Cinque Terre

Saturday, April 9 and Sunday, April 10

We arrived at the Santa Maria train station anxiously awaiting our first of many beach trips in April. Cinque Terre is about two to three hours away and worth every minute of traveling!

Our hotel was a short walk from the train station and, more importantly, an even shorter walk to the beach. Within minutes of getting into our rooms, Molly, Maggie, and I were in our bathing suits and ready to hit the sand. Side note, we were in the only room on the very top floor… I think ISA has made a habit of putting us on the top floor of every building without an elevator.

Before the beach, we all decided to get some lunch. Naturally, with lunch we ordered some beachy cocktails- Pina Coladas and Blue Margaritas. The Pina Coladas were straight rum, no pina or colada. I don’t even want to talk about my Blue Margarita. It was supposed to be a frozen mixed drink with tequila, lime, and some blue stuff. But, when the waiter brought out the non-frozen blue cocktail in a martini glass, I almost died. Much like the Pina Coladas, my Blue Margarita was just a tequila shot on steroids. 

The sun was in full force during our lunch. However, once we got on the beach, the sun decided to hibernate behind the clouds for the day. Major buzz kill.

For dinner, we headed to a restaurant recommended to Ali. Apparently, it has the best pesto in town. FYI, Cinque Terre is famous for their pesto, anchovies, and foccacia bread. No offense, Cinque Terre, but I prefer the one and only Buitoni’s pesto. The pesto we had at dinner was very mild and light. It was good! But, I missed the strong garlic flavor of Buitoni’s. Yes, I favor the processed Americanized pesto over the homemade Italian pesto… sue me. 

The next day, the clouds parted and we spent our day soaking up the sun and swimming in the chilly, crystal clear water. I am not usually big on swimming at the beach… the thought of fish and crazy shit swimming around near me gives me the creeps. But, this water was like a gigantic swimming pool. I could see my toes and every rock around me, so I figured I would be able to see any devil fish trying to swim up on me. Some of us (Ali, Cynthia, and Lindsay) did not take into consideration the application of sunscreen and left Cinque Terre looking like boiled lobsters. Thankfully, I escaped sans sunburn! Holla!