Still continuing on my Trip of a Lifetime – celebrating my 50th year….Well these posts about my trip in 2010 are taking a lot longer than the trip did. Previously I started my trip in Paris and wound my way around to Venice… now after a long train ride we have reached the rugged Italian coast.
I have to say the men in Italy, amongst their other charms, are very polite and couldn’t see a girl struggle with her luggage and very chivalrously always helped out. After packing for a 6 week trip (in girl talk 6 weeks = 30kg [5kg/week]) our muscles were not up to the task. BTW since then I have learnt never to pack that much no matter what my inner head says! If you cant carry it yourself, don’t take it.
The Italian train system, whilst possibly not leaving on time and hazardous with strikes I am told, ran perfectly well on our journeys and any area we wanted to go to… there was a train to take us there. It did include sometimes up to 2 transfers but other than that oh and not having elevators (dragging said luggage up and down multitude of stairs, sometimes trying to run when changing trains) it was great. They are improving their stations and adding in small elevators which would be most helpful for disabled traffic. By now five years later I’d like to think most of them have this facility.
Riomaggiore nightlife
Anyway I digress… we arrived in La Spezia at the eastern end of the Liguria coast and after a quick transfer we arrived at our destination – Riomaggiore – the start of our 4 day exploration of the famous Cinque Terre. One problem and a good one to note is – always sit up near the front of the train so you can disembark from said train at said station! We were near the end of the train and had a little problem when the train stopped – we were in a tunnel and couldn’t get out, it was too far down to jump with 30kg of luggage and we couldn’t safely squeeze between the train and the side of the tunnel to reach the station. Soooo we had to go onto the next station then get out, walk back to the next platform going back to Riomaggiore and make ourselves comfortable near the front of the train for our 5 minutes journey back for another shot! Its funny at the time you are stressed and this is a setback but later on its the stuff holidays are made of. Where else would that happen, it was funny and something I will always remember and not much of a set back really once we thought about it.
The Cinque Terre is made up of five villages hence the “Cinque”, they are joined by walking tracks precariously placed at a lot of points along a steep cliff with
Walk of Love from Riomaggiore to Manorola
literally only inches of path to walk on and inches from plummeting into the ocean or the jagged rocks hugging the coastline. No ‘occupational health and safety’ on this walk. When we were they they’d had a lot of rain and so some of the walks were closed. Not phased by this we did ignore all but one walk and went over the poorly constructed barrier to have our walk. After our trip, a few years later noting the serious flooding and raging torrents that erupted over this area, we really should have paid heed and were lucky it wasn’t that bad as the muddy paths without guiderails and flooding could have been fatal.
The easiest walk starts from Riomaggiore to Manarola – the walk of love – Via Dell’Amore. A little history – Up until the last century, due to isolation, it was unusual for anyone to marry outside their town. In the early 1920s when putting a train line through to Manarola, a trail was made primarily to store gunpowder for the blasting, thus allowing more communication between villages and lovers used to meet along this trail. It is graffiti strewn which put me off initially but apparently this has historic value now as it has been there since the 1940s.
Riomaggiore
Manarola greets you at the end of the Dell’Amore walk, it is another lovely picturesque village (2nd smallest of the five).
Corniglia
My Favourite Vernazzza –
and last but not least Monterosso al Mare. We would come back here of a night to have a couple of drinks at a lovely bar that served Galliano (my favourite drop) and they would bring over capers, peanuts and olives. We didn’t want to leave!
The trek between Monterosso and Vernazza was the hardest. It took a few hours, I had on a back pack with my heavy camera and lenses and also a present. I wasn’t expecting to do this trip on that particular day. It was quite hilly in places and there were steps, bridges and narrow paths along steep hillsides. Quite picturesque but I was quite relieved to see Vernazza on turning the bend.
Transport through these lovely villages was easiest by train but also could be taken by ferry for a more scenic view and for the trekkers via the trails. Worthy of a good few days visit.
Next stop Tuscany.
My previous posts – Trip of a Lifetime I – Paris, Trip of a Lifetime II – Provence and Trip of a Lifetime III – Lake Como and Trip of a Lifetime IV – Venice
daysandmonths 
Oh wow, these are breathtaking photos! There is some picturesque beauty even in the peeling house facades.
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Thanks Mara, I like the peeling paint and shutters almost as much as the seascapes 🙂
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How lovely. I was transported for a few delicious moments…xxxx.
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Thanks Desley, Im glad you could get away even if it was for a very short time 🙂
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We loved the Cinque Terre also, Karen, and I share your love of Vernazza. We were very sad to read about the damage caused by the storm of October 2011, and the near write off of Vernazza and Monterosso. Happily, recent visits by friends have confirmed they are back to their former glory. 🙂
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Yes Ive seen videos of those horrendous floods and the lovely man that owned the gelato shop was killed, the only fatality but still. He was the father of a man who ran a gelato shop near here and where I saw pictures that led me there…. Would love to go back 🙂
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Gorgeous, colours, scenery, imagination.
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Thanks Claudette it is a gorgeous place and the scenery is stunning 🙂
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Couldn’t agree more – it’s so marvelous and stunning at the same time.
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Thanks for your comment. Glad you liked Cinque Terre too 🙂
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Oh, what a lovely post! I hope to g et to Cinque Terre some time, so thanks for showing these lovely images, and warning about the narrow paths! I may have to stick to Romaggiore
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Thanks Sue, I hope you do too. Yes narrow paths, thank goodness it wasn’t busy and no-one was coming the other way to pass, otherwise a piece of cake 🙂
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Didn’t sound like a piece of cake to me!! And with dodgy balance?
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hatha well yes…. not a piece of cake! If you take it slow and easy its ok. I don’t like heights and get vertigo but it wasn’t scary so you’d be fine… I should have been match fit before I went BUT the Dell’Amore was much better and easier to participate in.
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I will still consider it, but it’s not vertigo in my case, it really is a problem both ear and brain-stem related…I only have my eyes and a trekking pole to rely on!!
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Maybe take a steadying hand of a friend but there are other parts to walk on. There was one leg we didn’t do and it may be fine. Good luck 🙂
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Well, I shall go with a friend, if at all, and she is great at keeping me steady and confident!
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Wonderful post and lovely photos – this is a trip off my bucket list so it’s really great to read about it here! So glad you had a fabulous time.
Alison x
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Hi Alison, thanks so much. Fingers crossed you get there. It is a wonderful site to behold 🙂
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Gives me itchy feet. Beautiful.
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Thanks Sixpixx… hopefully one day you’ll get there 🙂
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Wow….
My eyes are glued to this screen …
What a stunning series of images …
Amazing structures and landscapes… people and nature…
Beautifully narrated too.
Let me call it a mouth watering stuff 🙂
Thank you so much for sharing 🙂
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Thanks so much Sreejith thats so nice of you to say. It is such a beautiful place and definitrly worth a visit. Thanks for stopping by. 🙂
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Just beautiful!
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Thanks Jasmine. Lovely of you to stop by. I hope all is well with you. x
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Thanks Karen. I took a trip for the holiday and came back. I missed blogging and it is good to be back.
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Glad you had a holiday, I hope it was enjoyable. I am glad you are back in the fold 🙂
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Beautiful photos of a beautiful place. It seems like there is no bad photographic angle for any part of Cinque Terre.
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what wonderful photos and yes like death and taxes Italian trains are unpredictable lol!!
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Thanks Cybele. We had heard such stories about the trains but must have been very lucky with times etc except for the tunnel incident! Its an adventure in itself just being on one of their trains 🙂
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PS woops,I meant to say the unreliability is predictable lol!!
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