La Spezia and Cinque Terre, Italy
A marvelous, spectacular day. A dream opportunity, one of the reasons that we came this way and a prime motivation for coming to Europe at all this year, was to go to Cinque Terre. It is something that Jan and I have thought about for a long time.
It was everything we hoped it would be and more. The people we met were so friendly and happy, the rail system was wonderful, the paths we walked between the villages were overall excellent, though there were some rough patches. But, that's life.
Between us we took over 1200 pictures today, plus I took some videos. Not every one is postcard quality, but each is a reminder of a special memory.
The day is a blurr now, just one large happy memory. Here is how it went.
There are five villages in the series, the 'Cinque Terre' or 'five lands'. From the south to the north in order, the first is 'Riomaggiore', the second is 'Manarola', the third is 'Corniglia', the fourth is 'Vernazza', and the fifth is 'Monterosso al Mar'. We spent the night before in La Spezia at a hotel just by the railway station. The villages are all linked by rail service that passes trains through the villages at the rate of about one per hour towards the north and towards the south.
The train took us from La Spezia to Riomaggiore, a considerable distance in appearance on the map but only about seven minutes of time since we cut through a mountain tunnel to get there. Virtually the whole travel time was in the dark, in the tunnel. At Riomaggiore we got off, along with a grade ten class of kids and their teacher. Ooops, I thought, we will have some noisy company for this journey. But no, they were like a herd of cats, wandering away here and there and not answering the teacher's requests to get together. Before they even left the station, Jan and I were through the town at a leisurely rate, taking pictures and reading the signs and history of the villages and the trail that connects them. Then we were onto the first leg of the trail, excited to see what the event had to offer.
The first part of the trail is between Riomaggiore and Manarola, and is called 'Via della Amore', or 'the lover's walk'. Much more romantic in Italian, I know. The hillsides are very steep, near vertical in places, and there is always a danger of landslides. So the Italian government has put up a lot of chain-link netting to keep the rocks from falling down on the heads of the hikers. Somehow, between the chain-link fence idea and the 'lovers walk' ideas, somebody came up with the thought that a lock would be a symbol of the love that they feel for their paramour, and if they placed a lock somewhere along the walk it would symbolize their undying love for their partner. Or something like that. You'll see from the pictures Jan has chosen that the idea resonated with half of Italy and the rest of Europe, as these symbolic locks are fastened to the chain-link fencing along much of the walk, together with knots of fabric and other memorabilia that proclaim the love of one person for another. Very romantic, whether the love is unrequited or not. Actually, it is really very sweet and the locks are in great profusion. Everywhere. The picture that Jan has chosen of the locks shows a chair with what looks like two people face to face that forms the wooden carved back. The view of the picture looks over the ocean and the fence at that spot looks very strange with stuff hanging from the six metal rails. Those are the locks, just a very few of them. Most locks are the small, ordinary variety but some are big like the one beside the seat in the picture. Quaint. To me, love is something that you do and not what you say or clip to a fence above the ocean. But maybe this works too, if you believe hard enough, though evidence is hard to come by.
This first part of the trail is only about 20 minutes long to walk, and quite flat through most of it. The trail is secure and cut into the side of the cliff and then anchored with steel and concrete, with a retaining wall. Good thing too, as the drop to the churning sea is precipitous and vertical in most spots, and a hundred feet and more down to the sea throughout most of the 20 minute walk. But the view, oh the view, how beautiful. From a lot of the walk you can see the four villages ahead, perched and clinging to the cliffside in the distance. Jan and I walked, and hugged, and held hands, and took many picture during this journey.
In Manarola, the trail ends at the railway station, which we walked through and into the town itself. We wandered the town a bit but didn't spend a lot of time there as the trail from Manarola to Corniglia was calling to us. What we did notice is that this town is one of the least accessible by road and so it did not have the normal excessive amounts of cars parked about the streets. No cars, actually, boats instead are 'parked' outside the houses on the main street. Little fishing dorys, hauled up the street from the beach on carts, quaintly painted but with outboard engines on them so progress has not completely passed the villages by. This segment of the trail that we were about to started on was to be longer than the first, advertised to take up to an hour and twenty minutes if you don't spend too much time taking pictures. The distance itself is not that far, but there is a fair amount of climbing up the hillside and then coming back down. So off we went.
The first part of the trail was good, fairly flat with lots of opportunity to take pictures of Manarola as it faded in the distance. The village is like a pile of multicolored children's blocks, piled in a disorderly but picturesque way high up the hillside. It is an enticing site, very hard for us to tear our cameras away from to look ahead, particularly as we were curving around a point of land. As we passed the apex of the point, Manarola was blocked from view but the next village, Corniglia, came into view high up on the hillside ahead, the same seemingly disorderly pile of multicolored children's blocks as Manarola. Lovely, such a site to see, unlike anything in Canada. On we went around the trail, carved out of the rock face or perched on the side of it anchored by steel and concrete. About fifteen minutes into the walk, until now trending upward but not really steep, the trail turned into a goat track, up and up and up the side of the rock face. The going got tough here, the path having steps that were broken rock and too high for a single step so it was down on all fours and picking our way on rare occasions, aided by roots and rocks for handholds. Up and up we climbed, into the area of the terraced grape arbours and the area that has been terraced and farmed for countless generations, as we had read. Still higher we climbed, but we could see others on the trail ahead of us also making their way to Corniglia. One person in a red jacket, too far away to make out any characteristics such as gender, but the red jacket came into view way up there off and on. Up we went, hand over hand again, pausing frequently to take pictures of the terraces above, the trail in front and behind, the picturesque village ahead on the hillside, and the crashing waves way below. Unbelievable, wild and beautiful. Finally, about three quarters of an hour into this segment of the trail, we reached the high ground. From here we could see backwards to the village of Manarola that we had, we thought, left behind. This was perhaps the best view of all, as we could see glimpses of all five villages as well as the hillside and the sea below, just amazing. We snapped away on the cameras, preserving the memories, and I shot some video as well from this point and along the trail.
From there it was a gentle downhill slope into Corniglia. It had its moments, a suspension bridge that looked a bit suspicious but was fine, some broken fencing just above the churning sea - a mile and a half below us, and other attention-grabbers like that, but overall it was no problem and very very safe. We arrived in Corniglia at the train station platform just like in Manarola. But we didn't go into Corniglia. They welcomed us, they said, to climb the 365 steps to their village and visit. But Jan and I declined, electing to take the train instead to Monterosso del Mar, the last of the five villages. You see, the trails between Corniglia and Vernazza, and then between Vernazza and Monterosso were closed due to storm damage in February. Some of the trail sections were washed out and too dangerous to risk tourists on, so we were blocked. No worries, lunch time was at hand and with choices to make we selected the best dining opportunity, Monterosso, as it is connected to the Italian coast above by road and is by far the most 'touristy' of the five villages. Therefore, better lunch choices. So we trained by Vernazza, intending to come back to it by train after lunch. You see the advantage of the 'trail and train' ticket, allowing us to walk the trails (yes, they cost) and/or take the train as much as you like all day.
Monterosso del Mar was a delight and we found a great restaurant with a wine list that included a selection from the Cinque Terre region, with local grapes. Lunch was predictably great, but full of pasta and wine, and even after cappacinos we were still dozy, happy, and a bit sluggish. We explored Monterosso in the afternoon sunshine, then caught a train back to Vernazza, the one that we had missed.
Vernazza turned out to be the 'best' of the bunch, and one of the reasons is that it is right on the sea and the sea was very rough. Waves crashed onto the breakwater and onto the rocks of the cliffs around us, very noisy and spectacular. The village was beautiful, multcolored blocks again, piled high, with lots of little bars to have a drink in. But Jan and I were still too full from lunch to really enjoy it so we chose not to partake. Too bad, we could have spent the whole afternoon in that lovely little place. We've decided that we have to come back, sometime, to finish the job there, but meanwhile late in the afternoon we took the train out of there heading back to Manarola.
From Manarola we again hiked the 'lovers walk' back to Riomaggiore. This was the gentle walk, pretty flat, and locks everywhere, clipped to the chain link fencing that holds the hill in place from coming down on top of us. Lovely, and very romantic with the wishes that must have accompanied the act of placing those locks. Along the way, it being very late afternoon now, we passed among many people walking along or sitting on the benches by the walkway. There were the couples, of course, but also singles walking along and clumps of older men sitting and chatting among themselves, hands waving about in the air, voices raised, every story seeming to be very dramatic, but everyone smiling and happy. It really seems to be the Italian way, high emotions, demonstrative, and very happy. Jan and I love this country, we want to learn the language and come back.
Finally, in Riomaggiore, cappucinos by the sea at a little shop and then onto the train for 'home' at the hotel in La Spezia. One of the very best days ever. And hard to beat, but tomorrow is Pisa and its famous tower.
