The first place I visited while studying abroad in Florence was a city that I have been longing to see in person. That place is Cinque Terre, a collection of cities on Italy's Riviera coastline. These cities consist of Monterosso, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola and Riomaggiore. They are all unique in their own ways but none of them failed to amaze me. With the quaint buildings and city centers, the views of the water was what took my breath away every time. I may be a bit biased, but after living in O'ahu the last two and half years, you get quite used to looking at the blue ocean. After nearly two months of not seeing ocean, it was magical to be by the water once again.
Our excursion was a day trip that started bright and early at 5:45am to ensure we would make it to the train station by 6:45am. We got ready at the Airbnb and headed out to meet our Uber. After a short Uber drive, we arrived at Firenze Santa Maria Novella. We checked in with our guide and 20 minutes later we were on the bus. After driving 2 hours out of city center, we arrived in La Spezia. In La Spezia, we got on our first train which took us to Manarola. We had one hour to walk around the city and take in the ocean view. My favorite part of this city was the viewpoint above the buildings which allowed us to see the entire coastline. After an hour, we met back at the train station and boarded our next train to Vernazza. Vernazza is the city that the Disney movie "Luca" is based on. Seeing the town in person was surreal and it's mind-blowing how accurate the movie really is! We had less than an hour to explore but we were still able to see a small church, some stray cats, and the small beach. Cinque Terre is known for their pesto and I had to put it to the test in Vernazza. I ordered a focaccia bread with pesto on it from a small shop and let's just say it lived up to the hype. It was the perfect pre-lunch snack! Our next stop was Monterosso which was another short train ride. This city was probably my favorite out of the four we visited. The sun was shining and the water was so blue and clear. We had two hours to explore Monterosso, which allowed us to eat a delicious lunch. I ordered a pesto pasta because I couldn't get enough of it, even after my pre-lunch snack. The pesto here was the best I have ever tried! The last city we stopped in was Riomaggiore which is home to the famous picture spot with the colorful buildings on the mountainside. This town was just as beautiful and quaint as the others, and it was the perfect way to end our day trip.
After stopping in four out of the five cities making up Cinque Terre, our day was nearing completion. We arrived back in La Spezia after Riomaggiore, and boarded the bus back to Florence's city center. We arrived at 6pm and were quite exhausted. A quick dinner close to the Airbnb was as much as we could manage before we all crashed and got a good night's sleep.
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