Three hundred and seven: that’s how
many steps it took me to walk up to my hostel in the beautiful coastal beach
village of Riomaggiore. At midnight on a Friday, after a six-hour bus ride and
heavy backpacks, this was a bit of a challenge. Only about one flight of stairs
in, a friend of mine asked the man directing us to our room, “Excuse me how much
longer?” To which he replies, “Um, 15 minutes.” We laughed, and kept walking.
The good thing about this
exhausting journey up to our room was that we wanted to do it as few times as
possible. So after getting little sleep, we awoke the next day to a gloomy
morning, but set out on a day-long adventure to explore the other towns. We
took the train down to the town called, Monterosso al Mare, which is known for
its beautiful sandy beaches. We ate an amazing lunch at a restaurant along the
beach where I had beef ravioli, with a white wine red sauce. It was by far the
best ravioli I’ve ever had. I want to go back to Cinque Terre just to eat it,
but more importantly to enjoy the amazing Mediterranean Sea.
Coming from Newport Beach, the
ocean is something that is very special to me. Something about the salt
encrusted on my skin after a long swim gives me a feeling of comfort and joy. I have grown
up just 5 minutes from the beach, and I have never swum in any
other ocean or sea but the Pacific. The water in the Mediterranean was saltier
than at home, but it was also warmer. The sand was more coarse, and less white,
but it still gave me a little feeling of home. Some friends and I swam out to
some rocks that we noticed other people were jumping off. Jumping off of
heights into water gives me more exhilaration than anything on earth, so after
seeing it was safe, I didn’t think twice about going. We climbed up the face of
a rocky cliff, about 35 feet up. It wasn’t slippery, but it was a very steep
climb. After standing at the top looking into the inviting water for only a few
seconds, I flung myself into the blue-green, deep, cove. After being in the
mountainous region of the Dolomites for 2 weeks, seeing the sea and getting
that adrenaline rush was much needed. I only did it once, because the hike up
was scarier than I thought it would be. It was pretty risky, and a lot of
people opted out because of the climb, so I figured if I survived it once I
shouldn’t risk that again.
It was not the sunniest day,
however it was still really hot and the water was very refreshing. Being that
Cinque Terre is in the north, the weather doesn’t stay as nice as it does all
year round. In fact, on Sunday there was a horrible storm that ruined our plans
of repeating the beach day we had on Saturday. But that was okay, because one
day was plenty. Better yet, now I have an excuse to go back some day.
Visiting Cinque Terre really made
me want to travel in the summer to countries along the Mediterranean. While
some may argue that it is less historic and educational, I can’t think of anything
that would make me happier than traveling from beach to beach, and never
leaving sight of the sea.
My splash from the jump (at least the photographer tried, right?)
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