Immersed in Italy

Florence was our base camp, of sorts; we slept there each night, and each day embarked on a journey to a new part of Italy. The day's adventure would take us to Cinque Terre, a delightful little fishing village built into coastal cliffs along the Mediterranean Sea. I had set out to traverse Europe for a scant two weeks as a solo traveller; along the way, I had met a handful of people with similar ideas, and now we took on the new terrain as a group. Cinque Terre was a quick train ride away, and cost nothing thanks to my EuroRail Pass - I'd definitely recommend this. The train wound through hilly terrain, until at long last we began to catch glimpses of the Sea through the rocks. Our train let us off at a little terminal, and we stepped foot down onto Cinque Terre soil. I've never seen anything like this village; instead of changing the land to suit their needs, the villagers had built their homes to not only work with the terrain, but to complement it as well. Houses of all different colours nestled on sheaves of stone, jovial locals sitting out front of many of them offering wares or fond greetings to the people passing by. A well-worn path led down to a harbour, where a man clad only in a speedo was offering boat rentals along with a toothy grin. The grin, though infectious, wasn't enough for us to shell out fifty euros for a half hour floating on the water. Instead, we spotted a narrow path that wound around a nearby cliff, and asked the man about it. He responded by grinning again, and gesturing to us that we should follow it and find out. The path was quite narrow, and one wrong foot meant a tumble into a pool of water a distance below - that is, if you avoided the sharp rocks. We were careful and made it around the bend to behold what I can only describe as a rock beach. Whereas many of us are familiar with normal beaches that have sand, this one was comprised of large rocks. We quickly learned they were not only uncomfortable to sit on, but very warm as well. I guess that's to be expected when it's 40°C and sunny every day. Although the seating wasn't the greatest, the view was spectacular; a front-row view of the blue-green Mediterranean Sea unfolding out before us as far as the eye could see, people bobbing up and down in the water or attempting to tan on the rocks, the water gently lapping the shore - I wanted to be a part of it. However, I didn't have a bathing suit. I'll never forget the day that I swam in the Mediterranean Sea in my underwear.