Cinque Terre

I had heard of the beauty of this place a few months ago. It piqued my curiosity, and I wasn't disappointed. Cinque Terre means 5 lands. It is a national park on the coast of Northern Italy made up of 5 stunningly beautiful villages, connected by a network of hiking trails. We decided to hike 4 of the 5 villages (according to internet accounts, 1 village was less impressive than the rest).

What could be better than a hike along the coastline of Italy?


We took a train to the village of Vernazza, also known as the "gem" of Cinque Terre. I think that it is the largest village of the 5, population wise, with 1,000 residents. We grabbed some pastries and coffee at a Sicilian pasticceria (read: pastry shop), wandered around the village, headed down to the harbor, and poked in some shops. Then, it was already time to start thinking about meal number 2 (this is Italy, after all). We picked up some focaccia bread with pesto to take on our hike, both invented in that region of Italy. Then we hit the trails. Frequent stops were necessary for taking pictures.

We hiked an hour or so, scaled a small wall, and ate our focaccia bread in an obliging olive grove overlooking the sea.


Feeling refeshed and empowered by our Italian repast, we continued along the trail to the village of Corniglia. Side note: Cinque Terre boasts an elaborate system of terracing, allegedly containing more stones than the Great Wall of China. The terraces were built for vineyards and olive groves.



In Corniglia, we felt the need to find a gelato shop. Clearly, hiking necessitates refreshment. I opted for a lemon granita (read: slushie) made fresh from local lemons.



Then we made our way to Manarola. This leg of the journey was a bit more rocky and rugged in appearance. We walked down to the stony spillway and watched the waves crash against the marbled rock.

Unfortunately, the boats were pulled up onto shore (in all the villages) because the sea was rough. The one other slight downside to the day was the lack of sunshine, which made for grayer pictures.



We took some time to traverse Manarola's terraces, and surprisingly made it out of this village without purchasing something to eat.

Next up was the path from Manarola to Riomaggiore, known as the Via dell'Amore (Way of Love). This was the easiest leg of the journey. Italians, or perhaps all Europeans, have this thing with locks. Lovers attach locks on a bridge (or something like a bridge) and throw the key into the water. It's supposed to symbolize undying love.


This practice is discouraged in most places as the locks are quite a burden to remove. However, locks are warmly welcomed on the Via dell'Amore.

And so, we made it to our last village, Riomaggiore.

We plopped down on a bench and pulled out our torn out Rick Steves pages to locate a restaurant for dinner. Having more time to kill than we had anticipated, we decided to have a look at the 5th village, Monterosso, that we had heard "wasn't worth seeing." Since Monterosso was in the exact opposite direction (requiring a backtracking all 4 villages and then some), we decided to take a train. For the record, Monterosso is worth seeing.




P.S. Facebookers: Sorry for the repeated pictures. My family assures me that there are people who read this blog who don't have facebook.