Cinque Terra = Cinque Gelati?

Sunday was our day to explore the five cities of Cinque Terre National Park.   For our purposes, we numbered them in this order: 1) Riomaggiore, 2) Manarola, 3) Corniglia, 4) Vernazza, 5) Monterosso al Mare.  The towns are connected by a path called the Sentiero Azzurro - the light blue path.   After the terrible rains and mudslides in October last year closed the trail, it has now been reopened except for the portion between Manarola and Corniglia.   The towns are also connected by trains that run regularly throughout the day.  A Cinque Terre pass gets you unlimited travel by train or trail for the time specified.  We decided to start our adventure on foot.  

After waking and having breakfast in Manorola, we took the easy walk back to the first town, Riomaggiore. At just one kilometer, the path between Riomaggiore and Manarola is the shortest, flattest, and easiest of them all, and the first one to be made connecting any of the cities.  These towns were so isolated that people rarely married anyone from outside their town.  After the path was constructed (first made in 1920s but not consistently operational until after WW II), the possibility of mingling between towns doubled the mating options and the trail was named the Via Dell'Amore ("Love Walk").  Along the path, in addition to stunning views of the ocean, there is still a lot of graffiti left by courting couples, as well as padlocks closed on railings and cables by youngsters in love.  

Examing the locks of love

Riomaggiore

We followed Rick Steve's guided walking tours through Riomaggiore, stopping in the Church of St. Anthony.  I am not sure though if Julia's t-shirt ("I Stand With Planned Parenthood") was a bigger "dress code violation" than her tank top in Milan!   


Though the stroll to Riomaggiore was only about 20 minutes and we had just had breakfast, The Price Family felt it was time to get some gelato...while we all know how much I love all things ice cream, when they were eating their first gelato of the day before noon, I knew I couldn't even really compete. The Prices have long had a policy of getting ice cream every day while traveling - a tradition that we borrowed from them and made our own.  But, I believe it was Gretchen who decided to up the ante in Cinque Terre with the idea of eating a gelato in each of the five towns in one day.  I knew I was out after I didn't have any in town #1 opting for a fresh peach instead, but I challenged the others (dared them really) and they were more than willing to accept the challenge.


Skipping town #2 (where we started the morning), we went on to town #3.  Because the path between Manarola and  Corniglia  is closed, the train was our only option to get to  Corniglia.  Waiting on the tracks for the train to come was an adventure in itself.  Some trains stop at each town, while others are through trains that just whiz right by at full speed.  These are very small towns with platforms that aren't as long as the trains so you are allowed to walk into the tunnels and wait for trains there.  You are able to get very, very close to the trains that come whizzing through since you are standing on a 3 foot wide platform inside a tunnel - added to my list of "Things that would never happen in litigiuos America" right after the lack of warning signs in the Florence Duomo.   The first time it happened, 5-year-old Cora was very surprised (and a little scared), but the "through trains" became something that Cora would look forward to.  

Corniglia is the only of the cities that is not next to the water, but rather up on the hill top.  So, while we took the train to Corniglia, actually getting to the town required a hike straight up from the train station.  We skipped the 33 flights of steps (over 400 stairs) and followed the road instead.  Again we walked through the center of town following Rick Steve's advice to the gelato shop with honey gelato and  got ice cream #2.  At dinner the night before we had had a fabulous pesto lasagna and learned that pesto is actually from this region, Liguria, of Italy.  In Corniglia, we picked up some pesto foccacia to sustain us until lunch in the next town (which would include pesto pizza).    

Pesto Foccacia

Ice Cream #2 - and up for the Challenge

View of Corniglia from the path to Vernanzza

The hike between Corniglia and Vernazza is only 3 km but takes 1.5 hours due to the steep and rocky terrain.  After loading up on foccacia and gelato, we set out to make it to Vernazza for lunch.  Gretchen decided to take off her shirt to hike in her jog bra (it was hot and we were sweaty).  Even with nothing on underneath, Cora decided to take off her shirt too (it is great to be 5!).  We seemed to go up for a very long time before heading back down (steeply).  Credit goes to Cora for making it through the whole way (and to Gretchen for carrying Cora on her back for some of it) -sometimes the steps down were so big Cora had to sit down and scoot.  The hike was lots of fun though and provided amazing views of Corniglia as we were leaving and of Vernazza as we were coming in.  

Corniglia

Vernazza

Daddies and daughters

Vernazza is beautiful, referred to as the "cover girl" of the group.  After checking the train schedule, we made our way down to the harbor and ordered some snacks for lunch (no time to sit down for a big lunch if we wanted to swim in town #5).  Much of the group got fried calamari and vegetables, but Rachel, Michelle, I ordered a pesto and a margharita pizza and met the others sitting on the harbor wall overlooking a little beach and watched some boats and people in the water.  Jeff sketched a nice picture of our lovely view of the clock tower.  On the way back up to the train station, we stopped off for gelato #3.  Rachel's fell off her cone but she managed to catch it in her hand before it hit the ground!  

The walk between Vernazza and  Monterosso al Mare  is supposed to be the hardest and the least scenically rewarding, so we decided to take a train to the final town.  It is clear when you get to Monterosso that this town isn't quite like the other four - much more crowded and loud and there are cars which detract from the village feel. In fact, I read that at one point it had been kicked out of the group.   It has the only extensive sand beach in Cinque Terre and is really overrun with tourists.  Apparently there is an old part of town as well separated from the new town by a tunnel, but we didn't make it there...we joined the hoards of others and headed to the beach. 


We changed into our bathing suits, found a bit of rock (the sandy part is mostly private and you have to pay to sit there) on the public area of the beach and immediately jumped into the water.  It was salty (easy to float).  After about 30 minutes, the girls decided that rather than stay in this crowded area they wanted to go back to our quiet little town and swim there (note, there is no beach in  Manarola  - just some rocks for sunbathers to lay on).  To give ourselves time to do that before dinner, we had to race to get onto the next train heading back and didn't have time to stop for gelato!  The challenge was thwarted - no ice cream in Monterroso!  No Cinque Gelati!

We got to Manarola and went down to the rocky shore.  Annie followed by Gretchen were the first two in the water - swimming over and around rocks in a mostly protected area, but not one that is particularly safe for swimmers. I had just finished commenting to Jim on what a daredevil Annie is when she came out of the water with multiple cuts along the bottom of her foot from the sharp rocks.  In the end, Julia, Annie, and Cora all cut the bottom of their feet trying to navigate through those waters.  Michelle swam near  the girls and tended to cut feet while Jeff calmly sat and sketched, capturing the beauty beautifully.

Jeff sketching

what he was looking at

Then back to the rooms for showers before going to dinner at the recommended Trattoria dal Billy, the fancy restaurant in town way up on the top of the hill. We weren't sure how much to order, but got lots of interesting fish appetizers, pastas, and a second course of  sea bass that they brought to our table to show us before cleaning or cooking it.  Since the ice cream challenge had ended and the gelato shops in town were likely closed so late on a Sunday evening, we decided to have formal dessert at the restaurant - panne cotta, white chocolate cake, dark chocolate cake, lemon semifreddo, and mixed berry semifreddo.  A sweet end to a perfect day - looking forward to a full night's sleep, which we got ....until the bells started ringing at 7:00 am bringing the quiet, sleepy town back to life.