Hiking in Cinque Terre

Trip Start Dec 06, 2005
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Trip End Jun 17, 2006


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Thursday, May 11, 2006

Didn't really know much about Cinque Terre (Italian for "five lands") until a few weeks ago, and after a small amount of research we decided that it was a must-see. Basically it consists of five small villages over about a 9 kilometre stretch of coastline on Italy's west coast, between Genoa and La Spezia. These villages all have populations less than 1500 and are almost literally falling off the cliffs they sit on - they MUST work the land (often for grape vines) in order to keep it from eroding. It is one of the most beautiful places we have been to - the villages perched on cliffs between the sea and the green hilly countryside. Tourism has saved the towns, however the Italian government have put measures in place to restrict the number of visitors walking the paths between towns - which in my books is a great move - high numbers of loud tourists really can annihilate the vibe of such a gorgeous place.

We stayed in the southernmost town, called Riomaggiore, at a place run by a crazy old lady called Mamma Rosa 01 Our "home town" of Riomaggiore
01 Our "home town" of Riomaggiore
 . She hangs out at the train station all day, picks out her clientelle (tight arse backpackers), and shows them a piece of paper with "15" on it. We worked out that that was the price per person per night, followed her to the place, which was really quite nice - decent kitchen and spacious rooms, absolute bargain considering Italy's priciness and the tourism of this area. Mamma Rosa has long white hair, wears a baseball cap and the same outfit everywhere, and is quite a character - apparently the word is out about her places, quite often people jump off the train and ask if she is the one "Mamma Rosa" they have heard about.

The 9km hike was a mix of difficulty - easy along the so-called "Lovers Lane" between Riomaggiore and Manarola, but tough on the last stretch between Vernazza and Monterosso al Mare. The scenery was everything we had heard - from overlooking the coast from the top of cliffs to battling our way up a hill passing agricultural terraces. Highly recommended.

Here was where we basically began our fetish for cheap Italian red wine. Every day we had at least 2 bottles of wine, all under 2.50 euros. Being far from wine connossieurs, Cam, Brooksy and I thoroughly enjoyed every bottle we had! Maybe it's our undeveloped palates, maybe the Italian wines are really that good, who knows. We had one of these wines at Vernazza for lunch on the day we did the hike, and felt like kings - great wine, great weather, in the most beautiful town of the 5, sunbaking on the end of a peninsula, listening to a busking folk/jazz quartet...

It was really great to get out of big cities for a while - we needed this kind of re-invigoration before hitting Rome. The water was a little too cold for swimming, but in summer when it would be warm, the crowds would probably be too big for our liking - having to overtake huge groups of schoolkids and elderly package tourists on the hike was annoying enough!
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