Cinque Terre

Matt and I took a three day weekend to head to the Ligurian coastline of Italy. We visited the fishing villages of Cinque Terre. The hiking paths connecting these five villages have been turned into a national park and draw in plenty of tourism for the area. By visiting in October, we escaped the heat and crowds that are usually present in the June-September months. We had amazing weather - great temps and plenty of sunshine. (We even got in a little swimming!)
We had our first hostel experience too, spending both our nights in the village of Manarola. We rented a 2 person room with our own bathroom, so it was quite private considering it was a hostel. They did have curfews and lockouts. We were shut in from midnight until 7am and were locked out from 10am to 4pm. This didn't present any problems since we were hiking all day and were tired by nightfall. Overall, it was like staying in a college dorm.
It was a gorgeous weekend, definitely worth our 8 hour train ride each direction. We can't wait to see more of Italy.