The two hour train ride from Siena to Cinque Terre was smooth and easy. The train dropped us off at town number one, Riomaggiorre, which was our home base for the “5 lands.” Even the train station had a fabulous view of the vast and brilliantly blue Mediterranean.
A 100 meter walking tunnel took us from the train station and through the mountain to our small, colorful and humble town. Without directions we managed to easily find our hostel. Riomaggiorre has only one Via that runs uphill from the port to the top of the town. We dropped our packs off at our place and made our way up the road to see what the town had to offer. Looking down on the town from the top of the street was amazing. On either side were colorful houses jetting out of the cliffside and grape vines covering the land above. The colors of the grape leaves gave away the current season was fall. We walked towards the sea on a road that ended with a small castle that sat above the town. The view in each direction was grand. Our way down to sea level took us through ‘streets’ that are better described as steep walkways and alleys that eventually lead to doorsteps of homes. Not your conventional streets by a long shot. The port of the town was humble and made of concrete. All of the boats were wooden with no hint of the modern and wild world. The rock beach provided a lovely spot for us to watch the sun go down. Switching strokes from left to right, a local man paddled his boat with one hand while the other guided his fishing line. The ease in which he went through the water made it seem as if he had been fishing this way his entire life off of the coast of Riomaggiore.
We were glad to find out that the town did have a market to purchase groceries. We enjoyed a good meal of pasta with fresh pesto and a good bottle of wine. Some of our new roommates walked in while we were eating and this marked the beginning of a long evening with good company and conversation. While this small town is not particularly known for its nightlife, we did manage to close down the local pub. We headed home for a night of rest before the long day ahead.
The Cinque Terre hike is a total of 9km (5.5 miles) from town one to five. With our carb load from dinner the night before, we departed Riomaggiorre with our minds set on Monterosso. The first leg of the trip, from Riomaggiorre to Manorolla, is appropriately called the “walkway of love.” Smooth and flat concrete made the 20 minute stroll very easy and one to remember. As for the remainder of our hike it was not as easy, but very memorable. We saw all types of paths; concrete, dirt, rock, wide, narrow, steep and flat. Wonderful views were a constant, whether it was high above the Mediterranean, deep inside the coves with vineyards abound, or through the colorful towns themselves. Switchbacks of 286 steps got us to the hilltop town of Corniglia where a gelato reward awaited us. The local miele (honey) flavor was a fantastic treat after our journey to the top. Our travels to the next two towns (Vernezza and Monterosso) were the most demanding and intense. A new view of the surroundings from the next hill top or around the precarious bend was always incentive enough for us to continue. With an hour to go we met a couple from Olympia, WA on the trail and had a great time finishing the hike through Cinque Terre. When it was all said and done, it took five hours and 12 minutes for us to reach Monterosso. We pondered how long it would take us if we really wanted to make a race out of it. We weren’t as impressed when we thought what Lance Armstrong or even our two mountaineer friends from Issaquah could make it in. Nonetheless our hike was full of great times, great exercise, great views and most importantly, great company.
The nine minute train ride back to Riomaggiorre made us appreciate even more the technology we so frequently rely on throughout this trip. Since the pesto was so good the night before, we decided to enjoy the same again. This time we teamed up with a roommate, Kalie from L.A. and Barcelona, to make a big meal of pasta, fried potatoes, eggplant and tomatos, and vino from Montepulciano.
Day three was dedicated to seeing more of each town. With slightly sore legs we took the train to all five towns to get a better feel for what each had to offer. We stopped in Manorola to have lunch at a Trattoria that one of our roommates highly recommended to us the night before. Liya enjoyed a big plate of Batti Batti (linguinni with lobster) and Ben had a ravioli dish with a salmon sauce. Both were outrageously delicious and very reasonably priced. To close our stomachs, we had a tiramisu that made our heads spin it was so good. The remainder of the day was spent walking off our great meal through the unique towns of Cinque Terre.
1 comment:
Awesome pictures. That place looks spectacular.
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