On Saturday my roommate and I decided to go to Cinque Terre, a region north of Florence along the coast that has beautiful beaches. Cinque Terre is made up of five towns. We took the train from Florence to Monterosso, one of the towns. It was shocking how beautiful this place was. Monterosso is a little beach town that is covered in umbrellas. The water is crystal clear blue and the view of the ocean and cliffs is spectacular. Cinque Terre is probably one of the most beautiful places I have ever been.

My roommate and I found a restaurant that overlooked the ocean and we had lunch. I got a delicious seafood pasta with fresh seafood that was caught right in Cinque Terre. It was the best meal I've had yet! After lunch we walked around the town part of Monterosso and looked in some of the cute shops they have.

After walking around we ventured to the trail that connects all the towns in Cinque Terre. We went on the trail that takes you from Monterosso to Vernazza. The hike was so much fun. It took two and a half hours to get to Vernazza. The hike had the most beautiful views! We hiked up and down the extremely steep cliffs along the ocean. And when I mean steep, I mean steep! There were a lot of stairs and sweating, but it was definately worth the view and I definately got in my daily workout! There were wineries all along the cliffs and I hiked by a hotel that had an infinity pool nestled in the cliffside near Monterosso that overlooked the ocean. I really want to go back one day and hike the whole trail that connects all of the five towns. My roommate said she read online that we hiked the most difficult part of the trail.

We ended our hike when we finally arrived in Vernazza. We walked through the little town and went by where the boats were. Vernazza is such a cute little town with lots of colorful umbrellas. There are no sandy beached in Vernazza, just the dock where people sunbathe, so we decided to take the 3 minute train back to Monterosso. We sat on one of the beaches for awhile and stuck our feet in the clear blue ocean, until it was time to catch the train back to Florence. On the way to the station we stopped to get some delicous foccacia, one of my favorite foods that I have found in Italy.

We took the train to La Spezia and had to wait an hour to catch a train to Pisa, which we would then take back to Florence. Once we got to Pisa we realized that the only way to get back to Florence was a bus that was in another hour. Lesson learned that trains do not run very late in Europe like in the US. Luckily there was a bus so that we weren't stuck in Pisa! We found a hotel across from the trainstation that we waited in until we had to take the bus. The bus was not a pleasant experience. Europeans really do smell awful. The smell of B.O. stunk up the whole hour and a half bus ride back to Florence. I was so happy to get off the bus and back to my apartment, especially after how exhausted I was!

It was a long journey and we learned a lot of lessons about train traveling, but Cinque Terre was definately worth all the hassle. I am 100% going to go back again sometime when I can and stay longer. I really want to see all of the five towns and hike the trail again. I loved Cinque Terre! It was so incredibly beautiful!