We were eager to see the five towns of Cinque Terre (Monterosso, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola & Riomaggiore), and to hike the trails that connect these coastal villages.
Driving to the coast of Liguria there were many mountains in our path, and that led to many tunnels.
Along the way we drove through Rapallo and Pignone.
And then we began to head upwards on narrow, winding mountain roads. The path was twisty, but the views were amazing.
Especially when Corniglia came into view, as this was our home base for the next two days.
It was a long, uphill walk with our suitcases to the room we had rented in this small, hilltop town. Our villa in the photo was the blue one at the top!
Once we had hauled ourselves and our luggage to the room, we explored the town and watched the sunset from the terrace on our building. Corniglia is the middle of the five villages of the Cinque Terre. We made plans to hike to the other villages in the next two days.
In the morning we started along the hiking trail to Vernazza. The path was sometimes rocky, sometimes sandy, sometimes flat and sometimes steep. It was well-marked, but often narrow. Sometimes there were railings, other times you just had to be extra cautious!
We were so excited to finally reach Vernazza!
We walked through the town to the waterfront, then found lunch at a local cafe.
Feeling confident, we continued along the trail toward another town of the Cinque Terre: Monterosso. The beginning of the trail was a steep uphill trek. It had us rethinking our confidence level with hiking, but we pushed on.
Eventually the climb leveled out and we enjoyed some spectacular views, a quick yoga stretch, and music from a man playing an accordion beside the path. (There was no sign of the crazy uke lady.)
The descent was lovely, but now in full sun, so we were hot! When we reached Monterosso, we sat at a restaurant overlooking the water to drink lots of water and have a snack.
Realizing that we were hours away from our hotel and exhausted, we found the train station and hopped a ride back to Corniglia. And then walked another 33 flights (383 steps) from the station back up to our villa!
After showers and some rest, the sunset was beautiful. We had a lovely dinner at La Posada, perched on the cliff, looking towards Manarola. We made plans to walk that direction the next day. Suddenly there were explosions over Manarola. Fireworks were being shot from a barge as the town celebrated a holiday honoring their patron saint, San Lorenzo.
The next morning, we hiked toward Manarola. Again, it was a steep trail up
that flattened at the top so we could enjoy the view
and then a steep path down. Reaching Manarola we stayed just long enough to walk through the town and drink some water.
Then we attempted to find the trail that would continue to Riomaggiore, the fifth town of the Cinque Terre. It was a rugged, vertical climb that often had us using hands and feet. The view was great, but we realized that we had left the “moderate” trail and accidentally ended up on the “expert” trail. Not feeling like experts, we carefully climbed back down to Manarola, and looked for the train station!
For our last night in Corniglia, we had a lovely dinner at a café and then joined our hotel neighbors on the terrace to watch a meteor shower. We saw a few shooting stars, and then a long, bright fireball traveled across the night sky for almost a minute. It was an amazing ending to our Cinque Terre adventure!