Cinque Terre

My Internet finally works again, allelulia! When everyone found out that the wireless was on, it honestly sounded like midnight on New Year's Eve out in the lounge. Anyway, here is what I had to say about Cinque Terre:

03/15/2009

People always seem to ask, “Was this your best birthday ever?” And usually out of politeness, I respond yes. But after this weekend, I can say with all honesty that my 21st birthday was my best birthday ever! Cinque Terre was beautiful, the weather was amazing, and my friends put a lot of work into making it a great celebration.

I will begin with Friday the 13th, the day before my birthday, which, in some ways, lived up to its unlucky reputation. The unlucky part came in the morning when we were headed down to the train station. Eldon and I had left before the rest of our group so that we could obtain our train tickets for Munich. When we were on the bus it was stopped by a police officer who told the driver that he could not take his usual route passing the Duomo. I’m not sure if there was an accident or a special event or what, but a ride that usually takes about a half hour took almost an hour, so I was very worried about the rest of our group missing the train to Cinque Terre. When we got the train station I called Villa Bonelli right away to warn the group, and I found that they had already left for the bus. What a relief! And that was the end of the unluckiness for Friday the 13th, because from there on out the day was fabulous!

It was about a three hour train ride to Cinque Terre, so it was around 4:00 p.m. when we arrived in Monterossa, the town we were staying in. Our first mission was to find Manuel’s Guesthouse, where we would be staying for the next two nights. I had directions that the guesthouse had emailed me, so I guided the group. I was pleasantly surprised when a man outside a wine bar asked us what we were looking for. When I told him we were looking for Manuel’s Guesthouse, he shook my hand and said, “I am Manuel,” then he directed us up the stairs. Manuel is an artist, and he paints outside in the plaza outside the wine bar in Monterossa. He lives in the guesthouse he runs and rents out his extra rooms for guests. Talk about living the dream! The guesthouse was a very authentic place, almost like living in an Italian home. We had to climb over 100 steps to get up the house, then Lorenzo, Manuel’s employee, showed us to our rooms. The rooms were nothing fancy, but they did their job. Just as the website promised, there was indeed a terrace that overlooked the sea, and on that terrace there was indeed a bar and grill. It was kind of strange because there was rarely anybody around, so we just had free range of the place. It ended up being the perfect place for our group, and I would definitely stay there again.

After getting settled into the hotel, we all went down to have a look around town, and we all ended up at the beach. I was just going to wade, but I ended up going in up to my hips and getting my jeans soaking wet. That wasn’t nearly as bad as what happened to Lorenzo, a member of the SMU group. He was standing in the water, about up to his knees, and I came up behind him. I was just going to push him a little to scare him a bit, but he ended up going in all the way. Luckily nothing in his pockets was ruined, and he decided to go for a swim after that anyway, so I didn’t feel so bad.

Our group decided to go out for a fancier dinner on Friday night, then grill out on my birthday. So we found a nice restaurant with an ocean view and went there. I had a caprese salad, a swordfish steak, and some great white wine. Many people in our group had seafood, which was served in some interesting ways. Ania and Ashley had fresh cod, and it came as a whole fish, head, skin and all. The waiter filleted them right there at the table. Allyson and some others had shrimp that came with the shell and antennas still on. Some people were a bit grossed out by this, but I guess its all part of the experience.

After dinner we all just went up to the hotel and sat on the terrace for a while with some wine. A group of us ended up going back down to the beach around 10:00 p.m. We climbed way up on a rock that looked over the sea and just sat there for a long time. We ended up ringing in my birthday on the beach when it turned midnight…what a way to start the celebration.

On my birthday we all got up fairly early to get started with our hiking, and we received some disappointing news from some others staying at the guesthouse. They went hiking the day before, and they said the majority of the trails were closed for maintenance. The ironic thing was that it was also one of the girls’ 21st birthday in their group on Saturday as well. But, anyway, we decided to try the hiking and see what we found. We bought our train and hiking pass at the train station, and we found that the trails were truly closed. The only stretch that was opened was from the first town to the second, a section called “Via di Amore,” or “Lover’s Lane.” So I reconciled myself to an easy hike and decided to just take things slowly.

I think it actually worked out better that most of the trail was closed, because it would have been difficult for our whole group to stay together given the size, and this way we could just sort of relax and take it all in. We stopped frequently to go down to the ocean and dip our feet in. At one point there was a bar along the trail, and Ania bought me my first drink of the day, a Pina Colada, which was very good, I must say. After we got to the end of the open section of trail, we took the train to the next town and walked around there for a while. All of the towns in Cinque Terre are just adorable. They are painted in pink, yellow, and salmon colored stucco, and they are all built right into the sea cliffs. There was one town we did not get to because it was getting late, and we were all ready to go back and grill. I would like to come back to Cinque Terre sometime when the trail is open, as I think it would be a very nice way to experience the towns.

After we got back to Monterossa, we all went to purchase our meat and other food. To buy the steak we went to this local butcher shop, and the owner working behind the counter did not speak English. There was basically a whole side of a cow lying behind the counter, and we weren’t quite sure how to ask for seven steaks. We finally figured it out, after we pointed to the wrong type of meat, and the owner made pig noises, indicating that the meat was pork, not beef.

When we got back to Manuel’s we discovered that using the grill, which also doubled as a stove, would be a bit more difficult than we intended. Plus, we wanted to ask permission first, but no one was around to ask. Manuel finally came home and helped us out, and the cooking began. Ania and Allyson prepared a pasta and vegetable dish for the entire group, and it was delicious! Lorenzo did all the grilling, and the steak was tender, juicy, and rare, just the way I now like it. It was the best birthday meal that I could have asked for. Everyone ate out on the terrace, and after we were done Ania, Allyson, and Bailey brought out a slice of birthday cake with candles on it. They also got me a beach ball and water wings, which, unfortunately I haven’t used yet. Hopefully next weekend…more about that later. I also received a couple of other gifts which were very suitable for a 21st birthday…I’ll leave that up to your imagination. Needless to say, we had quite the celebration.

We went down to the beach later that night, and I saw my birthday out the same way I brought it in, on the beach. I could not have asked for a more perfect weekend, and I am very thankful for everyone who helped to make it so great for me. I hope to go back to Cinque Terre again sometime when the trails are open. In fact, I have already decided that I am bringing my mom and brother there, although they may not know it yet. For anyone who ever plans to travel to Italy, I would definitely recommend putting Cinque Terre at the top of your list of places to see. It is just a very authentic Italian experience, and the natural beauty of the area cannot be compared to anything else.