This day trip out to Cinque Terre's little towns has taken the cake over all the day trips I have ever ventured out to. We went on a guided tour, through trip advisor (which was spectacular!), that left from Florence, Italy to go hiking from town to town (that hike....was a brutal butt burner and is not for everyone). I could not get over the scenic views and heights we were climbing in between towns, I was really slowing down at the higher points, not because I was exhausted (yeah right) but because I wanted to stop and enjoy the view, oh, and I guess to catch my breath since I was so winded. I had no clue I would of had to prepare for a hike such as this. I perhaps am making it seem harder than it is but if you are going, be warned to wear comfy shoes and clothes.
The tour group recommended to bring a bathing suit, so I wore mine under all my clothes thinking we were going to take a nice refreshing dip in the Mediterranean sea after being so hot and sweaty from the sun and hike. But my husband did not get the memo and decided to buy "european trunks" at a little store there (picture below), needless to say they are his favorite now. Sadly, Adriana (my bestie) and I did not make it in very far, the water was unbelievably freezing but we did get our little toes in and that is about as far as we would go. The beach was beautiful and super relaxing, I could of made a whole day out of just sitting there and enjoying the views.
Each town was so cute and it made me so mad that we did not plan to stay here for at least a couple days. On that note, we did our extend our day trip to the evening and let our tour guide take off on the boat without us because we wanted to enjoy dinner (with our friends that were staying there) at one of the restaurants that sat right on top of a hill to take in the sunset and enjoy each others company. We bought tickets for the train to head back later that evening which ended up being an absolute nightmare to get back into Florence because we ended up abandoned at the connecting train station after hours because the previous train was delayed. Thankfully there were enough passengers in the same predicament that the only worker at the station called a bus in to take us the remaining way and we ended up getting back at close to 3am. It was worth it thought because I had one of the BEST meals that night at a place called Belforte in La Spezia (highly recommend the squid ink pasta)! And yes, stop at as many gelato stands as you can handle throughout the day, you will burn it right off anyways.
So that about sums it up, take a gander at what I did manage to capture while I was there along with a few iPhone pics at the very bottom. Thanks for reading!
