Hiking In Cinque Terre - From Manarola to VernazzaJun 15, 2009
|
|
Manarola where we stayed. Find the red Detroit Red Wings t-shirt hanging...
Susan as we get ready to hike. The steeple in far background...
Hiking away from Manarola. Our apartment is in middle of photo -one...
| Today we woke up to bright blue skies and warm temps in the upper 80s with a decent amount of humidity...o.k, ALOT of humidity in comparison to Denver's normally dry air. Yesterday the walk to Riomaggioire, the closest village to Manarola was just that - a walk. It was on level ground on a paved walkway that only took about 20 minutes. Today we were up for a longer hike with plans to hike from Manarola to Corniglia and then on to Vernazza and possibly the farthest village of Monterosso. We grabbed a late breakfast at our corner spot by the water, which is where we ate yesterday as well when we saw them lowering boats into the water on the crane. Do they not have eggs in this country? No such luck in finding a nice big vacation breakfast of eggs. Sure are getting our share of carbs in Europe with all of the pizza and pastries we're eating. We set off on the path out of Manarola and were happy to see that it was more like a hiking trail that wasn't paved. It's about a 2 mile hike from Manarola to Corniglia which is a village that sits up high on a hill - yep, look at the pictures we had to climb 382 steps to get up to the village itself. It took us a little over an hour to get to Corniglia where we wandered around and did some shopping before heading on to the next village of Vernazza. The hike from Corniglia to Vernazza is very scenic (as was the whole hike) but this section had a wide variety of landscapes and we went through forest areas, some olive groves, near vineyards and of course along the edge of the cliff above the sea. This was about 2 1/2 miles with a bit rougher terrain and took us about 90 minutes to hike. It was very warm by now and we were both pretty sweaty but were happy to take in all of the views. Hiking into Vernazza, we had to go down a fairly steep descent. We talked to a few fellow Americans here and just wandered around the village for awhile before deciding to look for a place to have dinner. As you enter the village you see the Castillo Doria (or the Doria Castle). This structure sits out on the water and was built in the 15th century to help protect all 5 Cinque Terre villages from ravaging pirates. Especially Vernazza which is low to the water (compared to say Corniglia high on the hill)and was considered easy prey for the pirates. For a couple Euros you can climb to the top but we didn't do that - figured we got just a better view from high above from our day of hiking. Once in the village, we climbed up about 75 steps to check out a restaurant we heard was good but they were not serving dinner yet so we came back down. We sat in the main square near the beach for awhile and just relaxed and people watched. Barb wandered into a store too look around and ended up buying a beer that you can just drink out on the main benches which is definitely different than in the U.S. So, we soaked up some sun and ate dinner at a little outdoor place right on the beach just steps from the main square where we were hanging out. There was a guy playing guitar while we ate - he played some Italian music but he also played his version of "Hotel California" by the Eagles...what is it about Italians and The Eagles? That's two nights in a row! After wandering around a bit more after dinner we found the train station to take us back to Manarola. Funny how almost 3 hours of hiking only took us 20 min. to get back. We met a nice couple at the train station. They were both very tall and were volleyball players. She is a doctor now but he still plays and said to maybe watch for him in the Olympics for either the Spanish or Brazil team (can't remember). She is from Cyprus originally but now lives in Holland. They were very nice and interesting to talk to and we sat next to them on the train ride back to Manarola. We couldn't figure out how to buy a ticket since nobody was around and the machine wasn't working so they were helpful. All in all a very great day with such unbelievable scenery and so much to take in. Tomorrow one more day in the Cinque Terre to explore the remaining village of Monterosso. |
Advertisement 
|
