Sorry for the delay in posting. Things here are so busy and the weeks are going by faster than I would have ever expected! I have officially been here for a month. its unreal how fast time flies. I am so happy with my decision to study abroad! I love every minute!
Last Friday was the feast of the exultation of the Holy Cross, so Rylee and I decided to go to daily mass at the Basilica Santa Croce in Gerusalemme. This church is home to the relics of crowns from the crown of thorns, a nail from Jesus' crucifixion, the plaque that hung on the cross, St. Thomas' finger, and a piece of the holy cross! It was hands down the coolest relics I have ever seen and the experience was well worth waking up early and walking through the rain!
Last weekend I went on my first real travel weekend to Cinque Terre. Cinque Terre literally means 5 lands--its five different towns connected through hiking trails and trains. It is definitely one of the most beautiful places I have ever been.
Cinque Terre is a three and a half hour train ride north of Rome so early Saturday morning, my friends Rylee, Tim, and I got on a train to start our 24 hour adventure in Cinque Terre. We got into the main train station La Spezia around 11:50 and headed to the first of the five towns, Riomaggiore to get some lunch and check into our hostel. When we first got off the train in Riomaggiore I was overcome with how beautiful it was. There was crystal clear water, colorful buildings, and a lively town. We headed into the center of town and had pizza for lunch. The four cheese was delicious! After lunch we set out to get our hostel. Through an adventure of multiple sets of bad directions, hiking up a hill twice and three times through a tunnel we finally found our hostel. We got so lucky that our hostel was really clean and we had a private room! 
After checking into our hostel we headed to the last of the five towns, Monterosse to start our hike. We walked around the cute little town and headed on a hike that we thought would be about 1.5 hours and for intermediate hikers. Little did we know that the hike would have a million stairs, would take 2.5 hours, and could have easily been described as going to hell, coming back and then going back to hell. All of that said the view at the end of the hike was completely worth it! We finally made it to Vernazza and decided to sit on some rocks, go swimming and watch the sunset. It was an absolutely amazing experience! The colors are so beautiful and the sunset was incredible!
After watching the sunset we decided to go to Manarola, the second town, for dinner. Cinque Terre is known for their pesto, its where pesto sauce was created. Pesto is my absolute favorite, so dinner was easily one of the best pasta meals I have had since I've been in Italy! We were all completely wiped out after our long day of traveling and hiking, so we decided to walk back to our hostel in Riomaggiore and get some rest for the next day. 
Cinque Terre is known for its trails between the five towns, especially the famous Via Dell'Amore. We walked that from Manarola back to Riomaggoire and the stars were beautiful! Since we couldn't see all of the beauty of the trail, we decided to come back in the morning. When we woke up we had a quick breakfast and headed down to the marina in Riomaggoire. This town is so adorable and the marina was no different! Seeing the beautiful colors were a great way to start the morning. 
After going to the marina we headed off to the Via Dell'Amore The trail did not disappoint! The view was amazing. Seriously one of the most beautiful places in the world! If you come to Italy you must go! After our walk we went to the third town, Corniglia, which was the only one we had yet to visit. We grabbed quick panini's and it was back to the train station to head back to Rome. This 24 hour trip was incredible! I love Cinque Terre!!!
P.S. the title of this post is a reference to the song "Keep Your Eyes Open" by Needtobreath. It seemed to be my motto through hiking! Check out the song!!
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