She said:

The Cinque Terre continues to live up to the wonderful things I remember from last time I was here . Aside from a few more tourists and much inflated prices, not much has changed. The beauty and serenity of it remains untouched and there are plenty of places to get away from any hustle of tourism. We planned on three nights here, and ended up extending it to four.

Unfortunately, our arrival here was less than desirable. It took us four trains, two of which we paid too much for b/c in the rush to try and make the train, we ended up buying high speed trains with reserved seats. We were also at a loss because this was the first time neither of us spoke the language. Chad missed speaking French, and I missed speaking Spanish to get what we wanted. We decided since we were exhausted, sweating profusely, and without accommodations, that we would pick the least populated town for the first few nights. Hence, we arrived in Corniglia after about a seven hour "travel day".

Since Chad's dad called the moment we arrived, I dropped him on a bench with the bags to converse and I took off with a list of possible accommodations . The first three places were booked, the fourth refused to let me see the room and seemed pretty shady with her price, and although hesitant about the fifth place, I proceeded anyway. These were the directions: "Walk up Via Fieschi, go left on Via Solferino, go right, then immediate left, then left again to #34 and knock on the door to stay in someone's home." Believe it or not, Mama Pellegrini was putting her clothes on the clothesline and had a room for us with a fan and a big bathroom....downstairs. We didn't care, the price was right and we were hungry. We took the room and set out to enjoy our first dinner in Italy which consisted of bread, stuffed mussels, salad, pasta, and wine. Delicious...

The next day we decided to take the infamous Cinque Terre hike. Since we were staying in the third town, we decided that we would go one way to see two towns, and then see the two others the next day. We set out on our hike, vaguely aware that the two towns we were going to cover were the hardest hikes of the five . I can honestly say that I don't think I have ever sweat as much in my life as I did during the first hike. I kept reminding myself of all the carbs I had eaten (and would continue to eat) to go the 90 minutes. Jay, I know you remember those inclines! But, it was well worth it. The views were beautiful and the vegetation and flowers along the way were awesome. We saw aloe plants, bamboo shoots, lemon trees, grapevines, olive trees, and lots of colorful flowers.

We arrived to the first town, Vernazza, and headed straight for the water. Vernazza has a beautiful harbor, bustling with people. The pastel buildings set against the blue water make any angle or spot you're in picturesque. After cooling off, we walked around the town a bit and grabbed a bite before getting on the second 90 minute trail to Monterosso. This hike was harder than the first with more narrow passages, inclines, and declines. It was rigorous, but again, the reward was the priceless views .

Upon arrival to Monterosso, once again, we made a beeline for the water. This town was described as the more resort-like town, and the crowd at the beach confirmed it. The beach was sand, not rocks, and every inch was covered with a colorful towel. We explored the town, following a mini-guided walk to see the high points. We stumbled on a bar for happy hour serving cheap drinks and a free pizza/foccacia buffet. Being budget conscious, and thoroughly enjoying the Jack Johnson and Jamiroquai music that the bartender was playing, we decided to make this our dinner. Hey, they said it was free and we did buy drinks! When we were full and adequately rewarded for our hikes, we hopped on the local train back to Corniglia and slept soundly.

We decided the next morning we would switch towns to get a feel for a livelier, on the water scene. We chose Riomaggiore since that was the easiest to leave from via train. We went to the first place on our list and immediately found a room . We dropped our stuff off and headed in the other direction to hike the other remaining town. We had already heard that this hike was easier than the first two, but the difference was ridiculous. It was like a walk in the park and we were happy for it since we were both still pretty sore. We walked through what's called lovers lane, Via dell' Amore, and ended up in the town of Manarola.

Manarola is the least talked about town with another beautiful harbor and tons of swimming holes to choose from. We explored the town before swimming and grabbed some lunch. After the mandatory 20 minute digestion period, we purchased some goggles, and hit the water. Between looking for fish with our newly purchased goggles, and just peacefully floating, we were in the water until we pruned. It was exactly what you picture when you think of a vacation on the Riviera.

We walked back to our new town of residence, Riomaggiore, to explore and see what this town had to offer . We saw all the highlighted points of interest and took an elevator up to the top of the town. We had dinner and some wine, and then got a bottle to take out to the water. Chad suggested we walk out on the rocks to get the full view of the town, however, after a few glasses of wine and daytime rapidly turning to nighttime, I thought it best to just sit on the rocks by the harbor and hang our feet over the edge (Plus, I am pretty sure our trip insurance wouldn't cover rock climbing at night after a few glasses of wine!). It was great, though, and we watched the sunset and the waves crash until the wine was gone. The water was nice and our feet dangled just low enough to feel the splash when the waves came in and hit the rocks. However, just as we were about to leave, Chad noticed a big wave coming so he told me to pick my feet up. It didn't matter, the wave came fast and completely soaked us both. It was hilarious, and apparently a warning of the weather to come....

When we woke up and decided to stay another day, the sky was cloudy and the sea was rough . The waves were huge and all the boats had been brought in already. We were actually happy for a reprieve from the sun and spent most of the day sitting watching the waves and enjoying the mist as they hit the rocks. We got some laundry done and walked lazily through the town. We grabbed a pizza for dinner and brought it out to the water to enjoy our last dinner on the Riviera.

He Said:

Within fifteen minutes of being in Italy, I missed France and was cursing the French soccer team under my breath for missing that damn penalty kick. I didn't want Italy to win because it seems they love to screw you on the train fares. We just missed our connection to the Cinque Terre because a drunken Sir and Madam from the UK monopolized the ticket booth, so I suggested we hop onto the next train, twenty minutes later, which also went into Cinque Terre, but not quite as far in. A SHORTER distance.

It's strange, because in the time we spent in southern France, Alli and I both commented on one fact - they don't come around and check your tickets . Things are completely on the honor system, it seems, and of course it crossed our minds to just bypass the ticket booths all together. We paid every time, though, and only once did someone ask to see our tickets. Not in Italy. First train, lady checks our tickets, we wind up paying almost triple what we had already paid because we hopped on a "nicer" train. Yeah, that part is true. It did have AC.

So now that you've checked to make sure this isn't the "She Said" portion of the blog, I'll talk about the smells of Italy. That's when I knew things would be OK. As we walked through town to our room, every aroma from every kitchen seemed to find us - garlic, basil, pesto (which was invented in this region of Italy), tomatoes, breads, and on and on. It was like the Schrutt's kitchen, mixed with the Anderson's kitchen, with a dab of Mulberry Street, topped off with the stairwell at 272 Bleecker at dinnertime on Sunday.

The Cinque Terre, or Five Lands, is a collection of seaside villages in the Italian Riviera that sit in the middle of a national park recently created to keep out development . They are all connected by train and by trail, and from various points along the coast, you can see all five towns. Monterosso is the westernmost and has a reputation for being the resort town. Just east is Vernazza with its quaint harbor. The easternmost town is Riomaggiore with a main drag climbing the hill from the harbor, and just west of that is Manarola, the least talked about of the five, the best for deep-water swimming, and when all was said and done, the one that turned out to be my favorite. We decided to stay in the middle town, Corniglia, because it is less traveled and cooler being the only town of the four not on the water. It also allowed us to hike west to Vernazza and Monterosso on the first day, leaving our remaining time for the other direction.

Despite the fact that is was so hot, we enjoyed the walks through the muri a secco terracing that locals sweated years and years to create. The terraces hold vines as far as the eye can see, and we found it interesting that they only seem to grow white grapes. When we reached Monterosso, I took a long swim out to the breakwater rocks to get as far away from the crowds as I could, and I treaded water long enough to hear the church bells chime for at least three 15-minute intervals.

The next day, we decided to move towns and stay in Riomaggiore. We walked "Lover's Lane" with its graffiti love lit (apparently someone loves me 4ever), and enjoyed the walk down to Manarola's harbor . The best three euros we've spent on the trip thus far have been the set of goggles we bought on the way into town. I swam facedown around every rock, between every split in the rocks, and through every school of fish I could find. As a result, I got fried.

That night after dinner, we decided to take a bottle of wine out to the seawall to cool off. We watched as the moon beams reflecting from the water seemed to follow us no matter where we stood, and we sat down to watch the waves massage the rocks. We both talked about how we really love being around the ocean and probably didn't take advantage of it as much as we should have in New York. But then again, you don't really think of New York as a beach town. As we neared the end of the bottle, I poured us each another glass and turned to face the Mediterranean. The sea was angry that night, my friends, and as I reached down to pull the golf ball out of the whale's blowhole, a massive wave crashed into the seawall sending a shower of water down on both of us . That was the end of our night.

One of the things I noticed during our first few days in Italy is that words here don't end in consonants. I don't know why the Italians love the vowel so much, but they make sure that every word ends with one. So, for example, if your name was say, Anthony Perrone, the Y in Anthony would fall into the "and-sometimes-Y" rule we use in English and be considered a vowel. You can just sit on a bench and listen to the aaaahs and the ooooohs and the eeeehs as the old men yell at each other from across the harbor, and occasionally flip each other off in the heat of conversation.

Many of these people living in the Cinque Terre have been here for generation after generation after generation. The famous jugs of Corniglia wine left in Pompeii during Roman times were created by the great-great-greats of the people making the same wine today, and it makes me feel contradicted in a sense about the nature of traveling. People like Alli and I go to see these people, many of whom never leave their own regions, let alone countries or continents. We admire them, their work ethic, their devotion to family, and their satisfaction with simply what's next door. Yet at the same time, we are currently living other, seemingly conflicted ideals that we respect and encourage just as much - the search for knowledge about the world, the experience of seeing other cultures, the tastes of the different foods, and the exposure to people who are completely fulfilled, ironically, without the need for these things. And the funny thing is, we know and love many people like this at home - in our apartment buildings, in our works, and even in our own families.

I wonder what the residents of the Cinque Terre think about the tourist boom that has taken place in the last twenty years. It pads their pockets, so in some ways they are happy. But it has also spoiled their towns, as well. They have to deal with plastic Coke bottles floating in their harbors and everything else that goes with that image. Travelers, too, must fight through the same contradiction, especially the travelers that write the travel books. As Alli said, the Cinque Terre has changed and become more crowded even since she was here eight years ago. But people like to share, and what do we do when we find that one pristine beach or village that has gone undiscovered up until now? We tell someone else. So now everyone knows about the Cinque Terre, but in my opinion, I still don't think it matters. It's a corner of the world worth seeing.