Italy, Round 3

So this years’ summer adventure was… hiking in Italy!

I decided that this year I would try to get away from the crowds, and do something a bit more sporty, so the Cinque Terre it was!

I’ll tell you a little bit about the trip in general and i’ll write more later!

So we decided to visit the region of Liguria, Italy. Its a mountainous region located in North-Western Italy.

Its full of nature parks, and of course hiking! The main ‘point of interest’ in Liguria is the ‘Cinque Terre’, or the ‘Five lands’. The google definition:

1. The Cinque Terre is a string of centuries-old seaside villages on the rugged Italian Riviera coastline. In each of the 5 towns, colorful houses and ancient vineyards cling to steep terraces, fishing boats bob in harbors and trattorias turn out seafood specialties along with the Liguria region’s most famous dish, pesto.

So we set off. The plan was to take a night train (Thello) to Milan, then head off to La Spezia, from there we took a bus to Biassa, where we then walked to Portovenere (Passing by Campiglia), then trekk to Riomaggiore, procedding to Monterosso al Mare (Passing through; Manarola, Corniglia, and Vernazza). Then hiking back down to Corniglia before heading back to Milan and returning to Dijon.

It sounds kinda zig zag and complicated, but basically we had planned to do a lot of walking. The thing is, neither one of us are really experienced back packers. Sure we’ve both had weekends where we’ve trekked, and we both had done lots of camping. However, the last time I went backpacking I think I was 13 or 14… and my hiking since then has been nothing but day hikes.

So, two inexperienced hikers, a long trek, and too much self confidence…

Planning a hike, versus, hiking the hike

So you can imagine that an inexperienced hiker might look at a map and say ‘oh hey that is doable in 4 or 5 hours with no problem’, and not take into account factors such as: the weight of the back packs and most importantly the elevation!!! (Note to self: Hiking in the mountains is MUCH more difficult than hiking on flat ground)

So the plan got a little modified in the middle of the trip. Certain parts of the journey we (un-proudly) had to rely on the train for transportation rather than our sore and tired feet.

For those who are looking to visit the Cinque Terre themselves, or for those who simply like to read about adventure and travel, I’ll be writing about the different steps of our trip over the next few days. 🙂

Cinque Terre