Nice and Cinque Terre

After our 21 hour trip to Nice from Barcelona (see previous angry post) we were absolutely exhausted. We thought our luck turned around when we got a private room at the hostel in Nice, but naturally we were woken up by the cleaning lady and kicked out early the next morning. Nice was not our favorite town in the world--the culture is not as rich and unique as Paris, and the beaches are mediocre. Nevertheless, we enjoyed our nap on the beach! Friday night our hostel and the one next door hosted a combined pasta dinner (boxed wine included) for 2 euros. It was a blast! We met people from all over the US and England. We had planned on going to bed early and leaving for Milan the next morning, but we got talking with two sisters from DC, Kelsey and Jessica, and we all decided to take an impromptu trip to Cinque Terre, Italy. This was actually perfect for us because it is on the way to Rome. 

So we left early the next morning on a train to Ventimiglia then La Spezia (the railway strike ended in France!!!). Once we reached La Spezia, the directions on our phone said it was a 20 minute walk to the hostel so we started trekking across the city. Half an hour later in the middle of a very large hill (let us say again that we should have invested in bigger backpacks and ditched the rolling suitcases) we were told by a woman to wait at a bus stop nearby. Good thing we did. It turns out our hostel was pretty much at the top of a mountain overlooking the entire city of La Spezia, and it would've taken at least 2 hours to walk there. 

The hostel itself needed some fixing up to say the least. The lights randomly turned off in the bathroom (convenient if you were taking a shower), the wifi worked about 30% of the time, and we hope people just spilled a lot of food on our mattresses and sheets. But the people that worked there were very nice, they ran a free shuttle to and from the first town of Cinque Terre, and this really is one of the most beautiful places we have seen. 

Cinque Terre is made up of five small towns, some with only one Main Street and a harbor, each lined with mountains on either side. You can travel between the towns by train or ferry, but the main attraction here is the hike between the towns. Saturday night we had time to wander through the first town of Riomaggiore and eat the most delicious pasta dinner of our lives and gelato. We also sat near the water for a while and watched a really awesome crab eat another crab and then get attacked. Colleen even made a starfish friend.

The four of us woke up early Sunday morning to start the hike. Unfortunately the hike between Riomaggiore and Corniglia (the third town) was closed, so we did the hike from Corniglia to Vernazza to Monterosso. Corniglia was on top of a hill so we were already tired by the time we reached the half way point, but we were motivated by the prospect of a beautiful beach at the end. The hike was absolutely gorgeous, although it was mostly walking straight up steps then straight back down the whole time. In all the hike took about 3 hours.

Once we reached Monterosso we spent some time on the beach, exploring the rockier parts of the harbor, and then got more gelato. We took the train back to Riomaggiore at night and ate a cheap pizza/pasta dinner and of course more gelato. Between the two of us we have already tried mint chip, lemon, strawberry, raspberry, pistachio, and chocolate gelato. This really is going to be a problem. While eating, we were very excited to find out that Kelsey and Jessica knew how to play euchre, so of course we played two games.

Last night we just hung out at the hostel with people from Utah, Argentina, Oklahoma, Minnesota, and Poland. This morning we parted ways from Kelsey and Jessica, who are going to Interlaken, and are now on our way to Rome!!!