like an amusement park where you just get to wander, and marvel at how beautiful everything is. It was so much fun.
We finally got down to the water, and the edge of the sharp cliff where the buildings of the town were clustered together, in all their colourful glory. We sat on the rocks for at least an hour, soaking up sunshine and just being happy to be where we were.

The colours of Italy are enough to put you in a permanent good mood.

I hardly have any pictures from Riomaggiore. When we first got off the train, I was too enchanted by everything and way too overwhelmed by the simple fact of being there to take any pictures. But, by the end of my time in Cinque Terre, I had taken over 600 photos. Craaazayy.
Being here also made me wish I had remembered more from all my geology classes. The rocks here are amazing. You can see the way everything has shifted and moved over thousands of years, and it's just ridiculously beautiful.
We headed down from our perch on the rocks and up the other side of the cliff. There was a breakwater that I wanted very much to climb out on. As we made our way from rock to rock, I realized the giant stones were made of marble. These were giant freaking slabs of marble, just thrown into the water to keep the waves out of the harbor. I soon learned that Italy has so much marble, it really doesn't matter if they throw some of it into the sea. It's just everywhere.

While disturbing the sunbathers on the rocks, we discovered (and you can see it in the picture 3 up from here, actually), that there is a boat that will shuttle you from one town to the next. The next boat was leaving in just a few minutes, so we hurriedly bought tickets and hopped aboard. Since we were paying the money for it, I decided we had to go further than just the next town, so we headed to town number 4, Vernazza. So much for doing them in order.

From the sea

Manarola (Town#2)

First glimpse of Corniglia, my dream town, and town #3

Corniglia

The boat ride was lovely. It was sunny in Rio, but by the time we arrived in Vernazza, the sky was a bit hazy and grey. It was nice, though - not too cold, not too hot, with a nice breeze, and without the sun beating down on you, it was almost perfect. We passed all the towns by sea, except for Monterroso del mare, which we could see down the coast, a little ways from Vernazza.
Pulling in to Vernazza, there are more amazing rock formations, a castle, and the most adorable little town I have ever seen.

and this guy, who was also adorable.

I loved this place. There were so many winding, cobblestone streets to explore, and heading up a staircase chosen at random, we ended up at a little castle, that overlooked the whole town, and the sea.

Up more stairs.

With just a 1 euro suggested donation to go in.

The dark spiral staircase

View from the top

So, the only trail that was open was between Vernazza and Corniglia. Since I absolutely needed to be able to approach Corniglia via one of these trails (since that's the way I'd always imagined it happening), I decided the hike from here to there would be necessary. Nowish.
So we headed back down from the castle, and wandered about the alleyways between buildings for a while, until we found the slight uphill that led to the beginning of the path to Corniglia.

 As soon as I saw the sign, I sprinted toward it, and then had to take a picture with it, naturally, feeling a little giddy.

So, I have this thing about accordion music. I don't know why, but it does something to me - it's something I've always wanted to learn how to play, and listening to 'French cafe' music with accordions will send me into this weird dream state that's hard to escape from. I love it. Immensely. I love Yann Tiersen and the Amelie soundtrack, I love horrible Mexican ranchero music chock full of accordions, and...well, you get the idea. So, we started up this path, blue signs pointing toward Corniglia leading the way. There were some stone stairs, bringing us higher up into the mountain, and giving us beautiful views of Vernazza's little bay. And then the path turns, and I hear accordion music. And this little Italian man, skin dark from the sun, his little dog laying belly-up on a mat in front of him, has a perfect red accordion and is playing it, starting the walk to Corniglia. It could not possibly have been better - almost crying moment number two. I had to stop and just take in the view, and take in the moment before we continued on the path. I dug around in my pocket for some loose euros as I walked toward him. "Ciao bella," he says as I walk up. I say, 'Ciao', dropping the euros in his case, and he says, "Grazie, bella," as I continue passed him up the hill. So perfect.

To be continued.

Milan, Italy → La Spezia, Italy

Something I should mention - I do not speak Italian. Now, you would think I would know this about myself, but I realized soon after landing in Milan that I actually knew about two Italian words. I could say thank you, and good morning. Useful, yes, but only to an extent. Being vegan, I always try to at least know the words for things I need to avoid, so I can attempt to tell people at restaurants what might cause me extreme stomach pain, or to be able to read labels on packages. Apparently I was so excited about getting to Italy that I didn't consider the fact that I might need to do some research before I arrived.
I had had a lot of people from my Spanish classes at home tell me that Spanish would be enough to get by there. I even had one person tell me that they spoke both languages, yet spoke more Spanish in Italy than Italian. Apparently they were in a different part of the country than I was, because never was my Spanish very useful there. Luckily, wifi was readily available, so as soon as we stopped wandering, I spent some time memorizing Italian words in the obsessive, long-term college student way that I do. But more wandering was done first.

After the Duomo, we wandered into an H&M to look for more shoes. I had been buying shoes since the beginning of the trip because the shoes I'd bought specifically for the trip smashed the hell out of my toes and caused one foot to swell up and cause ridiculous pain every time I took a step. Considering I was walking everywhere, for literally hours at a time, every single day, this was a problem. Thank god for that H&M. I found a pair of shoes that were the only shoes that didn't hurt my already messed up foot, and thus was able to continue trekking around Milan without limping. Hooray!
I headed into a grocery store and got some snacks to eat later, and Noah wandered off to get pizza. The sun was setting just as I stumbled upon a giant castle, surrounded by screeching starlings. Apparently Da Vinci did some work at said castle at some point. It was closed, of course, but I spent some time poking around the gates, and watching the birds.

So many starlings!

We spent some time talking with Joe when we returned to the hostel, until the front desk guys came up and informed us that we needed to lower our voices because there were other people on the floor. Worst hostel ever. In the morning, it was back to the central station to head, finally, to La Spezia!!

When I was about 12, I read this book. In it, the main character's sister travels to Cinque Terre in Italy, and she jumps off a cliff next to a church in the town of Corniglia. I read this, and then I dreamed about this scene for a month. Of course, I had to look up these towns, and have been dying to see them in person ever since. I read about how they used to only be accessible by hiking the paths on the cliffs in between the towns, but now everything is linked through trains and buses. This was the place I had to go in Europe, if nowhere else at all. Cinque Terre was the very first place on my list. Before leaving, I ended up talking to a few people who had been there before. They all told me it was "life changing" - the actual words they used - and that I would love it, and any expectations I had of it would be lived up to. Having taken longer than I would have liked to plan the trip, when I finally figured out what day I'd be arriving in the general area, the only place I could get a hostel was in La Spezia, which is the "gateway" to Cinque Terre. It's just a short train ride away, so for two nights I had a room there, and would just have to buy a Cinque Terre train pass to go back and forth between there and the towns.
I was just excited to get to La Spezia. It was a small town, it was in Italy, and I would get to see the Mediterranean for the first time ever. I just had to force myself not to jump right back on the train and head into Cinque Terre immediately upon arrival. It was late in the day when the train was due to arrive from Milan, and I didn't want to have to rush through the towns. Also, if I ran right to 5Terre I would never explore La Spezia, which seemed a waste. This was made way more difficult by the fact that the train stopped in one of the towns on the way in to La Spezia.

Everyone (books included) warned that La Spezia should only be used as a base, and then only as a last resort, if you are visiting 5Terre. Having spent a few days exploring there though, I don't understand why. It was lovely, and between it and 5Terre, exactly how I imagined Italy to be, much more so than the two larger cities I visited.
The hostel I had (extremely last minute) booked was called Corner House, and it was absolutely lovely. Antonio met us at the apartment to give us keys, and it was totally not what I expected. It was an actual apartment, on a little street in La Spezia, about a 6 minute walk from the train station (though, thanks to google maps I took the loooong way), and right next door to a little grocery. It had a kitchen, and two rooms, which accomodate up to 4 people. So. Nice. If (who am I kidding - when) I head back to this part of Italy, I will totally stay here again. I also had no idea I was supposed to pay in cash, and Antonio shrugged and said I could pay him tomorrow. Worked for me.

It was just so cozy and homey!

La Spezia!

Apparently there were two other people staying there at the time, but neither of them were there yet. So, as usual, exploring was in order.
I wanted, first of all, to see the Mediterranean. I was extremely excited about seeing a new body of water. But we headed out first to the ATM in a beautiful little square nearby to get money to pay for the room. Nearby was a little market that had - oh my god - squash blossoms! SO many freaking squash blossoms. I get maybe a handful of these a year at home, and they're at the market once, twice if I'm lucky. There were just mountains of them. I almost died, I was so excited. So we loaded up on squash blossoms, heirloom tomatoes, and other fresh veggies that we could cook back at the apartment. We then headed toward the pier, for some ocean! There were little market booths, and some sort of festival going on. On a boat in the bay, there was live opera music being played, echoing over the water. It was a ridiculously gorgeous day, warm but not hot, with a nice breeze, and nothing but blue sky. We leaned on the railing at the edge of the sea and listened to the opera for a while.

trying to control the amount of happy on my face, cause I'm so
overwhelmingly happy to be here!

Heading back in toward the center of town, we passed a stage where a cute little band was playing jazz music, which I wanted to stop for, of course. We sat for a bit and watched them play, then wandered in along the narrow streets in search of food. Which was, unfortunately, very hard to come by. I was feeling a little woozy and finally just caved and grabbed a banana from the closest market. I just needed some fuel so we could walk up more stairs!

The theme for this trip, and Italy especially, should have been StairMaster 2013. I walked up more stairs than I could possibly count, in every city I went to. There were thousands. Thousands!!

At the top of all these bloody stairs was a castle, making it (I think) the third castle of the trip. There were beaucoup des castilles.

View from the castle

Weird sideways elevators everywhere, so everyone can avoid the mass amounts of stairs everywhere.

Veins.

Everyone hangs their wash out, and, no idea why, but I find it enchanting.

 Heading back down the 9 billion stairs, we wandered into town and found a little market, and spent way too much time meandering up and down the aisles, deciding what we wanted for dinner. We had a real kitchen! We could have real food! I wanted pasta, and bread, and anything Italian sounding, in spite of having not had vegetables in a week. I used my super minimal Italian skills to pick out crackers and snacks that didn't have dairy in them, and grabbed some extra goodies to cook with the squash blossoms. How I wished there was somewhere nearby to get Daiya to stuff them with.

We headed back to the apartment and started dinner, and met our roommate.

Real food! So tasty!

Jenni was from Australia, and she was a fantastic hostel roomie! We stayed up talking to her for a while that night - she'd just come from Cinque Terre, and I needed to hear all about it. I absolutely could not wait to get there the next day.

(To be continued)