well we are almost to the single digit countdown until we return to the states and if i start talking about that i'm going to cry while i type this so i will just stick with talking about the day trips we have gotten to do these past couple weeks. i know a lot of you think we don't actually have homework to do and all we do is travel, but we have been crazy busy with end of the semester group projects and we are actually going to have to study for our finals. so mom and dad, if you are reading this, you should know that i am learning a ton. and not just about how to travel in different countries.
katie bug and i were fortunate to get a train pass before we came here. there are a lot of mixed reviews and opinions on if these guys are worth the money so if you are looking into getting a eurail, let me know and we'll chat in detail, but i'll just say it has served us well and paid for itself in the first 4 days of travel. but now that the semester is winding down, we have a few travel days left and we have been trying to squeeze in some day trips within italy, even if that means taking our study material with us…. or my laptop so i can catch up on my blogging….
last week katie and i went on a trip that completely went all wrong and yet it was so much fun and we loved the little adventure it ended up being. one of the things i will miss most about italy, and especially tuscany, the region florence is in, is the countryside. when people come to italy for just a few days they want to hit up the big cities…venice, milan, rome, florence, naples, etc. and i don't blame them. but some of the most beautiful places we have been are the hill towns…assisi, siena, san gimignano, and the place we had the wine tasting with my mom when she was here at the beginning of the semester. the smaller cities are awesome, still have so much history and art, and some of them sit up on a hill and you can see for miles from them. my cup of tea.
before i came here i had never seen the movie "under the tuscan sun" and even after coming, my mom still discourages me from watching it because of the terrible storyline. but i wanted to see it because it was set in this region. still haven't seen it and probably won't but my friend jenna recommended going to cortona, the town it's set in, for the day if we had time. we thought it sounded like a good idea so we looked up in our handy dandy rick steve's guidebook and saw that there are actually several other little towns in that region that we could possibly see while we were in that area. Montepulciano and Montalcino are two cities known for the wonderful wine they produce and Pienza, we heard from our new a&m friends we met in cinque terre, is worth visiting because they are known for their pecorino cheese. we saw that they were all fairly close so we decided we were going to try to make it work where we saw maybe 3 of those cities that day and we would just figure out the train once we got there. so our first stop was cortona.
i. love. cortona. it sits on the edge of tuscany so when you look out over the countryside, you can see into the region next to tuscany, called umbria. when i checked the forecast that morning before we left, i saw that it was suppose to be sunny and 70, with a 10% chance of rain. perfect, we thought. we were tired of seeing so much rain in florence, sunshine would be nice for a change. we got to cortona and figured out that we have to get on the bus to go up to the city center to walk around. as we were waiting for the bus, it just so happened to start raining. perfect. no rain jacket, no umbrella because i'm stubborn and was trying to go the whole semester without buying one, and we are standing outside of a roofless bus stop. however, the drive up to the city was beautiful and the sun actually decided to start coming out. when we got off the bus we got to take a couple of pictures of the landscape then we were going to check the times for the bus down and there was a sign in italian of course that we think tells us that the main and only road going up to the city center will be closed all afternoon from 1:30-5:30 for buses. so if we drove a car up there we could get back down or if we wanted to take a taxi, but other than that, we wouldn't be able to use the buses to get back to the station.
we decided to use our guidebook to lead us to some of the main things there is to see but we weren't very successful. we got to see a cool market in the main piazza since it was saturday and we walked down to see a church but it was closed. by the time we walked back up the hill, it was time for lunch. normally in italy the waiters are all about getting you in and out as fast as possible especially when it comes to lunch. it doesn't make a difference if there are 2 or 20 of you, they ask you what you want to eat, bring you your food, and bring you your check. no socializing and no messin around. usually. today they decided to take a loooonnnngggg time to bring me and katie our food and our check and by the time we got done eating, we had enough time to grab some gelato at gelateria snoopy (yes it's a real place and yes we will always find time to get gelato) and hop on the last bus down to the station. we were looking forward to seeing more but we figured we'd try to get to the other cities and stay there a little while longer.
our next stop was supposed to be montepulciano. we read in our guidebook that we were supposed to take a train to the small station in chiusi then you can get to montepulciano from there. well we heard there was a bus that gets you to the city since these cities are off the main lines and they're small cities so buses are available but buses tend to take longer and get stuck in traffic and all that so we were hoping it was all going to get figured out. when we got off the train in chiusi, katie and i walked by a train schedule board to see what time the train left to take us back to florence. instead, we found out that we could take a train to montepulciano. heck, why not just take a train? it's probably faster and we didn't have to pay since we were using our train pass. easy decision. well, we pull up to montepulciano a mere 30 minutes later but we find out soon after that there is only one bus a day from montepulciano station that takes you to the city center (7 pm) and the other times of the day, you have to take a taxi. that's why they recommend taking a bus…. because that's the only way to get to the city center. OK guidebook thanks for the clarification.
knowing we didn't want to spend money, we decided to just wait for the next train and go to siena. we had already been to siena once at the beginning of the semester with my mom and mrs. leach but we loved it and were happy to go back again. we figured that was an easy solution, of course nothing about this day was turning out to be easy. it was now late afternoon and we saw on the train schedule that montepulciano only has a train coming through to go to siena once an hour, but for us, it would be another hour and a half. thus began the photo shoot, the wandering around the city getting gelato (yes, again), stumbling across a soccer game, and just sitting and waiting for the next train. finally, the train arrived. we got on the three car train for a snug 2 hour train ride into siena and we were awakened from our slumber by the super loud spanish folks sitting next to us. they sang a bunch of spanish songs then switched to english/american songs like mambo #5 which was popular when i was in 6th grade, once they saw we were awake. the train ride to siena was gorgeous- again, exactly what i love about italy. rolling green hills, one house and vineyard per 1/2 mile. wide open spaces.
we arrived in siena and hopped on another bus to the city center. we walked through some of the same streets we had that first week in italy and i really love that we got to see it again because it's just a cool city. we decided to take the last train out of siena to florence so we could wander and grab some dinner. it gave us around 3 hours, which we thought was a perfect amount of time. we took some pictures and realized the sunset was going to be beautiful so we tried to find some streets that led us to a higher point to overlook the city. we were unsuccessful but we did find a mexican food restaurant and after 3 1/2 months of pizza and pasta and wine, mexican food and a beer sounded oh so delicious. take a burrito and some taquitos that we made sure had some guacamole on it and add a corona with lime and you get a pretty decent mexican food dinner. we started trying to rush to the train station because we realized we were on the other side of the city and we didn't know how the bus system worked. we decided to bypass the bus altogether because it was a pretty straightforward walk to the train station. after 45 minutes, we got there with a few minutes to spare and were just chillin at the platform when the train rolls up, everyone got off, including the train staff, and nobody got let on.
uhhh….what? we can't get on this train? is there another train going to florence tonight? no. are there any buses going to florence tonight? no. so what are we supposed to do? i don't know. *shoulder shrug* not their problem i guess. well, we come to find out that there is a train strike that started at 9 pm and the last train was leaving at 9;27 p.m. so that was perfect. to look on the bright side with no toothbrush, no change of clothes, no nothing really, there could be worse places to get stuck. we were just planning on taking the city bus back to the center and finding some place to stay. i had my friend chi on the phone, about to have her look up places to stay when a girl who spoke english but wasn't american (we couldn't place the accent at this point…) asked us if we spoke english.
…yes yes of course we do. we couldn't blend in to italian culture even if we wanted to.
well, she was a precious swedish girl who was living in siena studying law and she had 2 friends in town visiting her who absolutely had to get back to florence that night because their flight was at 6:30 the next morning to go back to sweden. she was fluent in italian and english and had already talked to another italian guy who was about to have a meltdown if he couldn't get back to florence as well as a german man who needed to get back. the deal was, there were a whole lot of taxi drivers who would be happy to drive us since we were all stranded, for 120 euros, each passenger having to pay 20. we said why not, it would be less than what we would've had to pay to stay somewhere in siena so we took them up on the offer. italian driver, italian in the front seat, swedish couple, german guy, and 2 american girls piled into a taxi and got back to florence in about an hour's time. we learned so much about the couple and loved talking to them and hearing so many different perspectives about politics and cultures and it was really quite an enjoyable experience. and they all spoke english which was cool. sure we were out 20 euros but i don't think that day could've ended better considering the day we had.
lessons learned: don't trust any guidebook except rick stoves. always try the gelato where you are. don't ever be afraid to ask questions. laugh when you get lost, and sometimes it's okay to take a taxi with 5 other people you don't know :) makes for a great story.
up next: naples, varenna/lake como, and verona! only 10 days left!
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
holiday by the sea: cinque terre
*blogspot is not letting me upload pictures unfortunately. go look on my facebook to see pics even though they don't do it justice. gorgeous place!!*
so imagine that- i'm a couple weeks late on this trip but it's worth documenting so i'll go ahead and make a few remarks about it. cinque terre is one of those places that you HAVE to go when you are visiting italy. it's a truly beautiful beautiful place- with trails leading you between the five cities that give you amazing views of the mediterranean sea. unfortunately there was a really bad rainstorm in october and as a result, a couple of the cities experienced flooding and destructive mudslides that wiped out houses, vineyards, one of the beaches and even killed a few people. because of this, they have been working very hard to clean it up in lieu of those cities being so dependent on tourism to bring in their income and some of the trails were re-routed and some are still closed so you have to take a train between one of the cities.
some people choose to go to cinque terre to see all 5 cities in one day and take the train to see all of them but my friend jessie and i decided to take it slow and were determined to take as many of the hikes as we could, and enjoy just being outside. we were also very lucky because it was a slow weekend and since the forecast was cloudy with some rain, there were no crowds anywhere and it was heaven. so friday afternoon we set out as soon as jessie and i were out of class and took the train to the first town of riomaggiore.
this was the first time we didn't book a hostel and we were hoping this wasn't going to come back to bite us. as soon as we stepped off the train, all we saw was water and it was glorious. next stop was of course: a cafe to get a cappuccino. after we ordered, we sat down, jessie facing the door, and all of a sudden jessie goes "look! texas a&m!" and i whip my head around and there is a girl standing in the street with a maroon texas a&m shirt on. (i actually had that same shirt from when i visited in high school….) without even really thinking i hopped up and ran out to the poor girl and started telling her how i was from texas, and all my best friends from high school and camp go to a&m, and how sorry i was if i scared her but when you see people from america, and especially texas, i can't help but say hello because heck, they're basically family when you're over here. we started asking the basic questions like where we were studying, what year we were, who all we are here with, and where we were staying tonight. we told them we hadn't really figured that out yet and that we were going to need to look around at some point tonight. they told us we could just stay with them in their hostel- it had a bunk bed with an extra queen that no one was staying in it. so we said why not! split the cost of the room making it cheaper for everyone and all of a sudden, we had a place to stay. we got their numbers and decided we needed to go exploring. jessie and i wandered through riomaggiore until we came to the top of a hill that overlooked the sea and had a park bench and a giant wooden cross. photo op.
as we were walking down the one main road in riomaggiore, i realized we still hadn't called our other two friends, shannon and jamie, who we were planning on seeing that weekend. right as i set down my backpack to get my phone out, i look over and they are looking at us through the window of their restaurant. small towns these are. we waited for them to finish dinner, got some gelato, then took them up to the scenic overlook before jessie and i decided we wanted to grub. this region is famous for inventing pesto so everything this weekend was sure to have pesto on it. pesto gnocchi, pesto pizza, pesto focaccia…the list goes on. we met up with our new friends that night and chatted for a long while before we finally went to bed.
we woke up early the next morning to meet shannon and jamie to walk on via dell amore or the "pathway of love"- the famous road that traces the shoreline between riomaggiore and manarola. the walk normally takes around 15 minutes but we made sure we documented well and it took us a good hour or so to make it to city #2. i ain't complaining- the walk was beautiful and it was filled with lots of laughs and pictures. there is a tunnel at about the midway point of the walk and we decided to leave our mark like everyone else had.
manarola is the town that you see on all the postcards of cinque terre so naturally, we had to take a postcard pic AFTER we got some of the most delicious gelato i've had in italy at 9:30 in the morning. if you know anything about me, you know that i love sweets but mainly sweets pertaining to chocolate. even though there are lots and lots of different gelato flavors everywhere we go, i always stick to the chocolatey/oreo/chocolate chip type flavors. i'm loyal what can i say. this gelato was mandarin, the most delicious fruity gelato i've ever had.
after the postcard pictures, we said goodbye to shannon and jamie and jessie and i started our hike from manarola to corniglia, city #3. this was one of the hikes that had to be rerouted and it was a heck of a hike (i'm out of shape. thanks gelato and pizza) but it was beautiful nonetheless. we took our time, met some fellow study abroad students and a cat that jessie is obsessed with, and enjoyed the on and off again rain that sprinkled down on us. at the top of the hike we sat and had some time with Jesus and enjoyed the view, where we could see manarola on our left and corniglia on the right.
we met ruthie and katie after jessie and i enjoyed some pesto pizza for lunch. corniglia might have been the coolest city we saw. we got to hike almost all the way down the beach (unfortunately it was closed) but again, beautiful views, cool little town. i forget some people get to actually call these places home.
ruthie and katie were doing the day-trip thing so once we looked around corniglia with them, we took the train to vernazza and separated so we could do the last hike the next day before we went home. vernazza was the city that got hit the worst from the mudslides and it is still suffering economically and scenery-wise. no more beach, lots of mud still being cleaned up, and business is just very slow for apartment-renters and restaurants. we sat on the edge of the not so beachy-beach for a little while after katie and ruthie left and decided to go exploring because after all, we didn't have a place to stay for the night…again… we wandered up the streets and they kept going up and so did we. we found a couple bed and breakfasts and apartments and the first one was just too expensive for 2 people and the next one no one answered when we buzzed asking if they had anything available, which would have been a stupid question because nothing is full in these cities. we were ascending on the winding roads until we could no longer see many roofs and were only looking at the skies. what awaited us was elizabeth's.
third time's a charm. we rang the doorbell for elizabeth's and no one answered the door but a man called out "buongiorno!" from the terrace above us. we said buongiorno and asked him if he had a room available for 5, knowing our price range and hoping we wouldn't have to bargain much. he said yes and to hang on (not exactly those words, it was mostly broken english/italian, or itenglish as we have come to call it…) and he would get his sister to come help us. she said she had 2 rooms available for 5 of us at 20 euros/person. it sounded like a steal but we asked to see the rooms first. she led us up some extremely narrow and windy staircases to the first room which was literally just that- one room with one bed and a bathroom. that would be for the boy. (jessie's roommate in florence and 2 of her friends who were visiting from their study abroad program in ireland were also going to be in cinque terre that night so we called them to make sure they would stay with us before we committed.) we kept climbing the stairs and came to the very tip top of this apartment building to the ladies' room and it was an incredible view. me and jessie just looked at each other, stunned, and called megan and they agreed to get these rooms with us. the lady probably just pocketed the money since they are hurtin for some business but we didn't mind- we loved that we found this and were so thankful the Lord provided a place for us to stay. we brought jessie's hammock but with the rain and chilly weather, we weren't sure that would have been very suitable to sleep in….
once megan, brady, and erica got to vernazza we got them settled and hung out on the terrace before we left for dinner. pizza and wine it was and we spent the rest of the evening just staying up talking and enjoying those precious moments. we fell asleep and woke up to the sound of the waves outside our door. i could get used to that :)
the last day we got up and hiked from vernazza to monterosso al mare, the last city, and the only one that really has much of a beach. we took our time, stopped to take lots of pictures, and were even more thankful we stayed in vernazza when we passed a million and a half people starting the hike from the opposite direction. the hike took less than a couple hours and the weather was perfect for us. once we started the last 15 minutes or so of the hike, we looked out over the sea and we can just see this wall of rain headed for monterosso. we picked up our pace and felt slightly bad for those people who had just started their hike because they were about to get pounded. as soon as our feet hit the city, the rain came. and when it rains, it can pour. we hid out under a bridge for a little bit while megan erica and brady ran to find an atm and we decided this would be a good time to have some lunch and make our game plan for the next few hours. we had eaten plenty of pesto but hadn't had focaccia yet so we were ready to indulge in some of those delicacies. lunch was filled with lots of it and even a nutella pizza to finish it off. we wandered around the town a little bit and did some shopping before we enjoyed gelato on the "beach" and hopped back on the train to florence. side note: if you ever go to cinque terre, buy some oranges or lemons. it's probably a safe bet that if every trail is lined with orange and lemon trees, they're pretty tasty and you should take some home with you. i've never eaten a slice of lemon whole before we got these and took them home to cook with. judge me but they were delicious, peel and all.
so all this to say, the guidebooks are right, you should absolutely go to cinque terre if you are in italy. make it a priority and stay for more than a day. enjoy the hikes, give these cities some business and help boost their economy. wander through the backroads, knock on the door of a b&b or apartment renter and see what kind of deal you can get. oh and its okay to make an effort to talk to people that you know are from your home country and sometimes it's okay to have gelato at 9:30 in the morning. you only live once.
so imagine that- i'm a couple weeks late on this trip but it's worth documenting so i'll go ahead and make a few remarks about it. cinque terre is one of those places that you HAVE to go when you are visiting italy. it's a truly beautiful beautiful place- with trails leading you between the five cities that give you amazing views of the mediterranean sea. unfortunately there was a really bad rainstorm in october and as a result, a couple of the cities experienced flooding and destructive mudslides that wiped out houses, vineyards, one of the beaches and even killed a few people. because of this, they have been working very hard to clean it up in lieu of those cities being so dependent on tourism to bring in their income and some of the trails were re-routed and some are still closed so you have to take a train between one of the cities.
some people choose to go to cinque terre to see all 5 cities in one day and take the train to see all of them but my friend jessie and i decided to take it slow and were determined to take as many of the hikes as we could, and enjoy just being outside. we were also very lucky because it was a slow weekend and since the forecast was cloudy with some rain, there were no crowds anywhere and it was heaven. so friday afternoon we set out as soon as jessie and i were out of class and took the train to the first town of riomaggiore.
this was the first time we didn't book a hostel and we were hoping this wasn't going to come back to bite us. as soon as we stepped off the train, all we saw was water and it was glorious. next stop was of course: a cafe to get a cappuccino. after we ordered, we sat down, jessie facing the door, and all of a sudden jessie goes "look! texas a&m!" and i whip my head around and there is a girl standing in the street with a maroon texas a&m shirt on. (i actually had that same shirt from when i visited in high school….) without even really thinking i hopped up and ran out to the poor girl and started telling her how i was from texas, and all my best friends from high school and camp go to a&m, and how sorry i was if i scared her but when you see people from america, and especially texas, i can't help but say hello because heck, they're basically family when you're over here. we started asking the basic questions like where we were studying, what year we were, who all we are here with, and where we were staying tonight. we told them we hadn't really figured that out yet and that we were going to need to look around at some point tonight. they told us we could just stay with them in their hostel- it had a bunk bed with an extra queen that no one was staying in it. so we said why not! split the cost of the room making it cheaper for everyone and all of a sudden, we had a place to stay. we got their numbers and decided we needed to go exploring. jessie and i wandered through riomaggiore until we came to the top of a hill that overlooked the sea and had a park bench and a giant wooden cross. photo op.
as we were walking down the one main road in riomaggiore, i realized we still hadn't called our other two friends, shannon and jamie, who we were planning on seeing that weekend. right as i set down my backpack to get my phone out, i look over and they are looking at us through the window of their restaurant. small towns these are. we waited for them to finish dinner, got some gelato, then took them up to the scenic overlook before jessie and i decided we wanted to grub. this region is famous for inventing pesto so everything this weekend was sure to have pesto on it. pesto gnocchi, pesto pizza, pesto focaccia…the list goes on. we met up with our new friends that night and chatted for a long while before we finally went to bed.
we woke up early the next morning to meet shannon and jamie to walk on via dell amore or the "pathway of love"- the famous road that traces the shoreline between riomaggiore and manarola. the walk normally takes around 15 minutes but we made sure we documented well and it took us a good hour or so to make it to city #2. i ain't complaining- the walk was beautiful and it was filled with lots of laughs and pictures. there is a tunnel at about the midway point of the walk and we decided to leave our mark like everyone else had.
manarola is the town that you see on all the postcards of cinque terre so naturally, we had to take a postcard pic AFTER we got some of the most delicious gelato i've had in italy at 9:30 in the morning. if you know anything about me, you know that i love sweets but mainly sweets pertaining to chocolate. even though there are lots and lots of different gelato flavors everywhere we go, i always stick to the chocolatey/oreo/chocolate chip type flavors. i'm loyal what can i say. this gelato was mandarin, the most delicious fruity gelato i've ever had.
after the postcard pictures, we said goodbye to shannon and jamie and jessie and i started our hike from manarola to corniglia, city #3. this was one of the hikes that had to be rerouted and it was a heck of a hike (i'm out of shape. thanks gelato and pizza) but it was beautiful nonetheless. we took our time, met some fellow study abroad students and a cat that jessie is obsessed with, and enjoyed the on and off again rain that sprinkled down on us. at the top of the hike we sat and had some time with Jesus and enjoyed the view, where we could see manarola on our left and corniglia on the right.
we met ruthie and katie after jessie and i enjoyed some pesto pizza for lunch. corniglia might have been the coolest city we saw. we got to hike almost all the way down the beach (unfortunately it was closed) but again, beautiful views, cool little town. i forget some people get to actually call these places home.
ruthie and katie were doing the day-trip thing so once we looked around corniglia with them, we took the train to vernazza and separated so we could do the last hike the next day before we went home. vernazza was the city that got hit the worst from the mudslides and it is still suffering economically and scenery-wise. no more beach, lots of mud still being cleaned up, and business is just very slow for apartment-renters and restaurants. we sat on the edge of the not so beachy-beach for a little while after katie and ruthie left and decided to go exploring because after all, we didn't have a place to stay for the night…again… we wandered up the streets and they kept going up and so did we. we found a couple bed and breakfasts and apartments and the first one was just too expensive for 2 people and the next one no one answered when we buzzed asking if they had anything available, which would have been a stupid question because nothing is full in these cities. we were ascending on the winding roads until we could no longer see many roofs and were only looking at the skies. what awaited us was elizabeth's.
third time's a charm. we rang the doorbell for elizabeth's and no one answered the door but a man called out "buongiorno!" from the terrace above us. we said buongiorno and asked him if he had a room available for 5, knowing our price range and hoping we wouldn't have to bargain much. he said yes and to hang on (not exactly those words, it was mostly broken english/italian, or itenglish as we have come to call it…) and he would get his sister to come help us. she said she had 2 rooms available for 5 of us at 20 euros/person. it sounded like a steal but we asked to see the rooms first. she led us up some extremely narrow and windy staircases to the first room which was literally just that- one room with one bed and a bathroom. that would be for the boy. (jessie's roommate in florence and 2 of her friends who were visiting from their study abroad program in ireland were also going to be in cinque terre that night so we called them to make sure they would stay with us before we committed.) we kept climbing the stairs and came to the very tip top of this apartment building to the ladies' room and it was an incredible view. me and jessie just looked at each other, stunned, and called megan and they agreed to get these rooms with us. the lady probably just pocketed the money since they are hurtin for some business but we didn't mind- we loved that we found this and were so thankful the Lord provided a place for us to stay. we brought jessie's hammock but with the rain and chilly weather, we weren't sure that would have been very suitable to sleep in….
once megan, brady, and erica got to vernazza we got them settled and hung out on the terrace before we left for dinner. pizza and wine it was and we spent the rest of the evening just staying up talking and enjoying those precious moments. we fell asleep and woke up to the sound of the waves outside our door. i could get used to that :)
the last day we got up and hiked from vernazza to monterosso al mare, the last city, and the only one that really has much of a beach. we took our time, stopped to take lots of pictures, and were even more thankful we stayed in vernazza when we passed a million and a half people starting the hike from the opposite direction. the hike took less than a couple hours and the weather was perfect for us. once we started the last 15 minutes or so of the hike, we looked out over the sea and we can just see this wall of rain headed for monterosso. we picked up our pace and felt slightly bad for those people who had just started their hike because they were about to get pounded. as soon as our feet hit the city, the rain came. and when it rains, it can pour. we hid out under a bridge for a little bit while megan erica and brady ran to find an atm and we decided this would be a good time to have some lunch and make our game plan for the next few hours. we had eaten plenty of pesto but hadn't had focaccia yet so we were ready to indulge in some of those delicacies. lunch was filled with lots of it and even a nutella pizza to finish it off. we wandered around the town a little bit and did some shopping before we enjoyed gelato on the "beach" and hopped back on the train to florence. side note: if you ever go to cinque terre, buy some oranges or lemons. it's probably a safe bet that if every trail is lined with orange and lemon trees, they're pretty tasty and you should take some home with you. i've never eaten a slice of lemon whole before we got these and took them home to cook with. judge me but they were delicious, peel and all.
so all this to say, the guidebooks are right, you should absolutely go to cinque terre if you are in italy. make it a priority and stay for more than a day. enjoy the hikes, give these cities some business and help boost their economy. wander through the backroads, knock on the door of a b&b or apartment renter and see what kind of deal you can get. oh and its okay to make an effort to talk to people that you know are from your home country and sometimes it's okay to have gelato at 9:30 in the morning. you only live once.
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