Cinque Terre: Monterossa and Vernazza

By the halfway point in our trip I grew tired of making plans, so I put Ashley in charge of figuring out which train to take and how to get there. Reading Rick Steves' travel book on Italy I grew disenchanted with our plan to travel to Cinque Terre on Easter Monday. He marked this as one of the busiest times of year to visit this beach resort.

Cinque Terre, pronounced singk ter ruh, is a series of five villages along the Mediterranean Sea coast of Italy, a six mile stretch known as the Italian Riveria. The area is free of traffic and museums. Every angle has a more stunning view than the one before it. The locals have carved out a good life out of rough terrain. Glancing at the pictures was enough for us to know we wanted to leave Tuscany for the sunshine of Cinque Terre.

We took the train from Florence to La Spezia to then change to the train that goes between each village. Our train ride started with lots of students returning to school after Easter break. As they left, they were replaced by American tourists heading to Cinque Terre. Some of them were loud and opinionated. I tried to shrug them off, but hearing one teenager say no pickpocket would ever steal her cell phone because she has a death grip on it wanted me to find one of Fagin's crew to prove her wrong. When an American family started having an extended conversation from both ends of the train car I gave up any chance of napping and tried to help them hear each other so they would realize there were other people in the train. I was grateful we didn't keep seeing them the rest of the day. The aisles were full. Our tickets were never checked.

The local train had the biggest bathroom
I have ever seen on a train

We transferred to the local train. Every few minutes it stopped at one of the five towns. There is an all-day pass that includes the train ride between cities as well as the hiking trails. We should have booked that up front since I ended up buying one anyway as we entered our first trail. I have read they don't check the train tickets, and they did not check ours that day, but there is no guarantee they won't. I suspect the fine is larger than the train ticket.

Monterossa

Considered the resort ton of the region. Many shops and restaurants on streets that wind away from the water. We walked along the beach, Ashley and I dipped our toes in the Mediterranean Sea. I marveled that four years ago I never would have thought I would dip my toes in the Mediterranean Sea, and that day I did for the second time, but from a different side of the vast sea. The beach is made up of tiny pebbles. Some were wearing bathing suits and sun bathing. A number of people were in the chilly water. It was fairly crowded for a day in April. We spent the most time in this town, walking the beach, eating lunch, and relaxing.

Someone else started it
Don and Ashley couldn't resist
seeing how tall they could make it

The views are stunning

Getting my toes wet

I can see why this is considered the
Italian Riviera

We went on the trail before the trail. So far so good. We stopped in a church that was celebrating the 800th anniversary of when St. Francis of Assisi visited their church. Our church at home is excited to be celebrating our 350th anniversary. They had a 1223 nativity display with him in it. 

Close up of St. Francis

The diorama of the nativity scene

Statue of St. Francis of Assisi

Lunch stop

Our sandwiches

We wisely decided to have lunch before continuing onto the real trail. We ate lunch in a sandwich shop that named its menu items after rock bands. I had the Red Hot Chili Pepper -- ham, brie, lettuce, Tabasco sauce, and tomato. Ashley had the Sublime -- pesto, mozzarella, and tomato. Don had Primo -- ham and cheese. 

We popped into the Church of St. John the Baptist. I was so impressed by their fundraising effort to raise money to refinish their rose window I donated a euro. As I know as a fundraiser, little donations add up to big ones.

Fundraising appeal

I can't procrastinate any longer. It was time to start the official hike. The 4.8 km (3 mile) hike from Monterossa to Vernazza is considered an "easy" hike. Later I read it is easier in the opposite direction. Midway through this hike I decided I don't ever want to hike again in my life. At least not on hills. 

The narrow trails hug the coastline. One false step and pain and agony await you. As we waited for our turn to start the hike we saw a woman (probably about my age) off in the distance take a tumble. The trailhead was closed while they waited for an emergency crewman to take a first aid kit to her and help her limp to where we were standing.

Waiting for the opportunity to hike was quite a lesson in human nature. There was clearly a line of people waiting to start, yet some would jump to the front assuming of course THEY could start. Then there were the tourists asking in their language how long the wait would be, and the guide answering the only answer he knew "could take two hours," meaning the hike could take two hours not that we would have to wait two hours. I heard more languages during this delay than at any other point on our trip. French. German. English. And others. This delay started right after I paid for the all day hiking pass.

Once given the all clear, Ashley darted ahead and finished 45-60 minutes before me. I pushed Don forward so I could concentrate on where to put my feet. I either wanted him with me making conversation, or far ahead. Not the ten feet up where I felt he was always just out of reach -- the moment I would catch up, he would move ten more feet away. It was unnerving.

I felt we hiked up more than we hiked down. To be clear, both are hard -- just different hard. I later read I was right--this direction has more ups than downs. Uphill is hard on the legs. Downhill is hard on the psyche as I kept thinking about the woman who fell so close to the finish line.

My mantra was "my race, my pace." I repeated this to others who were struggling. Whenever a group came near me, I hugged the wall and let them pass at their pace. Very few thanked me in any language, they just kept going as if it was their right. I offered encouragement to many. A few reciprocated (which made me smile).

The finish line is in sight

My version of the picture
he jumped the fence to take

Was his picture really any better?

I saw a man jumping one of the few guardrails to get a better picture on the edge of a cliff. No thank you! 

There was a family who found a cutaway to enjoy a picnic lunch together. Food, what a great thought! I was grateful for the bottle of water I bought at lunch.

Cat sanctuary

A highlight was the surprise sighting of a cat sanctuary. I suppose someone must go up there and maintain the place. I met an engaged couple at that point. I didn't see any cats.

Saw a husband and wife hiking with their 10 month old and a pregnant woman looking days away from giving birth. Yeah, I'm not cut out for hiking and I'm okay with that.

There was a busker playing a spotlessly clean accordion, with his wife and dog keeping him company.

I saw a tour company hiking together. That reminded me that our original plan called for visiting Cinque Terre on Good Friday and hiking with a tour group. In some ways I'm glad I didn't do that as I would have held them back. Then again, they knew to take the easier direction.

Just as I was getting discouraged, an Englishwoman encouraged me to turn right to take in a particularly stunning view. I'm glad I did. There was an Italian family hiking together. The mom was taking pictures here. Their teenage son would dart ahead then come back to be with his family. I asked him how he is so agile on the rocks and he said "I pray to God that I am safe and I don't break my knees." So, I said "Dear God do for me what you are doing for him." He smiled and said that was good. A lesson in faith on the trail. I saw him in Vernazza as we were eating gelato. He smiled encouragingly. Ashley wondered how I knew him.

Almost done!

I found a relaxed Don and Ashley at the next ticket booth -- the one that was about to close for the day as it was already 3:30 and there were less hikers. We just happened to go during the busiest time of the day.

The views were stunning. I took many selfies hoping to capture the image of a woman relaxing on vacation as my insides were saying "why, oh why did I think this would be fun."

Scenes from the hike:

At the start

The water is stunning!

This is why I'm hiking --
to enjoy this view

Amazing someone carved a vineyard
into the side of a mountain

Finally nearing the finish line!

Much of the trail had defined steps --
I suppose this is why it is considered an easy trail

Other parts did not.
This is where I detoured for "the view"

A rare spot along the trail
without a stunning view

Vernazzo

We celebrated with gelato. Don and Ashley lovingly waited for me, or waited for me because I was the only one with euros on me.

Don and I shared chocolate fondante with honey Cinque Terre and lemon with herbs gelato. The chocolate was the best. Ashley had strawberry and basil gelato. Now that we are experts (because we took the class the night before), I can say ours was better. I saw a different gelato place afterwards and was very tempted to get my own while Don and Ashley were climbing a tower and doing more vigorous sight seeing in the second town of five. I enjoyed some people watching and wandering around the streets of Vernazzo.

Turns out they skipped the tower when they realized there was a two euro per person fee and neither one had enough euros on them (Ashley only had one euro on her). They ended up walking into the water.

Priorities -- a picture of the many different gelato flavors

View from the pier

While waiting for the next train towards La Spezia we decided to skip the middle town of Corniglia. Its description said it was great for birding and hiking, but there is a 100 meter climb to get into the town. We looked at our phones to see the time and realized we would have to skip one of the towns in order to catch our train back to Florence.

The trains only seemed to run a couple of times an hour. They were consistently 11 minutes late.