Hiking and Kayaking in Cinque Terre

---

June 2
We woke up early to catch a train to Pisa on our way to Cinque Terre. It always takes a while to repack our things, especially if we add new things we’ve purchased in that city. We still found a way to make everything fit though, and after our last breakfast at the B&B Bonsignori, we were on our way. While there wasn’t as much to do in Florence, I am sad to leave because it was a nice relaxing place, and I really enjoyed the place we stayed there. The trains leave frequently for Pisa, so we just showed up at the station and took the next one we could. It dropped us off at the station that is a bit further from the tower, but it had a place for us to store our bags so we didn’t mind the longer walk.
The only things in Pisa are the leaning tower, and a bit of shopping along the walkway from the train station to the church where the tower is located. We had planned for about 3 hours in Pisa, but ended up only needing about half that. We ended up being lucky we didn’t need so much time because right after we made it back to the train station, it began to storm, and kept raining until we were almost all the way to Cinque Terre. A drunk local character joined our car along the way (fortunately only for couple stops). He was listening to a radio without headphones and smelled bad and when Molly finally asked him to turn it down, he got up and got out of the train. We switched trains in La Spezia and made it to the town we are staying at, Vernazza, at about 3:30. Vernazza is quite small, but we still had a little trouble finding our place to stay. After looking at the directions again we figured it out and checked in. Our room was on the top floor, so we carried our bags up 82 stairs (that’s right I counted) got settled in and then decided to start exploring.
The main attraction in Cinque Terre is the walking path that goes between the five towns. They are Monterosso, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore. Today we went from Vernazza to Monterosso. This is supposed to be the hardest part of the hike, and it took us about 1 ½ to 2 hours to do. This hike had many stairs up and down because you can’t just walk along the coast from one town to the next. The shore has many rocky bluffs, so you have to go over the hills to go from one place to the next, and many times the path is so narrow, it only fits one person and even then you still don’t have much room. There were many places with steep drop offs straight into the sea and lot of gorgeous views. After we made it to Monterosso we stayed there for a few hours and had dinner outside with a view overlooking the sea. While we were eating, we heard a huge crash, and as we looked across the bay, we saw some things in the water, and then also realized there was a person in there too. We aren’t quite sure what happened, but all we can figure is that someone stopped to take a picture next to this cart, and when they leaned against it, it moved and they fell in the water along with the cart. Fortunately the person seemed okay, they were just completely soaked and it was now getting colder since the sun had set.
Since it was getting dark, we took the train back to Vernazza rather than attempt that hike again at night. When we got back we explored our town a little and walked down to the marina.

June 3
I had the best sleep I’ve had yet on our trip. Our room has a fan in it, which is perfect for me because I like to have the white noise when I’m sleeping, and I’m so used to having that now that it makes it harder when I travel and don’t have that. Our room is great, and we love Vernazza, but the only thing we don’t like are the clocks that chime from 7am until 10pm every half hour. Also at 7am, there is a bell that rings 50 times, loudly. I’m not sure what it’s for, because it rings after that bell that let’s you know what time it is. So in the morning, if I’m not getting up at 7, I am woken up every half hour.
We walked around Vernazza, got a pastry and latte for Filip, and stopped by a market to pick up a few things for me. Then we started out hiking again, this time in the opposite direction. It took us about 90 minutes to make it to Corniglia, and the path was a little bit easier than it had been the day before. However, it was much warmer because while it was cloudy most of the time, there were times when the sun came out, and if that happened while we were walking up the stairs, it got hot very fast. We stopped in Corniglia to look around and to have a bit of a snack from some of the food we had brought along. Corniglia is situated right next to the water, but it is up on bluffs about 200 feet above the water, so we don’t like it as much as where we are staying because where we are staying you can easily get down to the water. Then it was on to Manarola where we planned to have lunch because some people who we had ridden on the train with into town and ran into again this morning said it was the cheapest place to eat. The walk to Manarola was just that, a walk, not a hike, and it took less than 45 minutes. We had our late lunch there, and then walked to the last town, Riomaggiore. This was again an easy walk that took less than half an hour. There is part of it that is supposed to be something like “the walk of love”. People take a lock and lock it to something there along the path, and then throw the keys into the water. Seems a bit silly to me, but I guess we’ll have to do a search to find out what it’s all about. After walking around Riomaggiore for a little bit, we caught a train back to Vernazza. By now, the people that just visit for the day have left, so it’s a bit nicer to walk around as there are less people. We ended up going somewhere just to get a little something to eat late in the evening since we had our lunch so late. We walked all the way up the hill in Vernazza to the top where the cars can come to, and where the bus stop is. There is a place there owned by two brothers from Sicily that serve up what they say is true Sicilian cooking, and they also seem to put on a bit of a show. Right after we were seated, a woman looking to get a table asked one of them if they were brothers, and he responded by saying “no, that’s my sister, can’t you tell?” Also, when one of them asked Filip where we are from and he said we were from Salt Lake City Utah, he responded with, “and this is your only wife?” The whole time we were there it was like that, and they also were making fun of each other back and forth. You have to be in the mood to deal with it, but if you’re ready for it, it can be quite entertaining. It’s almost like going to Vegas for dinner and a show.

June 4
This morning we decided to give our legs a break. We rented a 2 person kayak and paddled our way over to Monterosso, which took about ¼ of the time it took us to walk there. Then we sat on a beach there (rocky beach) for a few minutes before paddling back. The view from this side is nice because you see things that you cannot see while walking, and because we were in a kayak and the waters were calm we could get closer to the rocks than any of the boats that take people back and forth between the towns. We saw quite a few fish, but fortunately did not see anything too big. While that would have been exciting, it would also have been scary since we were just in this little kayak. After we got back to Vernazza we grabbed some lunch to go, got our things ready and took a train back over to Monterosso, since that’s where the best beach area is for relaxing and going swimming in the water. We spent the afternoon on the beach, renting 2 chairs and an umbrella for 13 Euro. Even though we were careful, and I moved myself into a bit of shade, I still managed to get a little bit too much sun. Good thing tomorrow is a travel day, so I can stay out of the sun. We ended our day in Monterosso back at the same restaurant with a great view.
We took the train back to Vernazza, rested a little bit, and then went back out to catch our last sunset in Cinque Terre and Italy. Since this hotel doesn’t have wifi, we went to an internet café just to make sure we know how to get to our next place in Nice tomorrow. Cinque Terre has been great, and I could even spend more time here. There is a great mix of hiking, swimming, and relaxation, plus there are great views.
- Molly

---

Photos

Molly in her new Italian dress
Leaning Tower of Pisa in the background

Carrara - Marble Mine
At first we thought it was snow, but quickly realized it was marble.

Dinner with a View
in Monterosso

The view from our hotel room
at Albergo Barbara in Vernazza

Day 2 of hiking
from Vernazza to Corniglia

Stairs to our hotel room
The last 20 stairs were up this spiral staircase. No large luggage recommended.

Vernazza
from the hiking trail to Monterosso

Corniglia
is situated on top of a hill high above the water.

One of many vineyards
in Cinque Terre. We enjoyed the local white wine very much.

Hiking
from Vernazza to Monterosso

Riomaggiore
The last of the 5 towns that we visited.

Comments

[SHEENA]

Great post!
Thanks for sharing! I really enjoyed reading your post! We are planning a trip in May and can't wait!