When In Rome...

Alright, so I know the title is completely cliché, but to be honest it was the only thing I could think of at the time. So kill me.
Contrary to what the title may imply, stories about my adventures do not begin in the historical landmark known as Rome, or what they call it here, Roma. Instead, we will begin our adventures in a town that most have probably not heard of, nor can many pronounce; unless you have had some outside education on the Italian language. This roaring sub-sub-sub-suburban city is called Civitavecchia. Here, for the sake of ease, I’ll help you out, chiv-eet-uh-vek-ee-yuh. Now, say that really fast, while pretending you’re an attractive metro-sexual Italian man with a great tan……Now, say that really fast 5 times, while pretending you’re an attractive metro-sexual Italian man with a great tan……Ok now stop, don’t give yourself a headache.
As soon as we arrived, it seemed almost everyone on the ship had the same idea. HOP THE FIRST TRAIN TO ROME. Fortunately, my group did not have this idea. We decided to take the “high road”. Basically, we went north instead of south. To an area called Cinque Terra. This area consists of 5 (cinque) cities (terra), all of which are stuffed into rolling mountains on the coast. Similar to what I said about the Sagrada Familia, you will get the right idea if you look it up on Google yet again. We hopped a 3 hour train to a small city called La Spezia, (sketchy) then hopped on a 9 minute train to the southern most city of Cinque Terra called Riomaggiore. After eating at a restaurant that perfectly depicts a “hole in the wall,” we walked our way down to the pier. Now when I say pier, I don’t mean like Santa Monica in the summer with crowds of crazy people and a Ferris wheel. I am more referring to a small inlet of coast line, stuck into a mountain, and carved in to an area that allows people to snorkel, cliff dive, and swim, and a dock for small boats. We snagged our own private water taxi and boated 3 cities north. A magnificent ride, 20 minutes, and about 49 pictures later, we arrived in Vernazza. This is the second most northern city in Cinque Terra. Our first goal: find a place to stay. Without booking a room or researching for hotels, we were banking on the fact that worse comes to worse, we would sleep on the beach. Fortunately, this was not needed. On our second try, we found someone who was willing to rent us a room for 70 euro for a night. At this point, our group was shaved down to four. We got two rooms, each with a king size bed and our own bathroom, and only had to pay 35 euro each. We put our stuff down and immediately left to explore the hills and sights of the city. The views were amazing, the wild flowers were spectacular, and the architecture was one of a kind; built into a nearly vertical mountain where going “further on the path” meant going farther up the mountain. After some swimming off the dock at sunset, the day finished with a shower, a nice dinner, some gelato, and then bed time.
Our task the next day was to hike back to the first city, a slightly more strenuous mode of transportation than the private boat ride on the previous day, but eaqually if not more beautiful and rewarding. And despite the fact that I woke up with my eye looking as though I had gotten socked over night, we still took countless pictures. Just don’t be surprised when you see I am wearing sunglasses in every picture. (don’t worry about my sense of sight, it was only a bug bite and the swelling has since gone down) Anyway…the rugged path ran through all of the cities, and we (did not run) but hiked while following this path and stopping periodically to take pictures, wet our feet in a small stream, or inspect inlets of ocean below the path. Each of us carring large backpacks, we hiked through the cities of Corniglia, Manarola, then finally back to Riomaggiore. Once we arrived in our destination, were what you may call, spent, pooped, tired, or in the native tongue, “Estamos fatigado.” All we had left was another 9 minute train ride and a whopper of a 3 hour train ride back to the ship in Civitacecchia. ETA: 11:30pm
Our DANDY of a night’s sleep was essential for our activities the next few days. I’ll try and mention these with haste as I have already taken up a good chunk of your time with my genius writing. The next two days were filled with ROME. (remember the title? It was only like 3 paragraphs ago) Woke up the next morning to a Semester at Sea sponsored trip. With these trips, we are supplied with transportation, food, free entry, and no lines in to the amazing sights of Rome. We followed a tour guide, who unfortunately sounded as though he didn’t speak a lick of English because his accent was so heavy…not to mention the fact that we had to wear these little ear-bud microphone thingys all day so we could “hear him better”. I’ll just say this, if the volume of his voice was the problem, I would have just gotten closer. But since I was only able to catch ever 6th word or so, I was required me to employ the use of my imagination, which can sometimes be equally as entertaining. On this tour we were able to see the gargantuan spectacles of the Colleseum and the Vatican City. Talk about ancient architecture. And to use the words of Erin Hassen, “these were AMAZING!” We signed off the trip in order to stay the night, walked around Rome for about 2 hours and finally found a place to stay. It was hotty hot hot and muggy mug mug all day so we felt the need to shower before dinner. To give you an idea of the rest of the night: dinner, Italian beer, Italian wine, running around the cobblestones of Rome, and a sketchy club called Mood. The end.
There was more to see in Rome the next day. It was a day of walking and seeing the last of the sights before returning back to our home on water. We walked the city, backpacks packed, and flip-flops on feet and saw the Trevi Fountain, Spanish steps, and the Pantheon. By the end of these sights, to say we were tired would be an extreme understatement and made our way back to the ship. One missed train, a lost souvenir, 6 dirty feet, and 1.40 euro later we were back on the train to Civitavecchia and couldn’t be happier about it. I loved you Rome, but you were exhausting. Next on the list, Southern Italy. Stay Tuned!