12 Aug – Cinque Terre

Today we walked the Cinque Terre. It was hot, tiring, long, rough and totally worth it.

We started by catching the train from La Spezia to Riomaggiore at 10am. It was a 10 minute or so trip til we arrived at the station. Riomaggiore to Manarola is the first walk of the Cinque Terre. It's the easiest and shortest of the walks, buts gives a chance to see lot of the coastline (read cliffs) and even chances to go down some stairs to close to the bottom of the cliffs. They say the walk should take 20 mins but we took a bit longer since I kept climbing down the cliffs. The second walk (Manarola to Corniglia) is no harder than the first, just a bit longer. We decided to take a different route to the usual (couldn't find the normal one). I think it was probably the old way to go, narrow, rocky and with no railings for most of the way. It wasn't as close to the coast, but was still good, and we met up with the original path after a little while. We took about the 1 and 10 mins they say it should. A lot of this was taken up by the stupid zig-zag stairs just before you get to Corniglia. We stopped here for lunch and a drink.

The next walk (Corniglia to Vernazza) is longer and harder than any of the others we'd done. Mum was going to get on the train and meet us at Vernazza, but decided to give it a go. Bad idea. Mum struggled in the heat, and was really wishing she'd caught the train. This track was fairly steep in parts and a lot rockier than the previous two. It also had some great views. The drinks place at just past the halfway mark was a welcome stop, especially since I'd rolled my ankle just before getting there (on what was probably the smoothest and easiest part of that walk so far). Vernazza was probably the best looking of the towns to arrive at. With a tower on the jutting out from the coast and a little marina area. Mum decided against going any further, so after we all had Gelato, she got the train back to La Spezia. Dad and I decided to go on.

After the first 20 mins, it looked like it was going to be the wrong choice for dad this time. The first part out of Vernazza was very steep and we had to stop at the top of each section. There were some great views looking back at Vernazza though. After the first 30 mins or so, things got a lot easier, and we made it to Monterosso 15 mins or so under the 2 hours expected time. We stopped here for a swim (my first at a rock beach, not good on my already sore feet) a drink and then hopped on the train for La Spezia.

Some of the books we read said that only those who are really fit should try walk the Cinque Terre in one day. Now I think I'm roughly on the opposite end of the fitness scale and I managed it quite easily. My legs and feet were sore, I was hot and sweaty, but it was relatively easy. If anything, I was going slower than I would have liked so I didn't get ahead of my parents, I could have walked it a lot quicker on my own. Definitely try it if you get over here, and don't get put off but what some things say.

Tonight we decided to go simple for dinner, and bought olives, cheese, salami, salad and bread rolls from the supermarket. It didn't look like much, but there was plenty, and at around 1/3 the price we were paying most nights for dinner.

Tomorrow were heading out for Pisa and Florence, and hopefully see Michelangelo's David in all his naked glory.

Signing off...