CINQUE TERRE, Liguria, Italy

CINQUE TERRE, Liguria, Italy
Summer 2013

The spectacular, folded coastline of north west Italy known as the Cinque Terre, the Five Lands, is named after the five tiny medieval villages wedged into coves between dramatic steep cliffs. Their historical inaccessibility meant that for centuries the only way to travel between  the isolated villages was by walking along mountain trails.

An hour’s drive south of Genova, its a relatively tiny area perhaps no more in that 11 kilometres, as the crow flies. But given the ascents and descents, the undulations of the mountain folds and sea coves, it not quite so straightforward for the earth-bound.  Our plan was to hike as many of the trails as possible from Monterosso in the north to Riomaggiore in the south.

On our first day as usual we started late. Leaving Monterosso around midday when the temperature had climbed to 35c. We quickly discovered that this was not the only thing which climbed. The trail to Vernazza, reported to be easy, began with 45 minutes of climbing steps with variable height, distance and frequency. We were knackered before we hit the trail which was narrow, crowded and hot.

Because the track is narrow and treacherous you tend to keep your eyes firmly on the ground in front of you, and so miss a lot of spectacular scenery. Beautiful green slopes plunging down to the sparkling blue sea were only glimpsed on the energy stops, but even then we tended to choose shade rather than view as first priority.

The most unusual hikers we encountered were  a retired German couple who had a special rucksack for their dog "because his legs are too short to do much of this trail." they explained. I immediately dubbed him "Happy Hund". They loved that. An American matron of some girth was equally delighted to be informed by me that she had won the prize for the most colourful shoes on the trail. “But not the fastest,” she responded with a pleased grin. True.

Finally, two and a half hours later, we reached the steeply descending little streets of the very picturesque coastal village of Vernazza. We were greeted as we approached by a man with an accordion playing my favourite tango music, but we were not ready to dance. Instead we collapsed and were only revived by great Italian gelato. Then we slept in the shade of the harbour wall for half an hour or more until sufficiently recovered to head for the train back to Monterosso.

Somewhat recuperated by evening and acting on the advice of locals we strolled down the road to Il Pozzo where we enjoyed the locally famous pesto pasta and endured  disappointing Fritto Misto, Swordfish and service.

 
After the exhausting experience of the first day's walk,  we took the advice of the Dutch couple who shared our terrace and opted next day for the ferry up and down the coast. First we rode the white wake towards Manarola and then Riomaggiore, the fifth Cinque Terre village, where we walked up and down the steep village street before catching the next ferry to Portovenere. There we ate delicious fresh fritto misto and verdura misto out of paper cones before taking a boat for a tour around the islands, including a cove named after English poet Lord Byron who was an occasional resident. 

We chose Il Castello for dinner because it has tables high over Monterosso bay. Of course it was full of tourists, seemigly the better heeled as the well dressed next table ordered Lobster Spagetti, “price on aplication”! Our fillited fish of the day was tasty and the service was efficiently impersonal. Don’t take their advice about the wine, go with your instincts.

Before setting out on Day Three we consulted a friend’s ordnance service contours map and the hotel's helpful Eduardo who knows all the trails, though his estimate of how long walks take is that of a younger man. As a consequence  we began with a train to Manarola,  a bus to Valastra near the top of the mountain and then walked  an hour and half, again in the midday sun, but the path mostly through vineyards was less treacherous than day one and the spectacular views could not be missed.  This route is much less crowded and at times you felt you had the hillsides all to yourself, the yellow butterflies and the crickets’ chorous.

Caught the train back to Monterossa, walked out of the station and straight onto the beach where we spent the afternoon relaxing under our sun loungers and parasols. The devilish stony beach is compensated by the clear if chilly sea.

Dinner at the Belveder by the beach turned out to be the best meal of our stay, especially the seafood pasta dish, despite it having been recommend by locals.

The Cinque Terre definitely worth  visit, but perhaps best to avoid the summer peak season