Cinque Terre, Italy

I am excited to say we've made our way into Italy.  The air is warmer, the water is saltier, and our foreheads are little sweatier.  We came from Switzerland, where all the log cabin homes looked picture perfect and into Northwest Italy where the colourful concrete buildings look ancient and worn down.  After a long train ride we finally made it to La Spezia, a city just in land from Cinque Terre National Park.  We took a (slightly scary) bus ride up the mountain to our hostel in the very small town of Biassa.  The next couple days we spent exploring Cinque Terre National Park, a huge park that runs along the coast of the Medditeranean Sea.  Here you'll find five colourful villages built right into the cliffs.  There are hiking paths that run inbetween each city (or if hiking isn't your thing, you can take a train).  The first day we did the hike in between the towns which turned out to be a LOT of climbing up and down the steep terrain.  Though our calves were in pain the next day, the views we discovered during the hike made it well worth it.  On the second day, we gave our legs a break and took the train... which was an experience in itself.  Can't say I've ever felt so suffocated in a train before.  Being peak season, unfortunately we found ourselves squished into the train rubbing up against a dozen other sweaty tourists.  If you ever get the chance to vist Cinque Terre, we would highly reccomend waiting until at least September so the crowds aren't so herendous.  But despite the crowds, our experience here seemed a bit surreal.  Wandering through these towns we would find the smallest of pathways in between buildings, ancient looking but colourful architecture,  amazing seafood and of course many quaint restaurants selling pizza, pasta, and other amazing Italian dishes.  I'll never forget when we were making our way down into the second small village (we had just decended down from one of the wooded, cliffside hiking paths) and an Italian waiter swiftly passed us along the cobblestone pathway carrying at least three Italian pasta dishes.  The smell that wafted past us was to die for!  It doesn't get more Italian than that.  Where did he even come from? Haha. Oh how I love Italian cooking.  

The photos in this post really speak for themselves.  Every turn we took, there was always something that I could be taking more photos of.  Enjoy!