Down Time in the Cinque Terre

After partying hard in Rome, our group decided that we needed to take some downtime to relax and truly appreciates some of the natural landscapes and quaint towns in Italy. Our group headed to Pisa to take some tacky tourist pictures with the Leaning Tower and look around this small town.

As a quite unorganized group, we did not book a hostel in Pisa and spent a good 45 minutes trying to find one at 1am when we arrived in the city. Instead, we stayed in an adorable place called Hotel Minerva which was recommended by another hotel which was full.

http://www.hotelminerva.pisa.it/

Their staff were extremely helpful and friendly and they had a wicked breakfast buffet. Because we arrived rather late, the concierge gave us a discounted room for 130 euros (32.50 euros each) which was a bit more expensive than what we were used to but we were just happy to find a room.

The following morning, we realized that this city was quite small (seeing that we walked through the majority of the city in under an hour). After seeing the Leaning Tower of Pisa and doing a bit of shopping (I got two knock off Chanel purses and the boys found real Duff Beer), we decided to head to the town of Biassa.

Although Biassa is not one of the towns that make up the Cinque Terre, it is a tiny... and I mean TINY, town which is not to far away from these gorgeous cities. We booked accomodations at Ostello Tratmonti which is a former school or education centre-turned hostel.

http://www.ostellotramonti.it/

The city of Biassa (if you could call it a city), had stunning views of the water and the main city La Spezia. Situated on top of a mountain, this town was a great place to go hiking and enjoy the fresh air. However, there was really not much else to do there. The town boasted one pizza place, one tiny market, a tobacco shop, one restaurant, a church and some houses. After getting some much needed R&R, our group headed to the Cinque Terre.

This was absolutely one of the most gorgeous sites in the trip. We were able to hike through four of the cities in about 3 hours and then went to the last one by train because the pathways were closed due to landslides. The five cities, Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Monterosso and Vernazza offered the most beautiful landscapes that I have seen thus far on the trip. Also, Vernazza had stunning beaches that were accessible to the public (many of the cities are on the coastline but too high up to access the beaches). After a rewarding day hiking the cities' trails, we took a boat ride back to Riomaggiore and then a bus back to Biassa.

Two short days in the Cinque Terre region proved to be the perfect recooperation period for our group. Following this break, we continued our partying ways in Florence, Venice, and Milan. Post to come soon!