Saturday, September 19, Hiking in the Cinque Terre!

Today is one of those days that we have been eagerly anticipating throughout this whole vacation.  The Cinque Terre is composed of five towns/villages along Italy's Mediterranean coast.  They lie alongside very steep mountainsides.  While train service connects all five town with each other and the outside world, long ago, they could only be accessed by boat or by walking paths.  Today, I don't imagine the walking paths are much used by locals (unless they want a little exercise or need to access their gardens), but they are a big draw for tourists -- including us!  We are staying in the northernmost and largest of the five towns, Monterosso, so today we will walk south.  We got a somewhat early start and set out after breakfast at about 9am.  Of course, this involved climbing!  Leaving Monterosso, the path is all rock steps up the mountainside through the terraced farms.  As I write this, sitting by our hotel pool, I can turn and take this photo of those terraces that the path climbs through:

The trail was crowded at first; many were leaving at the same time, but with some walking faster and some going slower, we got spaced out soon enough.  The trail is narrow at spots, but usually two can pass each other.  Some spots have railings, but others require that you just better not fall (if you did, you would probably just land in some vegetation, not off a cliff).  Needless to say, all along the way, everyone was taking one photograph after another of the beautiful views.  Here are some of mine:

A View of Monterosso from the South

A View to the South, Sun Shimmering (this picture into the sun does not do this view justice)

The Town of Vernazza

A Bridal Procession in Vernazza

The Church in Vernazza

Leaving Vernazza and looking back

Rob on the Trail

Terraced Farming near Corniglia

Another Trail View

Coming to the Town of Corniglia on a hill top

A Pretty View

Enjoying a Cold Beer in Corniglia (that is the town of San Bernardino up on the hill)

It took us about 2 hours to walk from Monterosso to Vernazza, where we both got lumps in our throats watching the bridal procession -- the bride looked so happy!  Then we spent about 40 minutes there and had pizza for lunch!  Then it took about 1 and 1/2 hours to walk to Corniglia.  Both Vernazza and Corniglia were super cute and charming -- lots of activity and people on a Saturday for sure.  In Corniglia, we found a nice terrace for a beer.   By the end of the day, we had walked 9 miles and climbed 161 flights of stairs -- wow, and our legs were feeling it.  We walked down to the train station in Corniglia to take the train back to Monterosso.  We will get to the other two towns of the Cinque Terre on Monday.

After showers, we walked into town to shop for some souvenirs and have dinner at Il Pozza, a restaurant recommended by the hotel.  I had pasta with bolognese to start, and Rob had pasta with seafood -- this would have been enough to eat, but unfortunately, we had ordered a second course of grilled sea bass, which was delicious.  Our waitress presented the fish to us raw and whole, then cooked and whole, before fileting it.  We had a local red wine with tonight's dinner, which was very good.  Walking back through town, it seems like Monterosso is trying to encourage a dance party in the main square with disco lights and music, but there are only a participants at this point.

Now it is again time to turn in early, but first one more glass of wine on our room's balcony before going to bed.