August 1, 2013
We got
up before the sun had risen this morning…sad to think that the days are already
getting that much shorter. We were set
to walk to the train station around 5:30am – and although it was already a good
20 degrees out, it was so nice compared to the last few days!
We had
no trouble getting the train to La Spezia, where we were starting the Cinque
Terre trail. We transferred to the
Cinque Terre train once we reached La Spezia and it took no time at all to
reach the first town, Riomaggiore. It is
a cute little town with all the pastel-coloured houses lining both sides of the
main street, via Colombo. We stopped at
one little shop where they had “pasta to go” and ordered one serving of
mafaldine noodles and pesto. It was to
die for!
Walking
up to get an awesome view of the town to the one side was great because it was
just off the tourist path. Then we
doubled back and walked along the coast, above the railway tracks to get back
down towards the train station. (En
route we saw a mini-Bronte!). We both
really liked this town because it wasn’t too busy at all…but it was sad because
the walk to the next town was still closed from the land-slides, so we had to
take the train.
Town
number two, Manarola, was a lot of walking, but it was a really beautiful site
as well. We walked up the hill from the
train station (as Rick Steves suggests) and around some of the small,
residential streets on the right of the main drag to get a good view of the
houses on the opposite side. Then we
climbed down from that side and walked up the hill to see the bell tower. En route we saw the modern waterwheel that
reminds the townspeople where they got their name (Manarola means “Big water
wheel”).
Before
heading back down to the harbour, we did the vineyard walk, which was more or
less deserted because of the intense heat and the elevation of the walk! It provided a perfect view of the entire
town, including the harbor. The colour
of the water is such an awesome colour of blue and teal. We lucked out because we figured that the
vineyard walk connected down to the main trail far below us, so we kept
following the trail around the corner and down the switchbacks and were
rewarded with even better views – and no doubling back!
The
harbor in Manarola was beautiful up close, and we were lucky enough to see a
boat being dropped into the deep harbour with the crane, which was awesome to
see. Amazing how the people have adapted
to the steep terrain over the years! We
also got some great gelato here before taking the train to the third town.
(this part of the trail was closed as well)
The
third town, Corniglia is the only town not located at sea level – instead there
are 400 stairs to climb to reach town centre…which we avoided by catching the
shuttle! It was really hot – that’s my
excuse and I’m sticking to it! It is the
smallest of the three towns with a population of 250 people! Not much to explore here, but we did stop for
a glass of wine at Enoteca. The patio is
up on a corner and covered with vines and has a perfect ocean view. It was quiet and relaxing…and we did our best
not to think of the hike ahead!
We
hiked the 4km from Corniglia to Vernazza in about 2 hours…definitely not a
record by any stretch! It was about 40
degrees (and that isn’t an exaggeration!) and we had our backpacks with us as
well! Despite the heat and the weight,
the hike was amazing. The views were
absolutely incredible - of both the towns and the ocean. We walked up stairs and more stairs and more
stairs….and it was cool to see the metal structures that are (or perhaps were?)
used to move up the hills to harvest olives and grapes. It really was an awesome hike.
At one
point the path passed through this one man’s home. I think the home is called Porto and one of
the other houses was for sale! We
stopped at the habited house and there is this dude sitting on his couch
looking at the view and petting his cat.
There is saxophone music playing and hand-made signs everywhere saying
“rooms for rent” and “free water”. It
was definitely not as creepy as it sounds (especially at 40 degrees on a hiking
trail!). There was another gal there
getting some water and we did the same for a 1E donation. It was a highlight of the walk, I think.
We
arrived in Vernazza from up on the hillside, so we were given great views of
the harbor and the town as we descended the numerous stairs into the town. We needed to meet our BnB host at the train
bridge, so we relaxed in the shade until 6pm…when she didn’t show up! Shawn went running around town with our
directions in attempt to find the location of the BnB at least. He found it, but no people. I returned with our reservation and attempted
to speak some Italian to a neighbour, who indicated we had the right location
at least! Finally someone else came
along who knew the owners and brought one of them back. Anyway, we found our place, and it was
lovely!
Off to
the beach we went, which was another adventure.
The port itself with the breakwater and harbor was great. The water was clear and deep, but we wanted
the beach that we saw as we hiked into the city. Shawn made me L
climb up more stairs to the castle – which was clearly not the beach! Finally, we did find the beach through a
little hole in the wall! It was worth
the hunt because there was no one in the water at all. It was a great way to cool down my core body
temperature as the water was definitely colder than it was in Greece. AND I found fun things like a pocket-kinfe, a
spoon, and a 1E coin!
After
doing some washing and cleaning up we went out for a nice dinner (by our
standards!). We had amazing fish ravioli
and the freshest calamari I have ever had.
It was really great. We were
totally wiped, however, so sleep was earlier than it should have been!
Night.
-Allison
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