"Doing" the Cinque Terre... in Thongs

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By the time Lauren and I got to the Cinque Terre it was past lunchtime and due to trains not running through to Levanto until later, we stopped in Monterosso for lunch. Not a bad spot, if a little touristy, aimed at "older" American and Germans. By the time we got to Levanto, found the hostel (trees growing over signs didnt help) and checked in, then headed back south to Riomaggiore it was 18:00.

This turned out to be a blessing in disguise... the crowds had mostly gone home or to the hotel already, and the sun was in a better angle to light up the towns and cliffs, plus it wasnt as hot as earlier. It really was hard not to take a million pictures of the place, just in case the next one is that little more perfect than the last one. The walk to Manarola is rather easy and promoted as the lovers walk... it is pensioner in a wheelchair quality, as in a pensioner could be wheeled along it. About 20 minutes.

Manarola was beautiful as well, did some wandering around the streets for a while. Seems each town has quite a few restaurants and rooms for rent... dont know about the quality or the price but they are advertised everywhere. Plenty of nice smells drifting out making me hungry.

There was still plenty of light left so we continued on to Corneglia. This wasnt pensioner quality anymore but still wasnt hard going, the worst was just the climb up to the town at the end (Corneglia being in the only town of the 5 not on the water but on a cliff top), the road zigzags between a few farms, the locals out in their vege gardens or trying to keep the kids under control.

The smell of seafood cooking coming from the restaurant at the town square decided this was where we were having dinner lol. Spaghetti ai frutti da mare went down damn good, as did some beers even though they were of dubious Italian quality. We decided it was going to be too dark to reach Vernazza so dessert was on the cards (tiramasu of course), then back down the hill to the train to Levanto.

Beds at the hostel were ordinary, couldnt blink without making the beds squeak... try farting or digging out a wedgie lol. Train times werent looking too promising either... Lauren had to catch a 19:00 train to Milan and the latest train I could catch to Nice in time to check in was 15:00. As a backup I knew that the spot Lauren had been going to take was free now.

Train back to Corneglia and ploughing up the hill... past "passport control" and onto the track, this time it was a fair bit nastier... steeper, not in as good condition. Fantastic views as you go up but you start to wonder just how much longer this will go on for... well look up high for the little houses that make up San Bernardino cause that is where you are headed. Good thing is there is a bar there run by a friendly old guy... bad Italian beer never tasted so good lol.

From there it was mostly downhill into Vernazza, which I think is my favourite of the towns. It was lunchti,e by now qnd the plqce was full of people. We grabbed some takeaway pizza and beers and settled on the breakwall to eat and soak in the atmosphere. Local kids were clowning around in the harbour, old guys were sitting around on boats sharing food and wine around. I had given up on the idea of making the 15:00 train to Nice, so we set off on the toughest leg Vernazza to Monterosso.

I'm blaming beer and pizza but I really struggled... Lauren put me to shame on this leg. It didnt seem like we would ever stop climbing up... and asking people coming the other way didnt get inspiring answers lol. We were old that just before heading downhill there would be a lemon guy. Once things did stop climbing it pretty much plateaued out for the rest of the time with a slight up and down. The "track" was very narrow at times, less than a foot wide.

Finally we got to the lemon guy, who was cutting them in half and trying to sell them to people to eat, saying there were good energy. Rightio. From here the view over Monterosso was fantastic and the track headed down through various gardens, including a run of several hundred big steps... if I hadve been coming up those I probably wouldve given up and just caught the train to Vernazza lol.

Into Monterosso and there was lemons everywhere... kids selling lemonade, stalls selling lemons by the bag full, lemon based liquors... I joked to Lauren "what is this, lemonfest?" then around a corner she pointed to a sign that said it was a lemon festival lmao.

After a walk around and another gelati it was back to Levanto for Lauren to pack, and I walked her to the train station for 19:00 train to Milan. After I grabbed a takeaway pizza I ate at the beach then packed to be ready to go early in the morning.

I throughly enjoyed those couple of days... and its not just the view, its the whole experience... noise of birds and animals and waves, smells of salt water from below and plants from above, the effort you put in getting you there... hard to explain it really. And the company was great too, hope I meet up with Lauren again sometime in the future, was a pleasure travelling with her.

And the thongs? Well everywhere you see weird arse people with walking poles like the stocks that skiiers use, all kitted out in hiking gear, ploughing along the track head down, sweating away, hardly stopping to see the scenery. Then you had Lauren... attractive blonde girl looking more like she was going shopping with her friends than hiking... wearing a skirt... and thongs... for the whole hike. Put that in your walking pole and smoke it lmao.

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