Italy and the Cinque Terre

Five little towns along Italy's northern coast were calling to me. Throughout my research on Italy, this area was noted as one of the "not to be missed" sights.  So we took the train to La Spezia, Italy and hiked the Cinque Terre.

The train left Nice at 9:22 a.m. on Thursday.  Yet for some reason, we had it in our heads that it left at 9:55.  So yes, we missed it.  But we did manage to get on to another train, the very regional train at 9:59.  We knew we had to ride this crappy train until Ventimiglia at the border.  There, we would transfer to another train that would take us to Genova where we would transfer once again to La Spezia.  Unfortunately, because we missed the 9:22 train, we also missed the correct Ventimiglia transfer.  And so, as a direct consequence of our lack of attention to detail we ended up riding a train for two and a half extra hours - a train that had the most uncomfortable chairs.  A train that offered the most vile and disgusting toilet in all the land.  A train that acted as a local school bus, filling with loud-mouthed, rowdy school children for five straight stops.  And a train that stopped roughly thirty-five times over the course of our seven-hour journey.  Talk about a milk run.

Sitting in these for 7 hours was no fun.

We arrived at La Spezia around 6:00 p.m. to crowded streets; people buying clothing, sipping on espressos and snacking on focacchia.  We found our bed and breakfast (which was lovely, and more like an apartment) then set off in search of a true Italian dinner.  Our host recommended a great seafood place that ONLY cooked seafood and was reasonably priced.  We followed her advice and showed up for supper at around 7:00 pm - he had just opened and we were asked to wait ten minutes while he prepared the kitchen.  So of course, we ordered some local white wine and nibbled on fresh baked focacchia.  No menus were presented but he did explain what dishes were available in broken English.  I ordered the grilled squids and salad and Jim had the mixed seafood linguine.  Both were delightful. We then bought some groceries and returned home for the evening.

Today we set off on our hike through the Cinque Terre.  We should have expected the bad news but had hoped our bad luck with construction would not follow us to Italy.  Due to landslides the main coastal trail was closed for repair!  This is THE trail to hike from town to town.  There are other trails but they are higher in the hills and harder to navigate.  We were prepared to hike for at least five hours so we settled on some of the other hiking trails.

The maps were terrible so we just followed the painted yellow rocks as we climbed our way to the ridge that ran behind the first town, Monterosso.  It was hot outside and not a cloud could be found.  We climbed and climbed and climbed up a rocky little trail that led to a church.  Once at the top we could see the second town, Vernazza.  We followed the trail leading towards the town before deciding last minute to skip the village visit and stay high on the hills until we reached the next town.  Unfortunately, we got lost and ended up just following a very steep and winding road back down.  A kind young couple from Malaga, Spain gave us a lift into Vernazza.

One of the trails leading up.

Vernazza.

From there, we discovered that a large portion of the coastal trail was still open.  So we joined onto it via seven thousand steps climbing upward.  Seriously, they JUST KEPT GOING.  It was so frigging steep, and hot, and fortunately very stunning.  We weaved through olive orchards and vineyards, old farmhouses built into steep cliff walls and forests of oak, pine and wildflowers. The ocean was to our right and people tended to their orchards on our left.  It was wonderful.

Some of the orchards and farmyards along the way.

Looking at Corniglio and in the far distance, Riomaggiore.

By the time we reached the third town of Corniglia we were completely wiped.  Our joints ached, our skin was burned and we'd run out of water hours earlier.  So we caught the train and rode it back to La Spezia for a quality pasta dinner.

Italy is wonderful and it's kind of exciting just being here: the language, the food, the wine, and the countryside are all worthy of more time.  Unfortunately, we have already booked a place in Bern, Switzerland for tomorrow night so we're off again.  Maybe we'll actually sit down for a moment there.