Yesterday we walked the Cinque Terre, which is something we'd been excited about doing since before we left the States, especially David.
The Cinque Terre ("five lands") are five villages along a stretch of the northwest coast of Italy that are connected by a scenic hiking path. See pretty map at right (which I didn't make).
We are in the Cinque Terre for three nights, based in the town of Levanto. Levanto is not one of the five villages, but is just north of the northernmost one (Monterosso). It's connected to all the villages by regular trains and boats, and there's a lot more room for hotels and parking, so it makes an excellent base for the walk.
We are staying in the Hotel al Terre de Mare ("Land of the Sea"??), which is probably the best place we've stayed at so far in Italy. The location is spectacular, nestled high in the forested hills with a view of a bit of the sea in the distance.
The view out my window as I write this is so beautiful, with rolling hills of trees and vineyards and the occasional belltower of a little church.
Our room is spacious and even includes a little kitchenette (but no pots or dishes). It's very clean, the bed is firm, David fits comfortably in the shower, and the bathroom fixtures all work properly. The breakfast is the best we've had in Italy, land of terrible breakfasts. The range of offerings is just the usual Continental fare, but the bread and pastries are much better than usual and they actually replenish the food and juice without you having to ask. And finally, they have a big modern lift from the parking lot up to reception so we don't have to drag our luggage up the stairs.
The only drawback to this place is a really weird internet policy. It's free and they just flip a switch to activate it in our room, but we have to sign a sheet each time and they never want to give us more than two hours at a time. It's very weird and quite a pain for us and them. But other than that, this hotel is fantastic.
And now to the walk. Technically we walked the Quattro Terre, as we didn't make it to the fifth one, but four was enough! We started by taking a train from Levanto to the southernmost village, Riomaggiore. David was smart and got us a Cinque Terre Card instead of a normal rail ticket, which gave us admission to the trails as well as the train. Yes, you have to pay admission to the trail, which is a national park!
The walk between Riomaggiore and Manarola was beautiful and wonderfully easy - a fairly level and slightly downhill path along the cliffside. There were a lot of people with us, of all ages and fitness levels. There was even a tour group, complete with umbrella-wielding leader. This part of the trail is called the Via dell'Amore, "Way of Love."
In the first town, Manarola, we stopped for a quick snack of foccacia and pizza bread, dodging big Italian school groups through the narrow street for a nice seat overlooking the harbor.
The walk between Manarola and the third town, Corniglia, was longer and a little steeper, but with more great views.
Towards the end of this leg it was not as pretty. The last part as we came into Corniglia was even graffitied and littered with old washing machines on the side. And then we had to climb about six flights of switchback stairs up into the town! Whew.
The town of Corniglia was nice, as you can see above. We had a quick look around and sat on a bench while gratefully chugging some Powerade, then looked for a bathroom. They had three public toilets at the bottom of the town - one for men, one for women, and a handicapped one. The one for women was a Turkish toilet (hole in the ground), which I can deal with, but the knob didn't work so the door didn't close. So I used the handicapped one, which was a regular toilet but you had to flush it by spraying a hose down it. The last few people who used it didn't seem to know to use the hose. Nasty! I sure miss Germany sometimes.
We considered ending our walk there, especially since it was starting to look like rain, but we decided that would be lame and pressed on to the next village, Vernazza. Signs told us it would take 1 hour 45 minutes to get there, and I think that's about how long it took.
It was the longest and most grueling hike yet, with a steep climb up and then a steep descent on an uneven rocky trail. But it was also gorgeous, leading through olive groves and almost jungle-like wooded areas and then back out overlooking the sea.
Vernazza was a very nice little town, and after we descended steeply down to the main street we found a great foccaceria-pizzeria with outside tables and delicious cheap food.
After our early dinner/snack, we wandered the town a bit, including a visit to the small beach and harbor and a peek in the church.
From Vernazza we caught the train back to Levanto, which only took about 10 minutes. Boy, were we worn out!
Please see the Cinque Terre set on Flickr for all our best photos from the walk.
Thankfully today has been a nice relaxing day, in which I stayed in to work on the blog and website, with an occasional break to read out on the terrace, and David visited the fifth village, Monterosso. He liked it very much and had a great time wandering around for a few hours.
Tomorrow morning we depart for Ravenna, which is on the east coast and about a three and a half hour drive. It's our second-to-last stop in Italy!