Buongiorno gang. I am yet again late in posting this, but I’ve been having too much fun and therefore quite distracted as a result. I have wrapped up the Italy portion of my trip, but I’m going to split the updates in two. Welcome to the Lake Como + Cinque Terre update.

As you might know, I loved Porto and was quite sad to be leaving it. This feeling of ‘missing Porto’ was only emphasised by the poorest of sleeps I have had in Milan. I arrived at the hostel at around 2am and was kept up by a very loud snorer. Nevertheless, with my two hours of sleep, I headed out to Lake Como the following day. I was told by the hostel to aim for one of the smaller towns along the lake, avoiding Como town itself, so I hopped on a train and subsequent bus to Varenna. The bus route was stunning as you would gradually go deeper into the Alps, with the clear waters of the lake running along the side. The village itself was stunning and very, very chic. It was filled with old terracotta houses with green shutters, small gelatorias, and plenty of Italian restaurants. I wandered around for a bit before finding a swimming spot where I perched myself for the afternoon, hoping that I could make up for some of the sleep I lost. Unfortunately, it was around 37C that day, and the water didn’t feel much colder either, so I struggled in the high heat for much of the lakeside experience. However, I did take myself out to a proper restaurant for my first Italian meal. While I have gotten used to dining solo, a fellow traveller had told me that you should treat yourself to one fancy meal on your trip. According to her, it’s the best thing ever, so I wanted to try it out. It was a fancy little spot just beside the lake, and had a weeping willow providing some sun-protection for the outdoor seats. I ordered half a bottle of local wine (I was in Italy!) and some ravioli. It was amazing, and the staff were so lovely looking after me, which is something I think I can say about my general dining experience – staff really look out for you and I would say I feel more attended than when in a group? I sat there for ages, sipping my wine, cooling myself down, and just watching the boats pass by. It is an absolutely stunning area and well worth visiting. However, I have heard from fellow travellers that Lake Garda or Lake Maggiore feel less ‘polished’ and less touristy when compared to the fanciness of Lake Como, so I will try visit those places at some point to compare.

I did explore Milan for a bit that evening, and I can see why most people say don’t bother visiting it. The Cathedral is very impressive, but the rest of it felt like a bunch of fashion houses that Americans come to visit and spend their bucks. It felt very consumer-y and there wasn’t a massive sense of culture, though I am very aware I’m saying this as someone who only explored the city for approximately one evening, so do take all of this with a grain of salt. I headed back to the hostel and the race to sleep before the snorer arrived began. I did not win that race, but I did get a bit more sleep than the night before. The following day, I was bound for Cinque Terre, and with a four hour train ride ahead of me, I figured I might catch up on a bit of sleep!

The train ride from Milan also meant that I could catch up on this blog (hello Porto recap) and explore more music that I had been meaning to listen to. The train ride was so pretty and didn’t feel that long at all. I arrived in La Spezia, the nearest large town before the famous five villages that make up Cinque Terre, in the early afternoon. I waddled with my bags to my hostel, just 5 minutes from the station. I met a lovely traveller in my room as soon as I arrived and we headed out for some gelato once I had unpacked (I was already liking this part of Italy very much). What was meant to be just a gelato in the main square turned into dinner by the marina. Leo, my new friend from London, had been in La Spezia for a few days already, and could give me plenty of recommendations. We chatted for hours about home, our travels, where we’re at in life, life in the UK, life in Ireland, Palestine, our upbringing, jobs…essentially everything. I don’t know if we solved the world problems but it felt like we got close to doing so. It was so lovely meeting someone from a similar part of the world with a very similar sense of humour and so we laughed a lot over an amazing pesto lasagne and Hugo Spritz. Italy was beginning to really click with me. 10/10 first night in La Spezia.

On Day 2, I was on a mission to visit some of the villages, but first I had to introduce myself to Francesco, the owner of the hostel who was very sorry that he wasn’t there on my first day to help me check-in and tell me about the area. He was the nicest man ever, giving me a big hug when I walked in and immediately recommending places and things to do. Unfortunately, I only had a limited amount of time in that part of Italy and I wanted to prioritise the villages, but I have plans to go back and tick off some more of Francesco’s suggestions. I decided to head to Riomaggiore, the first of the five villages. Allegedly, this is where Disney’s ‘Luca’ is based on. It’s such a stunning little town and easily accessed by an expensive train. It’s got a tiny (but busy) harbour filled with kayaks, sailing boats, tour boats, party boats etc, making the village square feel alive and buzzy. I walked along the small cliffwalk there to find a swimming spot. The beach was packed so I joined some wanderers on the rocks and made myself comfy. There was no wind and I do think I sizzled on those stones but it was so pretty. I can’t describe how nice the water is, but its exactly like the pictures. I felt like I was in a Disney animation. It was crystal blue, calm, fresh, and felt warmer than Portugal and colder than Como. When you swam out, you could just float for ages and gaze at the cliffside, where each of the tiny colourful villages poked out. I lay out some more, feeding some Doritos to the local crabs, before finding myself a Hugo Spritz. The heat was getting to me, and feeling like I had seen much of what the village had to offer, I headed back to the hostel.

Most of us had gathered unintentionally in the main kitchen that evening having the usual chat of ‘where have you been’ and ‘where are you going’ before we made plans for drinks. We were a blend of Aussies, Americans, English and me, representing Ireland. We grabbed drinks near the marina and what was meant to be some chill drinks turned into a boogie on the dance floor and some tequila consumption, carrying us into the early hours of the morning. We weren’t exactly sober when we got back, but we stayed up another few hours drinking the wine that lovely Francesco had left out for us. We went to bed at 7am, and I had to check out by 9am, so I was very, very, very tired (again).

With our hungover heads on us, myself and another girl headed to Monte Rossa, the larger of the five villages, to relax by the sea and hope that time would do its magic and we would feel okay by the end of it. There was a lot of swimming, tanning and sleeping and I felt marginally able to get the train to Florence, but it was a miserable journey.

Overall, I really loved Cinque Terre. It’s very photogenic, and while I would love to take credit for just taking such pretty pictures, it really is entirely down to the place because it just looks that good. It’s busy, which can be a bit annoying because you’re often stuck in big crowds of tourists as you’re trying to make your way some place. But once you have your swim spot secured, or your drink in hand, it becomes far less annoying and more so adds to the buzz of it all. It is, unfortunately, quite expensive. You have to pay for some of the hiking trails (minimum €12) and the trains cost €10 regardless of which village you are going to, hence why I didn’t visit all of them. But for the views, the people, Francesco, the lasagne, and the aperitifs, I would 1000% recommend it. As I didn’t get to see all of Francesco’s local recommendations, I shall be going back there and I will update you all.

Now for some art and history in Florence…