Cinque Terror..
Trip Start
Apr 12, 2008
1
18
54
Trip End
Jun 18, 2008
Vernazza,
Italy
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
- Man, GTA:IV comes out today... to those of you playing it, you bastards! I plan to get a copy in London... none of this censored crap that Australia will get at least.
- Had breakfast at the "Il Pirate" café... run by a set of twins, one a pastry chef and the other a pasta chef. The pastries were really delicious and they had a good sense of humour.
- Bought a train and nature walk pass to do the nature hike between the five towns.
- We then spent the day doing the hikes... we first trained to town number 1, Riomaggiore and hiked back thru 2 towns back to Vernazza. The first bit was fine but the last bit consisted of a lot of uphill and downhill walking
Breakfast of Pastries.. YUM!!
. We then took another train to the 5th town, Monterosso and walked back to Vernazza again. This time the track was crazy with sections of path where it's only 30cm wide and deteriorating... plus the rain wasn't really helping. The 5-10m drop gave plenty of incentive to not fall...- Lang gave the impression that her fold up chair on the train had an Italian porn mag on it... which another teenage passenger thought was as well and was chuckling as well. Lang had a look but assured me it was just a celeb magazine... hmmmm.
<Lang's Extended Version>
I woke up at around 7.30am as today would be our big day of hiking - there are trails from each of the 5 villages and beyond, 12+ hours worth, if you were that enthused and inclined.. However, the weather did not look the best for this as it was somewhat wet and the sky was pretty grey. We decided to do it anyway, so went to buy our hiking and transport pass. This covered us for the trails as well as the train and bus service.
As we were staying in Vernazza, the 4th town, we decided to catch the train back to Riomaggiore, the 1st town and start our hike from there.
On the train we sat near the doors as there were pull down seats. When I pulled mine down, there was a rolled up magazine, so Brian wanted me to check to see if it was Italian porn... The funny thing was, the kid sitting opposite me started laughing and smiling, so Brian asked him if he wanted the magazine.
Brian on his pull-down seat on the train
. ahaha.. it was hilarious.. It looked like it was just a celebrity magazine though as I didn't check it out thoroughly and only saw people hugging and kissing. Besides, I'd hate to think what they were doing with the magazine if it was porn!! Ewww!!!The train soon arrived and we headed off on what was to be 5 and a half hours of going up and down hills and stairs, trying not to slip on the wet muddy rocks and also walking on only about a half metre ledge at times.. what fun!! =P
The path from Riomaggiore to Manarola was the easiest part - it only took about 20 minutes and is known as 'lovers lane' as there was a section there where couples have graffitied the wall with their names and some had also put a lock to symbolize their commitment to each other - Brian and I didn't bother - what commitment? =P
The hike from Manarola to Corniglia wasn't too bad either, however when we reached the rain station, we had to walk uphill for another half an hour before we actually got into the town. Unbeknownst to us, we could have caught the shuttle bus and saved our legs a bit.. Oh well, it's all part of the fun, right?
The third part of the hike got a bit more challenging. There was a light sprinkling of rain, but I don't think we really noticed it uch as the first part of it was uphill and I guess this was much more pleasant than having full sun pelting your faces..
Coming down into Vernazza and seeing the town from above was beautiful
Yes, that is one humongous lock!
. It is the only town of the 5 to have its own cove and the coloured houses made it look wonderful. We were very happy to arrive and rewarded ourselves with a gelato.After a short reset, we debated about doing the last leg as apparently that was the toughest part of the lot. We took the train to the last town, Monterosso instead as we saw quite a few people waiting on the platform, so knew that the train was due to arrive soon.
It took 5 minutes to get to Monterosso, so we walked around a little and bought a onion foccacia to share. It was really nice, but I had most of the onion as Brian didn't like that part too much..
After a toilet stop, we decided to head back to Vernazza - there were 3 options we could have taken. 1. to hike the last part, 2. to take the train or 3. to pay for a boat ride back.. Guess which one I dragged Brian on? Yeah, we hiked the very last part of the trail back to Vernazza for bragging rights..
The first half hour was pure torture - steps, steps and more steps!! I was dying!!! Thank god it leveled out a bit after that, but the track wasn't much better as some of it was only half a metre wide and some parts had worn away.. It was kinda scary at times.
There was more uphill walking again until the last half hour or so, when it was all downhill. It wasn't much better than going up steps as it was kinda slippery from the rain and my ankles and knees were quite sore by this stage
Looking Towards Manarola
. All up, this last part of our hike took just over 2 hours, a huge difference compared to taking the train!!Nevertheless, we had another great view of Vernazza on the way down, and then headed back to our room for a much needed rest and shower break.
At around 7pm, we decided to head out again for dinner after knowing that most places closed in an hour or so. We ended up at Ristorante Vulnetia and Brian ordered the penne with salmon, while I had a change and ordered the local specialty of potatoes, anchovies and tomato. Brian's pasta was not as nice as my previous two, which was a disappointment, but the other dish was great - well, I liked it and I think Brian enjoyed the potatoes..
Comments
Advice
Hi, I chanced upon your blog and felt it was really interesting. Am planning my own trip to Itay and Switzerland this coming May. And wanted some advice. Planning to book train tickets, but not sure how should go abt counting the days I need in the two countries. Noticed that in some places, you guys just sorted out your tickets within the day. Is that easily done? or do you suggest that i need to book trips in advance? Plan to do the Florence-Pisa-Cinque Terra just the way you guys have covered it.
Cheers, Junie