After a long day of travel, we had finally arrived in Cinque Terre. We stayed in the last of the five towns called Rionaggiore. This town was the closest to La Spezia and was known as the least touristy one of the five, so we were excited to have a good local experience. To get to our hostel we had to walk up a very steep hill, it literately felt like we were walking the streets in San Francisco. With our heavy packs attached to our backs, it sure felt like a good work out. After settling into our new home for the next two nights, we went out for pasta and wine, Italy's best! Of course we had to try the famous Cinque Terre pesto, which I found to be extremely delicious. It was so nice to sit down, eat, and enjoy the view of the ocean. Unlike in the US, the waiters never rush their guests by bringing out checks soon after the meal is finished. I really enjoy that about Europe, because it really allows you to enjoy the present moment and forget about having to do anything else. So after our long and delightful dinner we went back to our hostel were we spent couple hours chatting with another traveling group. After finally escaping Barcelona, we thought that we had dealt with the worst. Well as it turns out, they had some rather scary experiences of their own. In the beginning of their trip they actually ended up losing one of the guys they were traveling with. What ended up happening is that they had to catch a bus to Paris, but the guy that ended up getting separated from them could not find his passport. So the rest of the group had to leave him behind so that their tickets did not go to waste. The guy that was lost thought that he could quickly go and get a new passport at the embassy, and than catch the next train over to Paris. Well it turned out that this entire time, his friends actually had his passport with them on the bus which had already arrived in Paris. Long story short, the poor guy ended up finding a way into Paris. However, his problems were not over yet. Because he had previously given all of his change to a homeless person he had no way to call his friends to figure out how to get to the place they were staying at. So he ended up spending some quality time at a McDonald's which luckily for any US travelers provides both wifi and a bathroom free of charge. Finally he had some how got a hold of his group and they were once again reunited! Although they were laughing about the whole dilemma now, I could only imagine how stressful this must have been on all of them at the time. This made Michelle and I extremely thankful that we never had to deal with anything stressful completely on our own. Not to mention while being in a country with a foreign language! After our chat we finished off the night by getting gelato, lemoncello, and enjoying the company of the locals. What a great way to spent my birthday! Could not have asked for a better twenty first!

The next day we spent exploring each of the five towns. Each and everyone had unique characteristic to it. Monterosso is known as the beach town. Here we spent some time walking around the little alleys and exploring the shops within them. In this town I had the best lemon covered clams I have ever had in my entire life! They were incredibly fresh and delicious! Nothing will ever top fresh fish produce right by the sea!

In the next town called Vernazza we walked over to the bay side and got ourselves some delicious cappuccinos. While on our journey through Europe this has been my ultimate drink of choice! We found a point that overlooked the entire city, and sat there attempting to take in as much as we could of this place.
To get to Corniglia, which was just south of Vernazza, we had to clime up a hillside of 365 stairs. At that point it actually started to hail. But we simply did not care. We both had towels handy in case we ended up at the beach, so instead we used them as shelter and covered ourselves as much as we could. By the time we reached the top of the hillside the rain was beating down on us pretty hard. Almost everything was closed and the town was quite. We stood at the very top and admired the large garden terraces. They seemed to go on for miles, and at the end was the Mediterranean Sea. Unlike the other four towns, this one was not as assessable to the sea because the town itself rests on a mountain top. The sight was magnificent and I could not believe my own eyes. In a way we were glad that it was raining. There was not a single person in sight and everything around us was silent. All we could hear was the sea and the sound of the rain falling on the leaves of the trees. The whole experience was so incredible that it was difficult to turn around and walk back to the train station. More so it was difficult to now walk down the 365 slippery steps!
Manarola, the town closest to where we were staying, had by far exceeded all of my expectations. Just to the side of the town there was a steep hillside that overlooked the entire town. It was so peaceful there. All we could here were the waves clashing against the rocks. We actually ended up doing some yoga there! Which was a goal of mine while visiting Cinque Terre. It was so relaxing to be there. It is almost to difficult to put such an incredible experience into words... All in all this was an absolutely wonderful place to visit! Miss it already! But I know that I will be back!