This is post number ten about our Italian trip. The previous posts are:
Our grand tour of Italy was sort of a clockwise loop starting and ending and Milan. The Cinque Terre is along the "9 o'clock" arm of that route. While planning the trip, we decided to spend two nights there so we would have a full day to hike the trail between the villages. We also decided to splurge a little and go above our nightly accommodation budget to get a deluxe Airbnb lodging right in the village center of Vernazza. We were very happy that we made both of those decisions.
We arrived at Vernazza just before sunset, which added to the considerable charm Vernazza already possesses. We met up with our host and climbed the steps to our lovely apartment (I meant to count those steps but I kept forgetting). Then we had a delicious dinner outdoors in the main square.
The trail that links the five villages is famous. In 2001 Carol and I hiked the entire length, starting at Monterosso in the north and ending at Riomaggiorre in the south. This year, however, most sections of the trail between the villages are closed due to recent landslides or maintenance. The most scenic portion, between Monterosso and Vernazza, was open. That's the hardest portion, but also about the right length for a hike with the girls.
We got up Friday morning and had breakfast in our apartment. Then we made our way up to the train station for the short trip to Monterosso. It only takes five minutes or so to travel between villages by train!
Monterosso is also charming, although in a different way since it is not in a ravine like Vernazza but instead has two wide beaches along with beachfront architecture and restaurants. We started our hike along the boardwalk and then ascended out the south end of the village. The views start out nice and just keep getting better.
Once the trail leaves the village it starts to climb fairly steeply. We took a couple of breaks.
At one point we passed a trailside house with a mute old man selling fresh oranges, water, wine and baked goods. We bought an orange from him and stopped a bit down the trail to enjoy it. All of us thought it was the best orange we have ever eaten. I think the setting contributed to that perception. But we wished we would have bought more. And some wine!
We had brought a lunch and a while farther down the trail we came across a beautiful grotto where a stream tumbled under a bridge carrying the trail. We stopped to eat our lunch on a flat rock in the grotto. It was another of many enchanting moments of the trip: eating our lunch listening to the burbling of the stream in the shade.
About two thirds of the way along the trail the picturesque views of Vernazza begin. We kept stopping to take more photos because around every corner was a view that seemed more beautiful than the last.
Immediately after we arrived back in Vernazza the girls decided they wanted to go swimming. We found a little shop with a cute old man who spoke no English and bought swimsuits for the girls. We hadn't packed any, on purpose, because it was Spring and we figured it would be too cold for swimming most places and we weren't staying anywhere with a pool. But they needed new suits anyway for the summer.
A few minutes later both girls were swimming in the Mediterranean.
Carol and I lazed on the rocks with our feet in the water.
After swimming we decided to explore one or two of the other villages. We took the train (again, for about five minutes) to Manarola and walked around a bit. It's center is very small and we didn't see a restaurant that rang our bell. So we got back on the train the other direction and returned to Monterosso to try the beach restaurants we had seen in the morning.
We found a great tavern with a patio overlooking the beach, where we enjoyed a lovely, leisurely, last dinner in Italy.
The next morning we departed early to take four trains that would eventually deliver us to the airport in Milan for our afternoon flight.
But along the way, we got to see a little bit of Genoa...
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