Our Weekend in Cinque Terre — Two Nerds

There's something about losing a passport abroad that forces you into survival mode. The loose plans we'd made to end up on Elba Island for our last few days were all but forgotten when we realized David's was missing on Wednesday night, and "dealing with the passport stuff" became our first priority, second only to figuring out the bizarre numbness, tingling and clumsiness in my hands. Little did we know, our series of unfortunate events would lead us down a totally unplanned, unexpected and unbelievably awesome path to the seaside cliff villages of Cinque Terre!

Thursday

David called the Consulate General office from our hotel in Pisa first thing in the morning and found out he could get a same-day emergency travel document... if we could get to the Consulate in Florence by 11:30am. We got our adrenaline fix for the day racing across Pisa to the train station (with my hands at about 20% usability), navigating the ticket-buying process, carrying the bikes up and down stairs to get to the correct platform, and doing it all again in reverse an hour later in Florence. Thankfully, our "Amazing Race"-esque morning paid off. We biked from the Florence train station to the US consulate as quickly as possible. David ducked in to the ornate, heavily-guarded building with a train station photo-booth headshot, $135, and about 10 minutes to spare. An hour later, he reemerged... new passport in hand! We couldn't believe how quick and seamless the process was, making us all too aware of -- and incredibly grateful for -- the privileges of being an American traveling abroad.

So there we were, back in Florence (nowhere near our planned bike route) four days before our flight out. Biking to-and-from train stations that morning brought into sharp focus just how bad the (temporary) nerve damage in my hands had become after so many miles in the saddle, and spending time on the bike for our last weekend in Italy didn't seem appealing or safe. We decided to go straight from the Consulate to Florence by Bike to see if they could hold the bikes for us while we figured out our next move.

Florence by Bike was the real deal -- rentals, bikes for sale, gear and an impressive workshop. The mechanic needed a couple days to pack the bikes up for us for the return flight (good thing we didn't wait until Saturday to pack the bikes!). They also agreed to hold our gear in the meantime. Without blinking an eye, we stuffed everything except the bare essentials in two of the three panniers for them to hold, and stepped out into the beautiful Florentine afternoon feeling totally unencumbered. I remember saying something to David like, "y'know... we can do anything."

Fast forward an hour, and we're on the train headed for Riomaggiore, the first of the five centuries-old coastal fishing villages that make up Cinque Terre, a UNESCO World Heritage site on the Italian Riviera. I used the train WIFI to read a single blog post (this one) about the area and book a room, figuring we'd sort the rest out when we got there. Upon our arrival, we took the blog author's recommendation and stopped for a drink at A Pie’ de Ma’, a cliffside wine bar that is about a 30-second walk from the train station. After five days of biking + 24 hours of non-stop stress, we were both overcome with emotion at the beauty and tranquility of this little spot. (Spoiler Alert: We came back to this bar twice more during our short stay.)

We followed the tunnel below the train station and emerged on the other side in Riomaggiore proper, where we met our AirBNB host on the village's single, car-free street. We went straight back in the tunnel, and came out in a beautiful little harbor. We walked right through the harbor, up the stairs on the far side, snaked through winding, narrow passageways and soon found ourselves on the balcony of one of the most picturesque pastel-colored case torri (tower buildings) overlooking the harbor.

The view from our balcony out over the Riomaggiore harbor.

We stayed on the top floor of the grey building, third from the left!

With no plans and nowhere else to be, we spent the rest of the evening walking around getting to know the town. We followed the path on the opposite side of the harbor along the side of a cliff to a gorgeous pebble beach, where we met another bird friend. We were told this is a popular spot for swimming and sunbathing, but it was pretty well deserted by the time we arrived in the late afternoon.

With daylight waning, we back-tracked to the train station and twisted up "the scenic route" on our way to Riomaggiore's castle. We watched the sunset from an overlook near the castle, then headed to Ripa del Sole for seafood (me) and pasta (David). The restaurant was off-the-beaten path, had a good view and was worth the hike to get up there. But, we did see some familiar faces from happy hour at A Pie’ de Ma’, leading me to believe that we weren't the only ones following the recommended Day One itinerary in the blog post I found, which just happened to top the Google SERP (search engine results page) for 'What to do in Cinque Terre.' In other words... SEO is real. After dinner, we walked down the main street and found a bar with outdoor seating. The bar patrons seemed to be a good mix of locals and travelers, and it wasn't at all crowded.

Friday

We got a pretty early start Friday morning, since we planned to spend the day hiking the Sentiero Azzurro -- the 14th century goat herder trails carved in the cliffs between each of the five towns. Abundant hiking opportunities was one of the deciding factors in choosing Cinque Terre for our weekend excursion, even though a devastating freak rain storm/ landslide/flood in 2011 has indefinitely closed two of the four portions of the trail. The two open portions are between Monterosso al Mare (the fifth and final village) to Vernazza, then from Vernazza to Corniglia.

We started our journey with a train ride up the coast to Monterosso. Of all the Cinque Terre villages, this is the flattest, and the only with a proper sandy beach and resort-style hotels. We were amazed by how picturesque the village was, despite overcast skies and the threat of rain. We took our time meandering on the boardwalk, and fueled up for our hike with coffee and pastries. Fifteen minutes later we were enjoying second breakfast (a hearty slice of fresh focaccia topped with potatoes and rosemary) after passing a focaccia shop with unreal smells, and a long line, coming out of the door. We bought our passes for the trail (16 Euro each) and found the trailhead based on some very Italian directions -- "take the big street until you see an orange building, then walk around behind it and you'll see some stairs."

The two mile trail from Monterosso to Vernazza is tough -- lots of climbs, narrow paths, steep drop-offs, and a very real danger of falling 15+ feet if you lose your balance. Suffice it to say, you need to be in pretty good shape, wearing proper footwear, and towing along plenty of water to actually enjoy the hike. It started raining just as we started climbing, which made the already uneven rocks and steps every more slippery. Our bike-weary bodies weren't happy with us at all, but it sure was worth winding through the olive orchards and vineyards that have sustained these villages for so many generations, and coming around the bend to dramatic ocean views.

Although we started out the hike in the rain, the storm blew over and soon gave way to blue skies. We could see the Monterosso beachfront miles behind us, wild lemon trees and beautiful plants along the trail, and about an hour, and a half into the hike, Vernazza came into view!

We spent about an hour in Vernazza, another one-street, no-car town. Vernazza seemed busier, more touristy and less homey than our Riomaggiore -- but beautiful all the same. We found our way up to the 500-year-old lookout tower quite by accident, ambled through the little streets, and stopped for lunch (more foccacia, because now I was hooked, and pesto pizza.)

The next portion of our hike took us from Vernazza to Corniglia. This portion of the trail was shorter (1.5 miles) and a bit less hilly, but with the clear skies came the blazing hot sun, and we had both worked up an impressive sweat by the time we got into town mid-afternoon. We made a cursory stroll through Corniglia's main street and stopped for a beer at an outdoor cafe.

Both in need of some R&R, we caught the train back to Riomaggiore for a lazy afternoon. The rock jetty that extended right out from the staircase to our building into the harbor was the perfect spot for an afternoon nap, book reading and swim. WE spent a few hours there doing nothing. It was incredible. We went back to our seaside cliff bar to watch the sun set, and so I could try their flight of local wines. Then we had a full no camera / no phone evening, complete with drinks and the chef's aperitvo platter at Fuori Rotta, followed by a bottle of wine on our balcony.

Saturday

We met a couple from Virginia on Thursday night who were making their third visit to Cinque Terre. Besides hiking, they recommended we rent a small motor boat from the marina in the harbor (which just so happened to occupy the first floor of our building!) and putter up and down the coastline. Although we'd earmarked that as our activity for Saturday, I had an inkling we wouldn't be able to take boats out when we woke up to the sound of giant waves crashing into the rocks just below us. I traded texts with the owner of the marina and, as suspected, the seas were too rough for boat rentals. We were pretty bummed, but after snapping some pics from our balcony, we decided to sleep in for the first time of the whole trip, and that was lovely.

When we finally felt like getting up, we walked to the bar from Thursday night (also a coffeeshop!) and read our books and drank many cappuccinos. The longer we sat there, the more crowded the main street in town became, giving us a quick glimpse into how busy the villages get in the summer. We retreated back to our side of the harbor and climbed further up into the buildings than we had before, which lead us to a high rock wall that may or may not have been open for tourists to climb on. We sat out on the rocks for an hour or so and listened to the waves crash on the rugged coastline.

We talked about lessons learned on the trip, possible destinations for our next bike tour, which afternoon train we wanted to take back to Florence... but mostly, we couldn't stop talking about how incredibly lucky we are for getting to do this amazing adventure together. :)