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Published: March 31st 2006
Cinque Terre was amazing! I had never before hiked anything like it. The trails travel through small, very old towns as well as olive and lemon gardens overlooking the ocean. It was like some ideal Disneyworld old-Italian coast-town exhibit on steroids. Beautiful countryside, cheerful people, great food, challenging hikes...
Woke up around 7 am... went downstairs and had breakfast. An older, cheerful Italian guy prepared croissants, biscuits, hot chocolate, and cereal for me. He seemed to genuinely enjoy serving me breakfast and setting everything in order on my tray.
I plotted my course to hike and started a very long, beautiful journey. The sky was blue and the temperature felt a little cool, but it was not long before I was down to a t-shirt. I took the path along the coast that went through four of the five towns. To the sound of the waves crashing against the coastal rocks and sun peaking over the hills, I hiked through vineyards (still domant), olive and lemon farms, as well as many vegetable gardens. Some of the villagers were out working in the gardens. Along the way I ran into some girls that wanted me to take there picture with
an old guy along the path that gave them some lemoncino, which is a liquor with lemons... strong and sweet. I tried some, too, and for a strong drink it was actually very good.
Anyway, the general terrain of Cinque Terre is similar to mountain terrain... very steep and rocky. The trail I hiked is centuries old and was used by villagers to get from town to town. It is the toughest trail... often slick, narrow, and steep... and full of steps. I loved it.
At the end of this trail, I stopped at a little cafe and got some pizza with olives and tomatoes, as well as some butter cookie thing with blackberry jam.
I went through all of the towns except Riomaggiore. The buildings are often pastel colored with green shudders. There are many narrow alleys. Very few cars on the narrow roads (only locals).
A few of the towns have creeks running through them and they all have a church.
After that hike, I took another trail up to the top of one of the hillsides and then started to work my way back. Hardly anyone was on the first trail I
hiked, and even less were on this one. At the first peak, I got a panoramic view of the ocean, Cinque Terre, and a town on the other side. The terrain at the top was very different, consisting mostly of pines and other evergreens. The trail itself often had brush so close that it hit me on both sides.
I kept hiking and the trail eventually followed a road for quite a ways. Then I took another trail that was kind of in-between the other two. And it had very few trees, so most of the hike had great views of the towns and the shoreline.
Lastly, I took a wrong turn and ended up walking down a winding road to one of the towns, where I then caught a train to Manarola (the town in Cinque Terre where I was staying). But before catching the train, I bought some fresh pastries from a local bakery. And, of course, like almost all of the desserts I have tried over here, they were great... one was a mini-pie-shell filled with chocolate and almonds that was very good.
Back at the hostel, I talked to other people there for
a few hours, as well as having dinner and trying some of the local wine. It was fun talking to them... some Americans, two Italian guys on staff, and an Australian. One was a mother and son traveling together (I have met three students traveling with their moms so far). Also, I got the photos burned to a CD so that I can now post them.
That is actually the short, short version. There was so much I saw, so many challenges along the way, and lots more interesting details. In the end, I climbed and hiked more than I have ever done before... 8 or 9 hours worth. I was exhausted and aching, but what a day it was. 😊
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Augusta
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Cinque Terre
I am now 100% convinced I want to go to Italy! What a hike, though. How many miles did you cover?