Italia: Cinque Terre & Lake Como

And so begins my favorite place of the whole vacation--Cinque Terre!!

Cinque Terre

Wednesday we rode a total of 6 trains from the Amalfi Coast to Cinque Terre, which is on the northern coast of Italy.  Along the way we made probably the quickest Pisa stop ever.  We hopped off the train, took the obligatory pics, grabbed lunch to go, and jumped back on the train an hour later.


Cinque Terre is made up of 5 small villages along the coast, that are connected by train and hiking trails.  Sadly, a year and half ago, they had major flooding and landslides in the area, wiping out several towns.  While the towns have all recovered, only 1 of the 4 hiking trails was open when we were there.

Our hotel was in Vernazza, which is town #4, so we decided to take the train all the way to the last town-Monterosso and hike on the open trail back to our hotel that evening.  I have to say, this is one part of the trip that I was glad we only had backpacks.  We consolidated all we needed for the next day and half into 1 backpack and left the other one with a lady in a laundromat in Monterosso. (Believe it or not, it was still there the next day!)  We knew this was the most difficult of all the trails and Rick Steves told us it would take 1.5-2 hours, but man, it was harder than I thought!  There was so much up and down, and just when you thought you were up far enough, you went up again!  But, the views were spectacular and it was such a great experience--I'd definitely do it again!

That's our destination ahead!

Really, the hike was easy! ;)

After checking into our cute little room, we were so exhausted that we just spent the night eating pasta, drinking wine, and enjoying the beautiful sunset and scenery of the town.


We had decided that since the rest of the trails were closed we would just take it easy and go to the beach and check out the other towns via train the next day.  But, after a delicious (and not healthy) breakfast of ricotta sugar filled pastries, we decided we should probably try the trail between our town and town #3-Corniglia.  We didn't have any problems with it being unsafe, and even though it wasn't as challenging as the hike the day before, it definitely got your heart rate going!  Again, we saw amazing views, turquoise blue water, and some unmentionables going on down on the nude beach below, haha!



After a delicious picnic lunch in true Italian style--Focaccia and prosciutto--we found out the other 2 trails were truly closed with rock slides.  We took the train to check out town #2-Manarola and then back to Montorosso to hang out on the beach (and shop for local pesto!) before our train to Milan that night.

Manarola

Summary:  We absolutely LOVED Cinque Terre and can't wait to go back.  Although there were tourists, most of them just came for the day, and the trails were never crowded.  It was a perfect mix of activeness and relaxation with beautiful scenery and towns everywhere.  We're excited to go back when more of the trails are open, and also maybe hike to some of the nearby towns that aren't technically in Cinque Terre.  And for a 9 euro train ride from Milan, how can you not stop here?? Love!  Be sure to check out the rest of our Cinque Terre pictures here.

Lake Como

After a not-so restful stay in Milan overnight, we caught an early train to Lake Como and were greeted with....rain, fog, and cold.  Combined with little sleep, this didn't put me in a great mood. (Nick can attest to this!)  But after several cappuccinos and a few hours in a cafe, I began to realize how beautiful the lake still was!

Since it was supposed to rain all day, we stopped in town and bought a bottle of Prosecco to bring to our hotel.  But, after a short nap, we woke up to SUN!  We got so lucky on this trip with weather.  Every time it seemed like the day was lost to rain, it always cleared up.

We decided to take advantage of the nice weather, and hopped on the ferry to the other side of the lake to explore.  Lake Como is really meant just for relaxing and taking in the beautiful scenery.  And, if you're like me, also keeping a lookout for George Clooney, who lives on the lake, in every boat that goes by.  (Never did see him, but thought we did once!)

View from our hotel room

Varenna in the background, where we stayed

We spent the night and the following day doing much of the same: relaxing, enjoying the mountains, drinking that Prosecco, and taking ferry rides.  Eating dinner on the water Friday night, we were treated to one of the most beautiful sunsets I've ever seen in my life.  It changed so much and every minute was prettier than the minute before.

Saturday we made a quick visit to Villa Balbianello, where scenes from Star Wars and Casino Royale was filmed.  It was a bit of hike to get there, but definitely worth the views.  An awesome way to end an awesome vacation!
Summary:  Lake Como is an awesome place to go to just relax and get away from it all.  There's very few tourists and very little to do.  I can see going back here when it's a little bit warmer to just escape from city life for a while.  And, maybe I'll see George next time! ;)  Check out the rest of our Lake Como pictures here.

Oh--in case you're wondering about that train station comment from before...we took the train back to Paris from Milan through the Alps (which was beautiful) and just assumed that the train would leave from Milan Central station.  (You know what they say about assuming!)  Lake Como is only 1 hour by train to Milan, so we decided to take the train back to Milan that would get in 1/2 hour before our Paris train.  By some miracle, we took out our Paris tickets while waiting at the train station in Lake Como and realized that the Paris train did NOT leave from Central station, but a different one.  Luckily, our Lake Como train was on time, we were at the front getting off, sprinted to a cab, and only had to go a few miles to the other station.  We made it in time to spare, but I would not recommend this strategy to anyone else.  So lesson learned:  check your train stations at least 3 times! :)