Cinque Terre

           

   

 David and I celebrated our 6^th anniversary in one of the most beautiful places on earth- Cinque Terre.  Cinque Terre is collection of five small villages built into the cliffs on the Mediterranean.  It used to be a hidden gem in Italy, but it’s becoming more popular with tourists.  Long ago, cars were banished from the villages, so visitors can either take the train or hike between the villages.  I’ll explain more about the train service later.  The villages are only a few kilometers from each other, and it’s 7km to hike from town #1 to town #5.  The names of the villages are (starting east to west):  Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corneglia, Vernazza, and Monterosso. 

                We arrived in La Spezia, a town just outside of Cinque Terre, late Friday afternoon.  We checked into our hotel and then took the train to town #5, Monterosso, for a quick swim.  All of the villages except Corneglia are on the water, but Monterosso is the only one of the 5 to have a sandy beach.  After a quick dip, we walked over to Monterosso’s old town to have dinner.  We ordered mussels as an appetizer, and I had seafood ravioli as my main course.  David had gnocchi in crab sauce.  The food was good- it didn’t wow me, but it was good.  We headed back to our hotel early since we had a busy day planned for Saturday.

                Saturday was our big hike day.  We checked out of our hotel and took the train back to Monterosso (#5).  We planned to hike from there to Corneglia (#3).  Unfortunately the trail from Corneglia (#3) to Riomaggiore (#1) is closed right now for renovation.  The towns had a lot of flood damage in 2011 and the trails suffered from landslides.  However, the trails from towns 5-4 and 4-3 are the longest and most scenic.  We started from Monterosso because we read that it was easier to go from 5-3 than from 3-5.  We ran into a group of SAIS students on the trail going the opposite direction.  They also said the trail was tough.  Boy, was it tough.  It was a lot of steep climbing.  I don’t know why I was surprised by this- the towns are built into a cliff after all.  Not only that, but we couldn’t check into our hotel until 4:30, so we had to carry our backpacks.  My sweet husband took my bag and transferred some of the weight to his. 

                The trail was tough, but beautiful.  Once we got high enough, we had an amazing view of the sea and the cliffs.  The sun was warm, the salty ocean breeze was refreshing, and it was so quiet.  All we could hear were the waves crashing and insects humming.  It was so peaceful.  About 2 hours later we came to Vernazza.  We walked through the town all the way down to the harbor and the rocky beach. 

On the trail to Vernazza

View of Monterosso

                After a brief rest, it was time to head back on the trail.  I was happy knowing the hardest part was behind us.  The trail to Corneglia  was challenging, but not quite as difficult as the first one.  It was also a bit greener and wilder.  Cacti lined the cliffs facing the sea.  We passed through vineyards, and saw a man carrying a giant tub of green grapes on his shoulder.  We looked back and saw Vernazza in the distance; its sunset-colored buildings nestled in the cliff.  The sea was a brilliant blue-green, and the sunlight sparkled like diamonds on the waves. 

Classic view of Vernazza

                Eventually we made it to Corneglia - it took us a little less than 2 hours.  We stopped at a quiet little bar along the trail before the town for a drink and a bite to eat.  We ordered a plate of bruschetta topped with local ingredients- olives, peppers, garlic, and onion.  We ate outside facing the sea, under an awning covered with grape vines.  We walked a bit through the town, but didn’t dawdle because we needed to take the train to Riomaggiore  to check-in to our hotel. I felt so elated after such an amazing hike- little did I know my spirits were about to fall.  Cinque Terre has local trains running between the towns that come through every hour…at least in theory.  Rick Steves warns in his book that the trains are notoriously late.  But I was not prepared for the train to be a half-hour late, and then cancelled.  The next train was also cancelled.  Finally the train to Riomaggiore was announced, 2 hours later than originally scheduled.  At this point I was starting to sweat a bit because we had to be at our hotel no later than 4:30.  We watched 2 trains pass by and not stop.  It was agonizing, especially because we could have walked to Riomaggiore in less time if the trail was open.  We debated going back into the town to pass the time.  Remember when I said Corneglia was the only town not on the sea?  We would have to walk up 359 steps to get from the train station back to the town.  So we decided to wait it out at the station.  I’m thankful we made this decision- I’ll explain why later.

               Finally we got on the train and arrived in Riomaggiore.  We quickly found our “hotel”.  The Italians have always wanted to protect the Cinque Terre, realizing how unique they are.  Long ago the towns banned any further building- which means no hotels.  However, many people own apartments and rent them out to tourists.  We rented a room from a nice woman named Patrizia.  When we arrived, she said she had a cancellation and would upgrade our room to a suite with a balcony.  She called her husband to take us to our room.  Patrizia does the administrative work and her husband does the hard labor.  He told us our apartment was high up in the town- up 360 steps.  That’s why I’m glad we skipped the steps in Corneglia.  I was so glad David was with me, because when we reached the apartment, I was so exhausted that it was hard to concentrate on what the man was saying.  Our room was really nice, and the view from the balcony was spectacular.

                For dinner, we decided to head back to Vernazza.  We had read about a restaurant in an old castle up on the cliff, with a view of the ocean.  I had the best lasagna there I’ve ever had- it was lasagna with pesto and béchamel sauce.   David had spaghetti with pesto, which was also excellent.  After dinner I ordered an espresso to fortify myself for the steep walk back to our room. 

                After our hard work-out on Saturday, Sunday was devoted entirely to leisure!  We checked out of our room and headed back to Monterosso for some beach time.  Even though it’s almost October, the weather was warm and the water was refreshing- perfect for a swim.  The waves of the Mediterranean are so calm and the water so salty you can just lie out and float along.  The water is clean and crystal clear and, unlike my friends who went in August, we didn’t encounter any medusa, or jellyfish.  After a few hours of soaking up the sun and playing in the surf, I was ready for some lunch.  We took the train back to Vernazza, which seemed to have better food.  I ordered a sampler of fried fish to go, which they wrap up in a paper cone.  It was bursting with fried prawns, calamari, and anchovies and topped with a lemon.  I happily munched on my fried fish, washing it down with a frosty cold beer.  To me, it was a perfect day.  I will look back on that day a few months from now when Bologna is cold and foggy. 

                I feel that you can’t truly feel like you live in Italy until you experience a train strike, which we did on our way home.  We got a message on Facebook from another student saying that the train workers in Emilia Romagna (the region where we live) were on strike on Sunday.  We weren’t sure how else to get home, so we decided to just show up at the train station and see what happened.  We were able to get home, although we had to pay a few more Euro and arrived later than we had planned.  All in all, we had a great trip- an experience of a life-time.