Cinque Terra - a hiking paradise

We left France with anxiety and anticipation about the next part of our journey to Italy. The day we needed to vacate the apartment we got up early, Donna came by to pick the keys, and we walked to the train station to head off to Vintimiglia. This is the Italian border city with France and the final destination of the french train. It was a very short ride from Villefranche, about 30 minutes. The train was packed and we rode standing up most of the time; everyone got off at Monaco. We briefly talked to one of the passengers and she said many people commute to work in Monaco. From Vintimiglia we purchased our train ticket to Cinque Terre on the Italian rail. It was a nice three hour ride with a transfer in Genoa. We have been truly enjoying the rail system in Europe. We passed many towns and villages, but the biggest one was Genoa, a huge port city that seems very industrialized. The entire ride was along the Mediterranean coast. Here is one of the many towns we passed. I am convinced now that no beach town exist without a promenade in this part of the world.

                                

We arrived in Riomaggiorie our home base in Cinque Terre. We rented an apartment and got instructions how to get there via email -  you should see the instructions - like in the old days, you will pass a pharmacy and at the corner make a sharp turn right, go to the end of a wooden hand rail and turn right, etc. The keys will be hidden in a vase. We had to laugh, we rely on the GPS to find anything in the states, nice to see the old fashion way working too!

Well, we knew all towns in Cinque Terre were rugged. We also knew that we would find many steps before we hit our destination. Portugal and France prepared us for the hills physically and mentally, but we didn't anticipate such a long trek and with the luggage and it was a much slower hike. The views from the apartment were out of this world. We were so high we could look down and see the whole town from the window. Now you can imagine the hike. Here are some of the views from our windows...

                                  

                       

    

The next day ready for adventure, we headed down the hill to take the train to visit the five towns as they are only a few minutes away from each other. We found many tourist groups. The guides were either holding a flag or an umbrella calling their group at the train station. All the groups were Chinese, young families or couples with their fine cameras, some of the ladies were even wearing skirts, many spoiled rich kids and even spotted some ladies with fancy purses. Not hiking outfits for any of them.  They are living the good life, not an American in the crowd to be found. The other few tourists or hikers seemed to be from Northern Europe. I guessed trying to get away from the snow. Of course, we didnt see the hikers at the train stations but we found them at the pizza places with their boots, hiking sticks, backpacks and all the hiking gear. If you want to hike in this "five lands" you need to purchase a hiking card to be allowed on the traíls. This is how serious hiking is here and they have hiking competitions.

There are train stations in every one of the Cinque Terre towns, and in many of the nearby towns as well. The trains that run between the Cinque Terre towns are slow - they putter from station to station, stopping at each other and they are about 5 - 10 minutes apart by train.

With that said, it is easy to conclude that Cinque Terre is a hikers'and photographers' paradise. For the typical tourist you are done after you take your pictures and you will take many wanting to capture every view as they are phenomenal. But that is it!

Here is a map of Cinque Terre...

From top to bottom:

Monterosso: this is the only flat of the five, I would consider this the only beach town with the walking promenade. Its the only town that I envisioned with umbrellas during the summer and crowded with people laying on the beach. It has a beautiful rocky fortress type and WWII German pillbox.

                      

    

Vernazza: this town is perched on a charming cliff. As you walk down the hill from the station you find yourself in an enclosed bay/harbor with a launching pad for the boats surrounded by a small plaza to sit and enjoy the scenary or just watch the boats.  As all Cinque Terre towns the homes are painted in the approved pastel colors with hunter green shutters that give all towns certain uniformity and charm. It has an old castle hanging on the side of the hill, a breakwater and a church. Here we had the best gelato EVER!

                        

                        

Corniglia :  this town sits on the top a hill 100'ft high. It's the only village that doesn't have access to the sea. To get to the town, you need to climb at least 400 steps from the train station. It was getting late, so we skipped this one. Took this picture from a poster at the train station.

                 

Manarola : Many say that Vernazza is the prettiest of all. Well not for me! My favorite was Manarola. I thought it offered so much to see and it is easy to get everywhere. Yes, there are many steps and hills to climb, but it has more sights, a park for kids, a dog park and many vineyards, plus the rugged hill by the sea. From the train station we passed a nice plaza, went down some steps and walked down to the ocean on a street that was surrounded with small wooden boats sitting in front of the homes. It's a painting not matter where you look at it; a paradise of vineyards and olive trees, same pastel color homes with hunter green shutters. 

                  

Riomaggiore : this town sits between two hills descending to the sea in steep cliffs. A very tiny harbour where colorful wooden boats are launched into the ocean. At the train station there is a huge mural that it represents the working people of the area. Then there is the entrance to the blue tunnel that takes you to the other side of the village. The tunnel is decorated with mosaics, sea shells and driftwood. Every town has its own tunnel, otherwise it will take hours instead of minutes to walk thru the other side of the mountain and each one is different in width, length and decoration. 

                            

     

                      

The entire Cinque Terre is a protected area with spectacular views and cliffs. It is amazing that with this mountainous terrain you find many vineyards and olive fields, plus orange and lemon trees, and basil fields throughout the area. Some if the slopes are almost vertical, despite of this they manage to devise a way to grow their grapes and more. Cinque Terre is known for their pesto, gnocchi, acciughe which means anchovies and many local wines. The acciughes are eaten fresh, served simply on a plate with olive oil and lemon, also very common with pasta and they are not salty.  Sciacchetra is one of the special wines of the region. It's a strong sweet wine. The grapes are left to dry in the sun and then shelled by hand. This picture illustrates how grapes are picked on the hills. When there is a will, there is a way!

 

Well, once we visited the towns, took hundreds of pictures, enjoyed a couple of local meals, tried their gnocchi with pesto, tasted the local wines, had one of the best gelatos EVER, there is nothing else to do but to hang out. 

Yes, it's beautiful on pictures, but in my opinion it's a little over-rated. I will not change it for the French Riviera. I guess this is part of the beauty of the "five lands", the ruggedness and slowness! It seems to me the people that live in Cinque Terre got stuck in the old ways and this is their only way living a very slow life and the slower the better. 

After three days here, it was time to move on. We are off to Florence next! Time to pack again!