1 post tagged “hiking”

Having lived in Washington, DC for years I'm used to having lots of tourists and foreign languages around me.  Or, at least I thought I was.  Hiking the hills of Cinque Terre was amusing to me because of the people.  All day long you would pass people and no one really knew where you were from or what language you spoke.  Interactions were mostly "hello", "thank you" and "your welcome" but in a variety of languages.  The thank yous were for stepping aside since the path is quite narrow.

During most of my traveling so far I've tried to use the little Italian that I know.  But, on the hills I decided it would be better to say hello since I wasn't necessarily passing Italians.  Most people were either English speaking or German.  What I found myself doing was responding in whatever language they spoke to me in. 

"Danke" / "Bitte"

"Thanks, Love" / "No Worries"

"Grazie" / "Prego"

In fact, I'm almost positive I spoke Italian with many people who normally speak English.  It was good fun.  Had I known a little Chinese or Swedish I might have tossed that in as well.

I mostly hiked between Vernazza and Montorosso.  Swam in both of those towns as well.  And explored a couple others by train.  Next time around I think I'll rent an apartment by the sea for at least a week and just absorb the true culture of these little fishing villages.