Long Story Shortcake: The Mermaid and The Mountain Man

Our guidebook describes Cinque Terre as the outdoorsman's paradise. The region consists of five villages (hence the name Cinque Terre) all strung together along the coastline. You can hike up and down the coast and visit all five villages in a single day. It sounded like a dream for us!

While on this adventure, Joey expressed his discovery that I am a beach person and that he is a mountain person. And I would have to agree. I am very coastal; I am drawn to the water. I love to hang out on the beach all day (although unfortunately my skin tone inhibits me sometimes), but I also just really like being near or on the water. I began swimming at a very early age I am told, and I just love everything about the water. It would be fun to have a boat one day and water ski in the summer. I guess that's just how I grew up, and I loved it. Just about every place I've said I wanted to see on this trip has been on the coast, although it wasn't always intentional.

Joey loves being in the mountains...I think he could settle down in the mountains in the middle of nowhere. An outdoorsman to the core, he is hunting in the fall and fishing in the spring. More than anything, I think he just likes being out in nature. That's what he did while growing up, and he cherishes those memories, and these activities will always be part of who he is.

But we complement eachother well. Joey enjoys the water; he will go to the beach with me, but he's going to be in the shade the entire time. In fact, he proposed to me of the shores of Orange Beach. We both enjoy swimming in the ocean, although Joey has to be careful because of his busted eardrum. Obviously he loves boats and lakes---the man could fish all day. And like him, I love the mountains, too. I enjoy hiking and I've skiied all my life. But I don't so much look forward to sitting up in a tree at 4am in the freezing cold to see if any deer (or racoons, most likely) come my way :) Appropriately, we went skiing for our honeymoon. So we got engaged on the water and honeymooned in the snow (although I didn't really think of that connection until now)!

So we're each more passionate about the other, but we enjoy both aspects enough to enjoy each other while doing them! Was that clear as mud?

Ok to back to Cinque Terre. The five villages, each different from the other, are as follows: the westernmost and largest town of Monterosso al Mare (where we stayed), followed by charming Vernazza, rocky-shored Corniglia where we watched a beautiful sunset, swimming-cove dotted Manorola, and walk of love Riomaggiore.

We stayed in another family-run bed and breakfast. I have to say I am loving this way of travelling. If you remember, we did something similar to this in Greece, although this place in Cinque Terre was much smaller. The owners are always so kind, and you get a glimpse of real life there. In addition to running their B&B, the couple was out picking olives in their fields during the day. Anyway, we stayed in an apartment above their lovely home, and we had a really great view of Monterosso from our terrace. Although there is always a price to pay, and in order to get down to the center of town, we had to walk down at least 10 flights of stairs from our house. Which isn't too bad, but when you have to go UP for the night...mon Dieu. Wine + Tons o Stairs = BAD.

The view from our terrace

Lucky, the family's dog :) Yes, we miss Polly Browne terribly...

Monterosso al Mare, the westernmost village of Cinque Terre and where we stayed

Arrival in Cinque Terre....cloudy the first day!

But perfect the next day! Don't you want to climb and jump off that rock behind me??

Beach stretch in Monterosso

So back to the whole water/mountains thing....Cinque Terre was kind of perfect for Joey and me because it was hiking along the coast. And it was really beautiful. The hike from Monterosso to Vernazza is the longest and the hardest, but the nicest. There are vineyards and gardens everywhere, so you have the lovely scent of lavendar, thyme and grapes as you make the trek. And the water was so blue...it looked so good! And there were caves etched out in the rock, how fun to swim in those. We both wanted to get in the water, but we just didn't have time. I'm sure it was pretty chilly too. Oh well, we'll just have to come back in the summer.

Monterosso

Hike between Montersso and Vernazza

I don't think either of us were expecting that much of a hike (it's between towns, how bad can it be?), but it was indeed quite the hike---lots of uphill action. Luckily, trains run from each town, so once you get to Riomaggiore (or anywhere in between for that matter), you can hop on the train and head back to where you're staying (thank goodness). We loved Cinque Terre! It was definitely worth it to see another side of Italy within the walls of these five little villages.