Ancient Pathways

Cinque Terre, Italy

Vernazza's very pretty and popular harbour

The Cinque Terre is quite a walk.
Our juice break taken at the
house, top right

The Gulf of La Spezia is known as the Poet’s Gulf and certainly a list of greats once lived here – Yeats, DH Lawrence, Shelley, and Byron amongst others.  Romance was certainly in the air…  We were keen then to take a day trip to the Cinque Terre, a cluster of 5 romantic villages and rocky terraces set into dramatically steep cliffs.  This area has been listed as an UNESCO Heritage site given its isolation, adherence to old farming practices and retention of an ancient pathway, Sentiero Azzurro, that links villages.  Cars are not allowed access, so it's a choice of walking, taking the train or riding a ferry. 

At La Spezia Station (when we eventually found it!), there is a helpful information desk staffed by pleasant young ladies who even spoke English.  We took the opportunity to ask lots of questions…this was a rare event indeed.  The Cinque Terre is a popular destination and cruise ships offload their passengers regularly to visit.  We were then, most certainly not alone in seeking tickets for this destination.  With day passes in hand (€16 each) we had transport and trail fees taken care of.  Our plan was to take the train (30 mins) to the furthest village, #1 Monterosso al Mare, and work our way back – not all of it walking…

Travelling along the pathway to Corniglia

Monterosso has quite the beach scene happening and being that it’s the end of the line, cars, scooters and buses cram in limited parking areas.  We sat overlooking the beach to eat our picnic brunch wondering how Italians feel when they visit Australia’s wide sandy stretches with not a jungle of sun umbrellas & sun lounges in sight.  The walking path to Vernazza looked busy too, so we made for the train and skipped this 3.6km section.

Houses really do cling to cliffs

Vernazza.  Going up & up the
stairs behind the village

We took our time to explore Vernazza’s busy streets and harbour full of bobbing fishing & tourist boats – it’s rather more scenic than its neighbour.  Over coffee, we hatched a plan (Cap’n Cavalry almost convinced) to walk 3.45km to Corniglia, a journey our map assured us took 1 ½ hrs.  Vernnazza, we discovered as we followed signs to the trail, has really steep steps (called arpaie); Dangar’s looking pretty good by such measures.  Up we went, up and up never-ending stairs – until after rather more than an hour, it evened out momentarily.

Are we there yet?

The camera ran hot

Here, a resourceful villa owner offered a chance to rest and revive with wine, beer or orange granita.  We sat sipping fresh orange juice, admiring the view over Corniglia from the balcony, pleased we only had 30 mins (or so) left to go & it looked to be mostly downhill.  Do not even begin to think we were alone on this trail.  There were all sorts from dedicated walkers with all the right gear, enthusiastic joggers, bored teenagers and even someone in bathers & no shoes.  

 

It was something of a relief to arrive at Corniglia and also to find out that the next trail to Manarola (2.9km) was closed.  A Park notice also informed us that only 100 metres between Manarola and Riomaggiore (1.1km) could be accessed.  Gosh, that WAS bad luck!  We’d have to take the train then. 

Corniglia is a riot of pastel houses plastered against a steep cliff face.  From the village, a set of 320 (or was it 430?) stairs lead down to the station, overlooking a rocky beach.  We just had to try some home-made lemon gelato before attempting them.

Yes, yes I'm sure there was a Gelato store at the bottom of these stairs.
I'll just wait here for you to get back...

In all, it was an adventurous day (for us non-hiking types).  The scenery was an interesting mix of bold seascapes, terraced olive groves and vineyards, some long since abandoned.  If you are after peace and quiet, August is not the month to be here for sure, but the villages are quaint and somehow it’s easy to imagine them providing both inspiration and a garret for artistic types to follow their creative spirit.  Or even house a mistress or two!