Cinque Terra, Italy
Jul 23, 2009
For the best part of the last week or so I had the pleasure of acquainting myself with the amazing food, scenery and characters that Cinque Terra, Italy has to offer, while at the same time reacquainting myself with some old friends.
After a long day of traveling from Copenhagen to the small town of Corniglia by way of Munich and Genoa, I made the 45 minute walk up the hill and along a cliffside dirt track to the tiny town of Prevo (In actuality just three houses connected to one another) and strolled into an amazing cliffside villa overlooking the Mediterranean sea.
To say the view was impressive is an understatement. The towns of Corniglia and Manarolo were situated in the background, while underneath a small cove hid a charming strip of beach frequented by those that enjoy getting back to nature. Out on the sea a multitude of vessels of all varieties could be seen drifting by at all hours of the day.
A short stroll further around the cliff face brought us to Vernazza, a charming town situated down at sea level that provided us with overpriced but delicious authentic food and drinks, and a fantastic place to dive and swim both in and out of the harbour. The trek back home was a real thigh burner, but well worth the price for what the town itself had to offer.
Despite a minor setback — in which I decided that climbing a shale cliff instead of taking the stairs back up from the beach was a good idea and was lucky enough to walk away from with only five finger prints missing after slipping at the top and sliding 4 or 5 metres downwards — the trip was truly a joy to experience. The time I afforded myself allowed me to process a lot of thoughts that had banked up over the last few months, and it was also nice to have a genuine chance to do almost nothing at all for a while and truly disconnect from society, even if for just a short while.