If you’re a regular follower of our blog, you know how much we love seeing the cool places where ONA bags go with our awesome customers. Our team also loves globetrotting with our own ONA bags: sales manager Jillian recently jetted over to Italy with her husband for a glorious week of prosesecco, pasta and plenty of gelato. Here’s a look at what they experienced as they soaked up la bella vita in Cinque Terre.
While studying abroad in the spring of 2009, one of my bucket list items was to visit the five charming seaside towns that make up the Cinque Terre. I was lucky enough to make a trip back then, and knew one day I would need to go back. When my husband and I decided to take a trip to Italy this year I made sure that Cinque Terre was on our itinerary.
We opted to stay in Riomaggiore, which is the first of the five towns along the coast. This is the same town I stayed in when visiting in college and I couldn’t wait to show my husband all of the colorful homes and charming places I found while visiting five years prior.
Since all of the towns are built right on the water, seafood is the main cuisine you'll find at local restaurants. It was so much fun to dine overlooking the water and get to watch the fisherman pull in their boats full of their daily catch after a day at work.
Due to a rock fall in recent years the easier seaside path between the five towns is closed in a lot of places. When we decided to hike between the towns of Manarola and Corniglia we had no idea just how grueling the alternative hike would be. Thankfully, the views of the perfectly blue sea were worth the pain, and, of course, we rewarded ourselves with gelato at the end!
During our hike, we stopped to eat in the beautiful town of Vernazza. We found this to be the busiest of the towns, and probably the most touristy. We enjoyed a hearty lunch by the water and continued our hike from Vernazza to Monterroso. This portion of the hike was equally as breathtaking (literally and figuratively), but I made sure to click a picture of Vernazza from above before continuing on.
Cinque Terre remains on my list of favorite places in the world, and it's a destination I'll continually recommend. Here's hoping that I'll be back in another five years!
For more wanderlust, check out the rest of our Travel Journals and follow #WhereONAGoes on our Instagram.