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Published: July 22nd 2011
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We arrived in La Spezia just as the sun was setting. It was pretty easy place to find. Out hotel was a very small place tucked up amongst some rather rough looking housing blocks. It was right next to a school and it had a restaurant, which is great as they were a little hard to find in La Spezia.
The railway station was only a 15 minute walk and the first of the Cinque Terra villages were only a 10 minute train ride through a tunnel. We bought a two day pass which was great as we didn't need to queue up for tickets. The ticket covered unlimited use of the trains and the walking tracks. Well worth while if you want to make the most of your time here. We got a train to the first village with the view to walk to the rest.
The first village was Riomaggiore. It is the largest of the five villages. Very pretty with very steep streets which go up a very narrow valley.It didn't have access to the sea We wandered up the streets. Although it was a very busy place with lots of visitors like us arriving on
Riomaggiore
This photo is taken from the train station looking down into the sea. the train most of them tended to walk up the main street and back again, hoping to find food along the way. The walk from Riomaggiore to Manarola followed the rugged coast line. It was a very easy track that had very little in the way of hills. It was right over the sea in some places.
Manarola was really lovely and the most picturesque out of all the villages. It had access to the sea with a very small boat habour. However the sea was very rough so all the boats were lined up the main street. This little town was built on a very rugged rocky outcrop. The streets very steep and narrow. The slopes around Manarola were all cultivated with grapes. Manarola is very famous for its 'Sciacchetra wine. There was a large information and photo display about the history of the grapes. Like Riomaggiore it is very old with lots of relics. The bell tower is very magnificent and also acts as a lookout over the sea. After checking out the local coffee shops we set off to walk to the 3rd village of Corniglia. Unfortunately the track was closed. You could see a large slip
Riomaggiore
I try to take a photo of the name of the place we have visited. over the track about 2km from Manarola. So we headed to Corniglia on the train.
Corniglia is the middle village. It is perched on top of a rocky outcrop once again surrounded by grape wines. The wines are grown on narrow terraces which as it turn out make very good walking paths. The is no access to the sea here unless you want to clamour down some very steep banks and cliffs. After getting off the train there were two ways to the village. You could either wait round in the heat for a bus or you could walk up the 365 steps to the top. When we got to the top the sign said 360 steps to the bottom. We should have counted. A very small village which had by far the best ice cream I have had. It was a yoghurt slash ice cream with lemon and honey poured over it them strawberries added. It was just heaven! So having eaten large amounts of gelato and consumed delicious coffee we head off walk to the next village of Vernazza only to be told that the path was closed. No explanation given. So we wandered back to the village.
As we were gazing at the magnificent view we started chatting to a family who had just walk the track the other way. It turned out the family were from Cust just outside Christchurch. Small world. So we decided we would walk it from the other end the next day. As it was the most stunning day we decided to take the high track back to the town of Manarola. Well it was a straight climb up of 600m. The views were well worth it. You were right in amongst the vines growing along little narrow terraces. It must be back breaking work picking them. They have little mini roller coaster type transport to get up and down some of he very steep slopes. They go very slow and and you sit at the front facing down the slope. We heard one in action. By the time we got back to the village of Manarola it had taken us about two and a half hours up and down. We were pretty exhausted and the train was late.
That night we took a tiki tour around the city of La Spezia. A sea port with lots naval ships. Its the first
Riomaggiore
One of the many narrow streets in the town of Riomaggiore. time I have ever seen a real submarine and an aircraft carrier. La Spezia doesn't have a lot to offer apart from museums. You would need to have at least 3 ays to visit them. It also had its castle up on top of the hill.
Monterosso the 5th village is probably the least attractive. Although it has a couple of sandy beaches it is very crowded with tourists. Many tourist just take the train to the last village and go to one of the many dozens of restaurants and eat. This was certainly so with a group of people we were talking to on the train. You don't even get to see much out of the window of the train as you are in tunnels most of the time. Although there were cars in all 5 villages this village was the most accessible by car. It was crammed with tourist all heading to the nearest food outlet. Many of them would be unable to walk anywhere. We headed off on the track to Vernazza. It was quite a challenging walk though nothing like the day before where it was very step and narrow. Our only problem was we did
meet lots of people of the track as we were walking the other way. The weather once again was amazing and the views stunning.
On arriving at the village we headed for the nearest gelato shop. It was the most perfect afternoon and we decided not to walk the high track to the middle village. It would have been a big climb and we just wanted to savor the our last day in Italy. Vernazza has a tiny little harbour. Most of the boats were sitting in the square in front of the harbour. There is also a castle over looking the sea just above the village. We headed back to La Spczia having had the most amazing time.
this blog has been posted one month after our return to New Zealand. Although it had been written once I was back at work it took a back seat until the holidays so her it is.
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