CINQUE TERRE VIA MILAN

It has been a crazy week, I have been working non-stop practically for 8 days, 5 days in Milan and 3 days in Brisbane. but the experience in Milan was definitely worth the hard work, it was an unforgettable experience...

Milan... this time I was determined to travel out of Milan and to some other cities, should I visit Pisa, Bologna, Siena, Genova or Verona? The names ran through my mind, I started to do some research on this places but somehow I couldn't find the right destination, as I was opening and closing web pages on my safari, I came across a blog and there was a costal village name Cinque Terre [SINKQ-quay TAIR-ay]... interesting.

After some brief research (since I was leaving for Milan that very night, there wasn't hours to spare), I found out that Cinque Terre is a UNESCO (United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization) world heritage site, it is in the Liguria region of Italy, to the west of the city of La Spezia. Cinque Terre consists of 5 costal villages - Monterosso [mon-tere-rol-sso], Vernazza [varre-naz-za], Corniglia [corr-nig-glia], Manarola [mann-na-roll-la] and Riomaggiore [rio-mann-gio-rrea]. This is how I think the villages should be pronounced after hearing it from the Italians, it may not be accurate but it beats the english version definitely!

After a 14 hours flight to Milan, I settled down in Doubletree Hilton hotel, washed up, confirmed my train schedules with the concierge, I was ready to go... alone. In fact, I was kinda of glad to be going alone as I hate it when other people whine to me that they are tired or they have opinions about staying in the hostel. Talking about hostel, I didn't manage to get any reservations since it has to be made at least 1 week in advance but I decided to take the risk. *crossing my fingers*

views of the hotel

It was still quite a rush although I decided to take a train that departs later due to my dilly-dallying in packing my bag. First, I took a tram 12 from a bus-stop near the hotel to a subway station known as Lanza, then proceeded to Milano Centrale train station by the subway, the station was just above the subway itself, it was not my first time to the train station but since I moved to a new hotel and it has been a long time since I went Milan, it took me longer than usual to arrive at the train station, I had 20 minutes left before the train leaves for La Spezia, so I ran to the ticket counter. I gasped when I arrived, they renovated the place... great... ran in again, found the counters with long queues, by the time it was my turn, I had 10 minutes to get my tickets, to railways and find the right track. The moment I was given the tickets, I made a dash for the tracks, panting with due to the slightly-heavy backpack that was burdening me. But, I was glad I made it just in time. I slumped into the seat, looked through the information I printed, ate some chips and cookies. I was hoping to slip a few winks on the 3 hours ride, but sleep never came, which meant I was awake for at least a day. Definitely tired, but still excited.

Arrived in La Spezia, I decided to proceed to Manarola to reserve a room in the hostel first, so I bought a 2 days regional train ticket which allows me unlimited travel through and fro the villages by the train or hiking from one village to another. At Manarola, I found the hostel I was looking for after a 10 minutes walk - Hostel Cinque Terre. I reserved a bed in a single-sex dormitory with 6 beds per room and shared bath, costs me 23 euros. It was almost 5 in the evening before I was ready to explore the villages so I decided to hike from Manarola to Riomaggiore since it was just 1 km and should take around 20 minutes. The view was splendid in the evening with the sun setting and with the sounds of waves crashing onto the rock walls gently. It was what I needed after a day of rushing.

In Manarola:

Along the hike:

In Riomaggiore:

I missed a train back to Manarola after the hike, and it was starting to turn dark, I wanted to hike back since the wait for the next train back was an 1 hour later and it would be 10 at night if I was to walk back to the hostel, so I started walking towards the hiking route and the route was pitch black, there was no way I could walk back in such darkness, and I was scared, what should I do? I decided to have my dinner at the restaurant across the railway while waiting for the train to arrive, it was indeed a blessing in disguise, I had the best mussels linguine in my life! The mussels were cooked perfectly without any kind of unpleasant smell, and the linguine was coated in a white wine sauce matched with olive oil and fresh tomatoes, the meal really perked my spirit and I was ready to face the darkness that awaited me which I reached Manarola.

Finally, I managed to catch the train to Manarola, I was both worried about finding my way to the hostel as well as the safety issue of walking alone in a strange town. It was definitely not safe for an asian girl to travel alone in the wee hours of the night in Europe. I was so nervous that I almost forgot how to pull the hatch to release the train door, thanks to 3 ladies, I managed to alight in time at the right stop. As I walked out of the train station, I took a deep breath and started to walk really quickly, at that moment, I really thank God for my long legs *heh* it was barley 10 minutes when I reached the steps of my destination. Safe! As I climbed the steps towards the hostel, I could feel the lightness of my feet, I never realize that I could feel so unsecured in a place and the relief thereafter was so tremendous.

The moment I flicked the light on, I flicked it off again, there was someone else sleeping in the bunk below mine, I tiptoed to my bunk, left my camera bag and food, tiptoed out of the room to the shared bath area. I was definitely inching for a bath, I couldn't wait to strip and jump into the shower. Rummaging through my shower stuff, my make up-remover was nowhere to be found, I sighed. My attempt at cleaning off my mascara with H2O has turned me into a panda, who cares, there was no one around... The door squeaked open, I smiled, she definitely did smiled, I almost died of embarrassment.

Okay, time to shower, took off my clothes and turned the knob, no water, you must be kidding. Was there a curfew for showering too? I stepped out in my towel which only managed to cover the front portion of my body, and looked at the coin machine right in front of the 2 bathrooms. Right, I need to pay for water? The girl was still here, she came towards me and smiled.

"You need the coin that was given to you when you checked in for the water to run."

"Oh, the coin... I left it in the room."

I looked at my attire, barely dressed while chatting with a stranger. Of course, I feel awkward but I needed help, this was not the time to be shy.

She seems to know that I was feeling uneasy.

"Many people walk in and out barefooted from the shower to the dorm rooms only with towels, there is no need to be embarrassed. When you put your coin in, 5 minutes is all you have, the water will start running, it makes no difference even if you turn it off. I learnt my lesson the very first time."

She chuckled.

I smiled and thanked her for the important advice, tiptoed into the room again and got my coin. As I slipped the coin into the machine, I dashed into the shower and started scrubbing in a frenzy. When 5 minutes was up, I was cleaned and thankfully, no soap bubbles anywhere, this definitely goes into 'guinness book'. The last time I was showering so fast was in Chiang Rai where the water was freezing cold!

As I lay on my bed of crumpled sheets, I wonder where I found the courage to travel out alone. Sleep came and left within a few hours, 5 in the morning, I woke up, washed up, checked out, bought 2 bottles of water and a cup of hot chocolate to start my morning. The hot chocolate was heaven sent, it was thick and creamy, I couldn't help but slurped it thankfully. It was 7 when I finally set out, I couldn't set out earlier since it was still dark.

I wasn't planning on doing the hike but for some reasons, I decided to do it but was ill-prepared for such a long hike, it was a 9 km hike and estimated to take around 5 hours. It was 7 a.m now, train to back to Milan was around 2.30 p.m, which meant I had 7 and 1/2 hours for the hike, more than enough time I though. So I took my time to hike from Manarola to Corniglia. The weather was cooling and air was fresh, it was great to be near the costal area in the early hours of the day. There was no one around and I had the whole view to myself. The colors of the skies was amazing, the view of the village of Manarola looks picturesque, just like the ones you would see in postcards.

The village of Manarola:

When I said I wasn't prepared for the hike, I meant it... it was these babies against the rocks.

Reaching Corniglia wasn't tough since it was quite a short hike, I was motivated to move onto Vernazza after hiking through the wonderful weather and sceneries. But it wasn't long before the sun started to rise and the number of hikers gradually increased. The temperature was slowly rising and my attire wasn't helping much. But I was determined to shoot as many beautiful pictures I could as I hiked.

Corniglia to Vernazza took much longer than I expected, and I knew why, I was stopping way too often to take photographs and changing the apertures, the exposures, the ISO... etc to perfect each picture. And I was unconsciously learning, taking another step towards photography, improving at what I love doing and enjoying it tremendously. It was at the end of the trip that I found myself understanding more about the technical side of photography, this was something that money could not buy, a knowledge that no one could take away from me.

The hike brought much surprises as each paths was different, some paths were rocky, some were sandy, some were made of concrete, some were shadowed by trees, some was away from the sea, some were in the woods, some were just right by the coast, some led to a beach of pebbles, it was indeed interesting and intriguing. It was hard to get lost as the was a white and red marking at different corners to reassure that you were on the right path.

By the time I arrived in Vernazza, it was 1130, close to noon, which meant I had close to 2 hours to make it to Monterosso. I had to take a break, the high temperatures of the day was slowing me down and I had to replenish my water bottles. I spent some time walking around Vernazza, it was indeed a beautiful village but it was bustling with tourists, it was one of the villages that attracted more tourist due to its castle-like buildings and splendid views. I prefer the quiet streets of the other towns but I did enjoy walking through the crowds, gelato was what I needed to cool myself down, it was a bad idea to consume 2 at a go, a little queasy after the second one.

Gosh, I forgot all about the time! 1230, now I had exactly 2 hours and that would seem to be an impossible task since the hike from Vernazza to Monterosso was the longest and most time-consuming. I was wavering, maybe I should do it the next time and relax for now. My aching thighs and calves were begging me to stop, my brain was telling me to take a break, but my body just trudged on to the route towards my next destination. It was now or never, my mind kept repeating that I would never make it in time to Monterosso to catch the train back to Milan and I would be in a fix. What made it worse was the spasms that ran through my thigh, crippling me from time to time as I hiked up the stone steps, why does it have to be uphill now. I was panting and stopping with each step, this would not do...

So I brainwashed a sentence into my head - NO SHADE, NO REST. This was because I could not afford to get tan unevenly now with my attire, and the sun was blazing down on me. I could only stop if there was shade, which was not very often, this motivated me to hike much faster than expected as it was tortuous to be under the hot sun, I tried not to stop as often, but did stop once in awhile to snap a photo or two.

Of course I had to snap these two cuties above, they wanted me in the photo but there was no one else to snap the photo... Well, in actual fact, I was kinda of dirty and sticky, it always good to leave a good impression *giggles*

The village of Vernazza:

The last leg to Monterosso was the toughest, it was definitely physically taxing on my body, it still amazes me now how I got through the spasms and how determine I was to finish to the very end. Surprisingly, it took me only 1 and 1/2 hours to get to Monterosso, leaving me with adequate time to rest and walk to the train station. Upon arriving into Monterosso, the sense of achievement washed over me, this hike had to be the most amazing trip I had this year.

Monterosso was more of beach resort town rather village, and the reason is obvious. The beach is clean and the water is clear, if I had a few more hours, I would gladly remove my clothings and stay on the beach till it was time to leave, but I could only fantasize the image of me running towards the clear sea under the blazing sun, letting the sea cool the heat within me. All right, dream over, it was time to move on...

Every village has its own beauty, and the reason why the villages are still so beautiful is because not many people on this half of the globe are aware of its existence. I pray that the next time I return, the place would be just... like how I remembered in my memories, ever so clear, ever so fresh, ever so natural and ever so timeless...