Cinque Terre

When we first got to the Cinque Terre I was blown away by the difference of this place to all the other places we had been to so far. Everything here is steps and little windy pathways with little concrete houses everywhere. Someone in a wheel chair would have to find a new town to live in, no elevators here. I actually saw someone using a motorised wheel burrow to climb restaurant supplies up to their restaurant, looked like a lot of hard work.

We had a strange little hostel right at the bottom of the hill (thankgod), we got shown our rooms by the owner who was a bit odd and always played piano at reception, so he was coined 'piano man'. I was in a different room to the guys because of booking confusion but meant we met more people. We stayed at the bottom of Cinque Terre in Riomaggiore, where they have one pub, which I loved. All the backpackers would go there, it was interesting that almost every back packer was either American or Australia here.

First thing we did was go to the beach for a swim, first beach on the trip so far. What a funny beach it is, no chance of looking cool walking in and out of this beach. It was all large loose pebbles, trying to walk on them is so dangerous. Someone must do an ankle here everyday, you have to be really careful making your way in and out of the water, especially with the little waves that knock you over. Despite the clear danger, it was a very popular tourist spot, with people trying to sunbake uncomfortably lying on top of awkward rocks.

First night we bought amazing pasta and a peroni beer, and made our way down to the rocks to watch sunset. We met heaps of other Aussies doing the same thing, was the most relaxing moment of the trip.

We met this odd girl on the first night who was keen to show us this 'castle' that stands over the town where you get a great view at night. She was american and when I asked what work she did over here she said she ran on top of an upside down tank at a worlds fair thing in Venice for money. I thought she was pulling my leg but it was true, she is a top pole vaulter in USA and was asked to run on a treadmill on top of a tank for a piece of art representing america. We coined her 'Olympus' cos we kept forgetting her name.

So we were suss on the whole castle thing but we gathered a crew from the hostel and all went up as a big group. When we finally got to the top I was blown away. There was noone around, open to the public and it had the best view of riomaggiore. At night it just looked spectaular with all the lights and the ocean. We had a few beers at the top and chatted all night to the hostel guys.

That morning we got up at 6am to tackle the Cinque Terre Trail. We caught a train to Monteresso and made our way back towards home. The trail wasn't too bad, very tough climbs at a few points but the first two stages were by far the hardest then it got more smooth and bearable. Sam actually took an advanced walking route from Montarola which goes way up into the vineyards but there was no way I was doing that. The views on the walk were breathtaking and finally got to see it for myself instead of seeing all these beautiful pictures everyone has shown me.

That night we went up again and had a few beers on the castle watching the sunset. An aussie family came up who we chatted to for about an hour or two they were great, we had a good laugh and a good chat about football. The father used to play footy in Ballarat actually. We then went to the pub and I met two of the best girls from America. I hanged out with them all night while the boys went home, they were both asian girls who loved planking so we went and planked the Cinque Terre - it was classic. Ill put some photos up soon, I have been a bit slack with photos so far so planning to do a big upload very soon.

Overall Cinque has easily been highlight of trip so far. Next stop Santander in Spain.