A Very Important Detour
May the 4th |Cinque Terre|
Sadly, our time in Florence was coming to an end. Thankfully, I was looking forward to our next destination. Technically, we were on our way to Ferrara where we would be meeting/staying with a few friends. However, I saw that “on the way” there was the famous Cinque Terre (5 towns), a cluster of Italy’s most colorful coastal towns. I remember being on Pinterest and discovering this gem so I had to include it in my Itinerary!
In order to execute the plan successfully, we had to look at train times. We needed to know when was the earliest we could leave Florence and the latest we can arrive to Ferrara. When we determined this, we then saw how long it would take to get to Cinque Terre and from there, how long it’d take to get to Ferrara. When we found out these durations, we then determined how long we had to explore Cinque Terre, which was a maximum of 5 hours (11am-4pm).
Our train would be leaving Florence and heading to Pisa at 8:28am. After arriving to Pisa at 9:28am, we would get on a train heading to La Spezia at 9:56am. As you can tell, everything was tightly packed. When we booked our train tickets, we just put Florence as our location and La Spezia as our destination. However, they included Pisa in the trip which was totally fine. If you don’t do the Tour of Tuscany, you can definitely choose a train ride with a longer layover in Pisa and go check out the Leaning Tower of Pisa!
When we arrived in La Spezia, we technically hadn’t arrived in Cinque Terre but we were definitely in the same region and fairly close. Riomaggiore, one of the 5 coastal towns, was less than 30 minutes away. Therefore, before heading over to it, we dropped off our bags in a luggage storage that was in the train stop. Then, we made sure to purchase our 5 terre card to ensure we could get on all trains without having to buy/verify a ticket beforehand.
First Stop: Riomaggiore
Must Visit First!
When you go to Cinque Terre you have the option to go from closest to furthest or furthest to closest. I decided to do closest to furthest because I wanted to walk into the Cinque Terre I had been seeing on Pinterest. If you did furthest to closest, you wouldn’t get the postcard Cinque Terre because Monterosso al Mare is catered to a beach and it is not a vertical town.
There was a lot of people in Cinque Terre on this day. I can’t blame them, the weather was perfect! When we got on the train, it was absolutely packed but we managed to find a space right by the door. I was actually able to see the wonderful sea views on the train on the way to Riomaggiore so I enjoyed that aspect. Finally, after a few minutes, we arrived in Riomaggiore.
Michelle and I were a little too reliant on our phone maps that we didn’t realize that all we had to do was keep taking rights and we would get to the famous viewpoint. Therefore, we got lost! We climbed up the town looking for the spot but ended up taking a full circle back to where we were meant to go. However, we did get some nice shots throughout our detour.
After our “hike” we finally found a way to get back down the village. We found these crevices with sketchy stairs that led us down to the waterfront. As we went down, I noticed the red building that comes out in every Riomaggiore picture and that’s when I knew we were heading in the right direction. Once we made it down, we went across that side, went up a ramp and there it was, the famous photo.
Of course, Michelle and I proceeded to take a bunch of photos and let time pass us by. I really loved Riomaggiore. To be able to see with my own eyes the wallpaper I had saved on my phone, was truly an experience. After a while, we were off to the next town.
Second Stop: Manarola
By this time, Michelle and I were already sore from all the unnecessary hiking that we did. However, we had to visit the next town. Soon enough, you’ll understand why. Once we got there, we went through a tunnel that then left us in a pathway of shops. If you looked toward the sea, there was a platform that has a ramp to the side that you have to go down. You must continue forward past the shops to get to the viewpoint of Manarola. However, it took a minute for me to realize that and by this time, Michelle gave up on walking. Therefore, I was on my own.
As I made my way to the viewpoint, I started to get hungry so I decided to grab a bite. I remember hearing all about the pesto being the best in Liguria, the region Cinque Terre belongs to. Therefore, I decided to get myself a pesto pizza slice to eat, once I get to the viewpoint. Let me tell you, that was such a good idea because I got an Instagram worthy shot and I got an awesome view while munching on my pizza! I even got to sit next to an artist in his element, truly an experience.
After this blissful moment, I headed back to Michelle so we can head to the next town. She grabbed a quick bite before heading out and this allowed us to see a bit more of Manarola as a village.
Next and Last Stop: Vernazza
To our surprise, we already were nearing time to head back to La Spezia by the time we got to our third town. Everything considered, it made sense since we got lost in the first town and took so much time taking pictures. It was possible to hit up all towns but what was important was that we did visit the most popular of the five towns. Manarola, Riomaggiore and Vernazza were the most popular, then came Monterosso al Mare and then Corniglia. Besides, by the time we got to Vernazza, Michelle literally could not keep walking and my phone died which was very unfortunate.
Again, I was off to explore the town on my own, this time with a dead phone. Consequently, I did not get any pictures of Vernazza but the memories are still fresh in my head. When you get to Vernazza, there is a lot of restuarants that you have to pass to get to the waterfront. When I got to the waterfront, i wasn’t as impressed as I was with Manarola and Riomaggiore so I’m truly grateful my battery wasn’t dead in either of those two towns. Hoping to get a better view, I set off to wander “without a phone”, I could’ve gotten kidnapped.
As I wandered about, I saw a sign that said “Doria Castle”, so of course, I climbed up the stairs to that castle. It was about 2 euros to go to the very top. Therefore, I handed my coins and set off. It was pretty cool to be up there but a bummer I couldn’t get any pictures. Afterwards, I went to a bar I had passed on my way to the castle and tried Limoncino for the first time which is native to Cinque Terre. The sweet bar attendant even gave me cookies for my drink so I just sat and took it all in. The Limoncino was pretty strong but tasty.
When I went back to meet up with Michelle we caught our train back to La Spezia. Thankfully, I was able to charge my phone and relax. When we got La Spezia we retrieved our bags and used the UC before catching our train back to Pisa to then head to Ferrara.
Our train ride to Ferrara felt quite long but we took advantage and relaxed After 3 hours and a half, we arrived in Ferrara and our friend Rebecca was able to pick us up from the train station and take us to our home for the next three nights. Stay tuned to hear all about our trip in Ferrara!
Please leave a clap/response after you read as this shines light on you as the amazing reader!
Grazie Mille RG xx
