Day 1
This is the one place we were going in Italy where there was nothing to do if it rains. Well on Monday morning just after Lisa and I got on the train in Florence the sky opened up, complete with thunder and lightning. It was not what we wanted to see at 6am. We headed up the coast on the train while the rain came down. As we pulled into our final stop, Cornigla, it was like Mother Nature was on our side. The rain stopped.
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| Stormy skies over western Tuscany en route to Cinque Terre |
To our delight the people of Cinque Terre are extremely helpful and very kind. We met our lovely host Nadia. She made sure we knew where everything was in the apartment and even gave us her only umbrella in case the rain came back as we walked through the village. We met a woman from New York who gave us some tips for what to do and see in Cinque Terre. She recommended taking the ferry to see the towns from the sea (which we took note of).
The village of Cornigla
Our adventure truly began after lunch. Cinque Terre has a national park connecting the towns via a
system of hiking trails. Some were marked very difficult, others for beginners. For our first day, not
knowing what the weather would do, we chose the scenic coastal route, one of the "easier" trails. The two sections between the first three towns were closed due to storm damage from 2011. So, we went northwest toward the fourth town. To our surprise it wasn't all that easy. Lots of steps and some navigating to be done. It was truly beautiful seeing the sea from the path. We came to the town of Vernazza an hour later, with two castles, several nice shops, and a rocky beach. We decided to stop
there, and take the train back to Cornigla. Mission accomplished, our first hike was over.
On the shore trail as we approached Vernazza
Sunset from Vernazza
Day 2
We came to Cinque Terre to hike, and we wanted to hike to each of the four other towns. One was already done (Vernazza) so that left three. After sleeping in, we made our way to the path. Now the trails have the weirdest numbering and coding system ever! We had three maps, each was marked differently! Some said colors, one had single digits, and the third had all trails in the 500s. This was very confusing. And no matter which trail you were on, the painted markings for it were a red and white stripe. So you at least knew you were on a trail, although you might not know which one! Many of the signs did have arrows with town names, so that helped, but the numbers written underneath were very confusing. They didn't equate to either miles or kilometers, and after quite a few of them we pieced together that it was the estimated time to get to the destination, written with a decimal point instead of a colon (1.40 for 1:40).
The day began around 9:45 for us. The trails face west, so hiking in the morning means you are in the shade. The trail heading up the mountain was labeled as "most difficult" but we actually found it to be less technical than the "easy" trail from the day before - although it was of course, much more challenging in elevation gain. The way up was all trail and the way down was all steps carved into the mountain - yes, more steps! After two hours (including lots of stops for photographs), we reached the lovely town of Manarola, perched in the valley.
Hiking high above the sea on our way to Manarola
Hiking right into Manarola
The town had a great spot for swimming. We jumped off the rocks into the Mediterranean. The water was very refreshing and cooled us off. After a short snack break we were back on the moderate trail, heading up and over again. We reached Riomaggiore forty-five minutes later and decided to take the ferry from here up to the fifth town. Riomaggiore didn't look like much from above, but all the way
down at the coast it seemed to grow out of nowhere.
Lisa decided to jump in to cool off
I had my turn too
We caught the ferry around 2pm. It was a very fun ride! Standing on the top deck was the place to be! You could see everything! The towns, trails, and all nature had to offer! We rode all the way to town five, Monterossa, the most developed, with a large sandy beach, roads, and many multi-story hotels. It had a very commercial feel. We made our gelato stop before starting out on our final hike, to head back east toward Corniglia, although we weren't sure yet of our hiking end destination, as we would reach Vernazza first and that was still two hours away and it was already 5:30. Luckily, the train could easily bring us the rest of the way if needed.
Riomaggiore from the trail
The ferry we rode
Monterossa from the sea
Before...
After our gelato stop in Monterossa
The steps were many and never ending it seemed to me! We just kept going up. So much so we thought we had missed our turn. Up and up we went! From sea level to 1863 feet above- such a long way, some parts even on a two lane road with little shoulder and many winding turns. We knew darkness would set in by 8:45, so we chose to go down to Vernazza, as much as we would have liked to go all the way to Corniglia. It was 7:15 pm and the sign said 1.40. By this time we had determined that the first number was hours, and after the decimal was minutes - so that was the estimated time the trek would take. We notched up our pace and stopped much less to take pictures. There was no one on this trail with us until the very end and we strolled into Vernazza at 8:30. Not bad!
All in all it was a breath-taking experience and we didn't want it to be over with so soon! We had hiked 11 miles on a very sunny day!
Enjoy the view!
We went home to shower. We forgot we needed turn the hot water heater on ahead of time. Yikes that water was cold!
With the original forecast predicting our entire time in Cinque Terre to be rainy, we really lucked out!
SoG: 95
A note from Lisa: Happy 31st anniversary, Mom and Dad!
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