Nov 14 – 17, 2008 – Vernazza, Italy – Hiking the Cinque Terra from Riomaggiore to Vernazza

On our last full day in Vernazza we headed south on the train (about a 10 minute train ride) to Riomaggiore for the approximately 3 hour hike back to Vernazza.

Some of the trail (this was practically wheelchair accessible) around Riomaggiore.

Part of the trail had been covered to protect hikers from falling rocks and had been turned into a local lovers lane.

A local tradition featured the lovers attaching locks at this point of the walkway as a symbol of their relationship.

These views are common throughout the Cinque Terra – this one is from the trail into the village of Manorola.

The trail went up and down, this stretch up was about 350+ steps worth but if you got tired you just turned around and enjoyed the view.

The stairs above lead to the village of Corniglia which had some sights of its own that we got off the trail to inspect.

 

Outside of Corniglia, the trail took us past some olive harvesters.  They stretched nets out on the ground and then had an electric device they used to shake the olive branches and leaves so the olives would fall into the nets.

Another view from the trail, this time of an olive grove and vineyard located right next to the ocean.

 

We got regular giggles from the attire of some of the Italian hikers. High-heeled shoes and winter coats didn’t seem to these Canadians like the best clothing for hiking but who were we to say?

 

Charlotte is sitting by a set of stairs on the trail that shows how the trails were marked – a red stripe stacked on top of a white stripe.

Journey’s end – Vernazza from the south.

Nov 14 – 17, 2008 – Vernazza, Italy – Hiking the Cinque Terra from Monterosso to Vernazza

Two days after after arriving in Vernazza (Charlotte had some flu) we headed on the train to Monterosso for the 90 minute hike back to Vernazza.

 

But first we had to soak up some of the 25 C sunshine on Monterosso’s beach for a couple of hours.

Laura-Lyn also dipped her toes in the Mediterranean for the first time.

At the north end of the beach, a failed night club had carved a statue of a giant into the rock to support its dance floor.

Laura-Lyn and Charlotte heading up the trail.  Some of these trails were quite steep but all were in good repair and many places had steps made of stones and bricks to make it hiking easier.

A stone bridge had been built to ford a small stream.

As we descended into Vernazza, Charlotte passes through the vineyard clinging, in terraces, to the hillside and an olive grove shown on the left of the picture.

 

Journey’s end – Vernazza – viewed from the trail north of the village.

Nov 14 – 17, 2008 – Vernazza, Italy – Our base for exploring the Cinque Terra

The Cinque Terra is the name given to an Italian National Park that includes five cities (from south to North) – Riomaggiore, Manorola, Corniglia, Vernazza, and Monterosso.  Follow this link to a Google map showing its location within Italy, south of Genoa.

The national park service and Italian rail system have worked out a combine pass that allows access to the park and the trains the connect the Cinque Terra cities.  We bought a 2 day pass so we could take the train to Monterosso and then hike south to Vernazza (about a 90 minute hike) one day.  The second day we took the train to Riomaggiore and hiked north to Vernazza (about a 2.5 – 3 hr hike, with stops).

The images in this post are of Vernazza, the other two posts in this series show pictures of our two hikes.  This is the symbol of the Cinque Terra National Park embedded in a street of Vernazza.

This is the entrance to Vernazza.  There is no public (only residence) parking beyond this point.  This gate leads to a narrow, one lane road down to the city of Vernazza.  We took our car down (even Jean-Pierre the Peugeot felt big on these roads – most of the cars in the village were even smaller than Smart cars) to the village and dropped our luggage before returning the car to the public parking available on between the blue lines visible in the bottom of the photo.

There are some hotels in Vernazza but they are quite high end.   The bulk of the accommodation is provided Vernazza’s citizens in rooms retrofitted for the purpose in their homes.  We found a two room apartment (with sink, one burner stove, and refrigerator) with Rosa Vitale.

 

This a view of the main square of Vernazza taken from the breakwater.  The main road through town is the one on the right side of the photo.

 

This view is of the breakwater that forms the Vernazza harbour in the previous photo.  These views were like a postcard and our first of Vernazza.  It was over 20 C this day and just great for lazing around, exploring and taking photos.

Looking up from the harbor showed views of the surrounding hillside that were steep and terraced to support cultivation of olives and grapes.

The gang relaxes on the breakwater rocks – soaking up the sun.  After the fog and showers of Venice, this was like going on a vacation to Mexico or Hawaii.

Allister prepares to head down one of the streets of Vernazza.  It was all like this.  The citizens had pride in their homes – growing beautiful plants all over town – and hanging their laundry out to dry (we did this too).

Because of the size of the accommodation, Internet access was really not practical but these villages all seem to have Internet cafes that also provide WiFi access.  Here I’m checking e-mail on the steps of Vernazza’s main street.  Laura-Lyn took this picture from the balcony of our apartment.

This vehicle was smaller than the typical Vernazza vehicle, but not by much.  It is made by Piaggio, the company that makes scooters, and is really a scooter with two rear wheels and cargo space.  We enjoyed some laughs at its name – Ape 850 – that doesn’t translate conveniently to English.