The Cinque Terre – Part I (Wednesday 7th August 2013)

The Cinque Terre is a UNESCO World Heritage area along the coast of the Liguarian Sea in northern Italy. Five ancient villages dating back to medieval times cling precariously to the mountains where they dive sharply into the sea. The villages are joined by a walking path cut out of the rock and dirt of the mountains. From one end of the walk to the other is about 19kms.

In a example of human endeavour and ingenuity the mountain-side above and below the track are terraced so as to support the propagation of grape vines, lemon trees and vegetables. This is real mountain-goat country. I dips me lid to the people who built it centuries ago, to the people who have maintained the landscape over all those centuries and to the people of today who keep the land viable for agriculture.

There are certainly easier ways to earn a living on the land! Which is exactly why the area achieved World Heritage listing. Not because of any unique or rare botanical species (because last time I looked out of control blackberry wasn't that well loved by many people), not because of the beautifully maintained terrace walls or paths or houses or sheds (because many are quite rundown and overgrown) and not to protect any unique, at risk or endangered fauna roaming the nearby hills (I saw some lizards, but that was all). This area is World Hertiage listed because of the people who live here today keeping alive a rare agricultural and sea-faring community that has prevailed in these harsh conditions for centuries.

Cinque Terre is Italian for “Five Lands” reflecting the five villages that make up this community. The villages, from north to south are Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manorola and Riomaggiore. Each has some different characteristic to offer the group.

We set off at about 10pm with the intention of completing the walk from Monterosso to Vernazza, have a break and some lunch and then walk to the next village, Corniglia. A great plan and a nice way to spend the day!!

The plan started to fall apart as soon as we exited the tunnel at the southern end of Monterosso and saw the long, steep steps up the hill. If we'd only known what was to come we might not have continued beyond them, The nicely formed step disappeared around a bend and the track started in earnest. In places were concrete steps formed by man, in other places the rock and dirt had been cut by hand and rocks of various shapes and sizes placed to form something vaguely resembling steps. And then there were no steps, just a dirt path. At places along the route handrails hand been erected where a misplaced foot-fall might end end in an unscheduled trip down the mountain-side . More common, however, there were no handrails in these dangerous parts of the track.

So steep was the terrain and so rocky was the path that it nearly beat Kerry. But she stuck at the task with frequent stops in the hot and humid weather for a drink and to catch her breath. Don't worry, she had plenty of mates on the track – young and old alike. The ascent took its toll on many of them also. We were often passed by groups only to pass them again later on. All were “sucking in the big ones” as the track got steeper and a each step seemed higher than those at the beginning.

After what seemed an eternity we finally reached relatively level ground as we walked along the contour line path over a number of little creeks and water-courses. All the way along we were flanked by the terraced gardens of lemon groves and grape vines with the backdrop of the shiney-blue Liguarian Sea.

The descent was easier on the lungs and the sweat glands but very hard on the knees and ankles. After about 2hrs of walking we finally arrived at Vernazza, pretty little village with a beautiful little boat-filled harbour behind a break-water. Kids were swimming in the harbour and the streets and lanes were filled with visitors. Many restaurants, bars and boutiques lined the main (only) street and the labyrinth of stepped lanes and culls-de-sac. We quickly found a bar by the harbour and poured down an ice-cold coke or two with a simple lunch. Rested, we went to investigate the rest of the village, I noticed many people enjoying a “cone” of seafood so I followed my nose to a tiny shop-front halfway up the main street. The long queue was a give-away. For eight euros I got a generous serving of calamari, battered scallops, battered prawns, something from the sea on a skewer (don't know what it was) and small salted and very lightly fried fish of some description – sort of about the same size as anchovies or sardines. Whatever they were they went down the gullet, head, tail fins and all. The whole lot was just delicious!!

It looks like Willy has escaped from the Cat Palace in Strathfieldsaye and tracked us down in Corniglia!

After the arduous walk to Vernazza we decided to push on to Corniglia. But not by foot. By train! A train runs all the way down the coast from Genoa to La Spezia and stops at each of the five villages. It spends most of its journey between Levanto and Riomaggiorie underground, just popping up in the towns to let passengers on and off. Thinking we'd beat the mountains we alighted at Corniglia station only to be confronted with a view of the town at the top of a 365 step stair-case.

I counted 433 steps by the time we got to the top! Corniglia is different to the other two towns chiefly because it is atop the cliff-face. Nevertheless, indeed perhaps even more so, the village is a maze of narrow lanes made up almost entirely of steps going up and down and every which way. We found a tiny piazza near the top of the village for yet another cooling drink and a rest. A little further past the piazza (up, of course) was a wonderful view of the next village, Manarola – our target for tomorrow. The walk from Corniglia to Manarola can clearly be seen clinging to the rock-face just above the sea. It was pretty flat all the way – a walk in the park! Indeed, we later has it confirmed that the Monterosso to Vernazza walk is by far the most difficult.

We bought some souvenirs in a little store and some gelati in the store across the lane. The gelati was superb, just as good as Gelatissimo in Lygon St. We descended to the station and caught the next train back to Monterosso for some pizza, pasta and Vino Rosso at a restaurant near the hotel and then headed home to rest our weary bones.