The brave hikers!

While the majority of the students went straight to Monterosso to lounge on the beach with laid-up Lindsay and Giovanna, there were 8 brave students and 4 staff members that wanted to do the famous Cinque Terre Hike. There is a path that runs along the coast through the five villages, the National Park of the Cinque Terre. The hike takes about four hours, starts easy and ends hard, so I offered to go halfway with those who didn't want to do the whole thing, and Stefano, William, and Antonio offered to bring the hard-cores all the way through the course.

The first path, from Rio Maggiore to Monarrola is a piece of cake, called Lover's Lane, or la Via dell'Amore. The paved lane runs along a fenced cliffside above the water, along which many lovers have carved their names into the cacti or left padlocks on the fences signifying their eternal love. The lovers close the padock around a fence and then throw the keys into the crashing waves below, an unbreakable promise in the eyes of their beloved.