Before I left to study abroad with Forum-Nexus, I knew that I wanted to visit Cinque Terre. A couple of years ago, I visited northern Italy with my family and didn’t make it to Cinque Terre because we ran out of time. Rome was my favorite by far and I was counting down the days to get back. When I saw that I would be going back to Italy with Forum-Nexus, I was so excited. Before Rome, we stopped in Milan for a short weekend visit and saw the perfect opportunity to visit Cinque Terre on the Sunday before we left Milan.
Me and one of my friends, Gianna, went to Cinque Terre together and the journey there was quite an experience. We wanted to be in Cinque Terre for most of the day, so we booked the 6:10 am train that would arrive in Cinque Terre around 9. (Note to future students: there aren’t too many departure options, so the sooner the better!). After the 3 hour train ride, we arrived to Monterosso, the beach town out of the five small villages that make up Cinque Terre. The beach was so beautiful and it was very very hot. We hung out at the beach for about an hour then moved to the next villages. The next stop was Vernazza. It had a bunch of colorful buildings and an area to swim. We hiked up the mountain and took some beautiful pictures. We grabbed some lunch and then we were on our way to Manarola. This was also such a cute small town. We grabbed a souvenir and then took more pictures and relaxed by the water. Each city was different and unique in its own way and I felt like I could have stayed there forever. After that we went to Riomaggiore. This city had such a cool place to swim around and we debated on going cliff diving, but we did not have enough time. We grabbed some gelato and then hopped back on the train that transferred us to each city. It was very easy to get around Cinque Terre quickly, which was nice considering that we were not going to be there for a long time. We left Cinque Terre from La Spezia, the last of the five villages.
Cinque Terre was such an amazing place and I am so glad I finally got to see it! I would recommend it to anyone and I wish I could have stayed longer. I hope to return again some day, so that I can go cliff-diving and hike from city to city.
By: Kim Brinati, 2015 Forum-Nexus alumna
