cinque terre

Monterosso

View from the room we rented in Corniglia. No hotels in this tiny town. Note cars parked on road to town. That was as far as they could go.

They call this the Italian Riviera for a reason! The water was clear and just the right temperature. The key was to swim off the rocks. Everyone else crowded onto the beach. A swim and a lemon gelato were the perfect ending to a hot day of hiking. The locally made wine came later!

Corniglia was our favorite of the villages. We stayed here for two nights. It is the only one of the five that is above the coast so it did not attract the beach crowd. If you wanted to swim, you had to be pretty committed to get there and back. There was a steep path down to the water and although David looked at it longingly, I chose not to go!

Vernazza

At one time the five villages perched on steep headlands on the Ligurian coast of Italy were accessible only by foot path or by boat. Roads now snake down the steep mountains to the villages but cars must be parked on the outskirts. The footpaths that connect the villages wind along the densely terraced hillsides past grape vines and olive trees.

One path between villages was closed due to "jobs" as you can see in the hand written sign. They actually meant "work" as the trail was being worked on that day. At first disappointed, we were shown a longer, less traveled trail which went higher up the mountain through tiny hamlets, terraced grape arbors and along stone walls. It was our best day. A woman eating her lunch as we walked by her house offered to fill our water bottles. A tiny church was cool in the noon day sun, candles were flickering; lit as blessings for loved ones.

Someone once told me to show the trail as well as the view when describing a hike. Such a good idea since trails can really vary. In the White Mountains of New Hampshire, trails are rugged, mainly comprised of boulders to clamor over, in the west we hear of soft switch back trails lined with wild flowers, in Nepal the incline is gradual and steady. In Italy, these trails were and are used every day to go to work in the vineyards, and to travel to the next town. The steps are well worn.