Death to the Cinque Terre
July 17, 2015
The Cinque Terre is dying. What I mean by this is that it is flooded with tourists and they are killing its former small town charm. I have been coming here for six years (thanks to Charlotte, who allowed me to join her birthday hike the first time I went) and even when I started traversing the trails I'm sure it was already expanding at that point, but now this is too much. The sign that a town has hit this point is the arrival of the Asian tour groups, and man, they are everywhere! There never used to be any tour groups here! The train situation while traveling between the five towns is also becoming ridiculous. The only other place I have been on a train that full of stinky, sweaty people is in Rome, which is saying something about the number of people visiting the Cinque Terre right now. It makes me wonder what this place was like fifteen or twenty years ago before Rick Steves "discovered" it. Granted, I probably wouldn't know about it were it not for him, so I can't blame him for sharing its awesomeness with the world, but it has come at a price. The main drags have changed drastically in the last few years, exchanging mom and pop cafés and small pizza a taglio stalls with stands selling cones of fried seafood and bars aimed at the Cinque Terre's young travelers. Everything is much more crowded and getting less and less quaint. And now everything is in English, always a sign of too many tourists. I used to think that I would buy a small apartment here someday (you know, after I pay off the mountains of student loans that I've accrued, assuming I can get a real job when I finally get my PhD), but now I am rethinking his plan. By the time I can afford anything here the Cinque Terre will probably be long dead, it's charm having been trampled by all of the poorly equipped hikers (who hikes in wedges?!) and solely be home to its famed trails, beaches, beer, bars, and the newly popular cones of fried seafood. I really hope I am wrong.
On the plus side... They've definitely recovered from the devastating mudslide a few years ago.
