July 22, 2018

Today I checked something off my bucket list, walking a section of the Cinque Terre (Five Villages).  I had the biggest smile on my face when we found that the trains were running, albeit sporadically.

We were chatting to the lady at the Tourist Information Office for the Cinque Terre National Park, she was telling me that the trains were not running to Monterosso La Mare – the furthest village from La Spezia. Then she looked up and said \”that is the train to Monterosso, it leaves in 10 minutes\”. We ran to the ticket machine and bought a one-way ticket to Monterosso.

Usually, you can buy a combined train and park pass which allows you to hop on and hop off the trains at each of the villages and the Park Pass which allows you hop and hop off the trains and for a bonus you get a free pee. No charge for the toilets.

Today we were advised only to buy one-way tickets on the train, as they were not sure if any other trains would be running!

As we were on the train heading to Monterosso, I was not worried at all how I was going to get back to La Spezia. I was going to walk from Monterosso to Vernazza and I was going to enjoy the walk and the view – a tick on the bucket list.

The Cinque Terra National Park was established in 1999. The National Park is the smallest of Italy’s National Parks at 3,860 hectares but is the most densely populated with approximately 4,000 villagers in the Five Villages. The five villages are Monterosso la Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola and Riomaggiore.

We got off the train in Monterosso and took some photos of the beach area. Monterosso La Mare is a very popular sea-side resort area. There were lots of Italians setting up their towels on a little spot of beach or renting one of the hundreds of beach chairs and umbrellas at E20.00 per chair and umbrella per day.

We headed up the blue path towards Vernazza.

Ralf looked at the route we were about to follow and I could tell he was not happy.  He was a little worried how his ankle would react to this kind of terrain.

We knew we had to buy a National Park Pass,we knew we could buy them at the train station but we were well past the ticket booth, we carried on walking and just before we joined the main path, there was a ticket booth. We asked to buy the combined train and park pass. The young man told us not to buy the combined path as they were not sure if any other trains would be running.

The route from Monterossa to Riomiggiore takes about 5.5 hours to walk. Unfortunately there are two sections you cannot walk due to land-slides and major maintenance work.

That’s o.k. I was on a trail on the Cinque Terre and I didn’t care how I was going to get back to the hotel or how hard the walk was. It was beautiful.

The path started with stone steps, then continued on to a wooded path. In areas the path was narrow and in other areas the path was a little wider. It took us just over 1 hour and 45 minutes to hike to Vernazza.

The temperature was very hot, but the view over the sea and when we came into Vernazza the view was exactly how I imagined it to be. Colourful houses stacked up the mountainside, almost falling into the sea. A bay with stunningly blue waters and puffy clouds in the sky.

 

We had lunch in Vernazza. 

 

As we walked down the hills we heard an Italian speaking English behind us.  He was with two Americans – a personal tour guide.  However, he was commenting on two women who were rubbing sun cream on each other and how much he would like to offer his services.  We all started to laugh, and the Italian said something to Ralf. Ralf told him \”My grandfather said you can always look at the menu, but always eat at home\”

We then went to the train station with our fingers crossed hoping to get on a train to the next village (Corniglia).

There were three La Spezia trains that were cancelled but one was running although very slowly. The delay went from 15 minutes to 30 minutes. Eventually the train slowly rolled into the station and we hopped aboard. To be on the safe side, we decided to head to Riomiggiore, the closest village to La Spezia, we knew we could get a taxi from that village back to La Spezia, if necessary. We did miss out on two villages, but they were not as stunning as Vernazza or Riomiggiore.

In  2011 Vernazza was inundated with a massive flood. It roared down the mountain and flooded the Town up to the second floor of most of the buildings.

Riomiggiore is literally a village that starts at the sea and climbs up the mountainside. We walked up to the church and then carried on up to the top of the hill. As we looked up the hill and then down towards the sea we wondered how people survived in this region.

As we came down the hillside to the train station, the train was due in 15 minutes and no delays. Maybe our luck has changed.

A fabulous day of walking, hills, villages clinging to the mountains and beautiful scenery. The life is very hard for villagers of the Cinque Terre.  As we walked Ralf spotted a line of some sort.  Then we discovered what it was for – collecting the olives.

We arrived back in La Spezia tired but relaxed.  There are some lovely buildings in La Spezia.

Tomorrow Pisa. I hope Ralf is not disappointed.