Travel info meter set to 100% Wednesday, May 31 finds us up and out at 8:00 and off to our latest favourite breakfast spot in one of the small squares. A hearty breakfast will be needed as we will be hiking one leg of the Cinque Terre this morning. We are leaving Corniglia, the middle village of the 5 and going up about 500 meters and across the top of a mountain and then back down to the seaside at Manarola. It turns out that it is approximately 6 miles in total.
While back home in the planning stages I seem to remember the trails to and from each town being not quite leisurely but not challenging either in the travel videos. But the easier coastal trails 50 meters above the sea have been damaged beyond repair by slides on the very steep slopes of this Ligurian Apennine range. So that only leaves the much more difficult trails going up, over, and down.
Most travelers to Corniglia are here for the hiking because it doesn’t have easy sea access like the other 4 towns do so the tourist boats and tours aren’t to be seen. It’s been made widely known that Corniglia doesn’t want these groups that are unleashed from cruise ships especially in their town because the narrow streets and fragile infrastructure would be overwhelmed and ruin the experience for everyone.
We’ve already seen that at the biggest venues like the Louvre and the castles of Chenenceau and Chambord where tour guides hold up their specific rallying icon on a stick and lead the masses of 30-50 tourists through the hallways and plug up the destinations for all of the solo travelers. Bathrooms and water fountains that previously had easy, prompt access are now long queues.
Everybody is at these spots to see the same thing and cruise travel is huge in the industry. It’s just the quantity in each group that makes it difficult. As have often been documented the new tourists from Asia , where crowding is the norm and habits like pushing and barging into lines come with the territory, are the groups most feared. Also they take pictures of everything, so their arms and cameras on selfie sticks are extended above their heads and obscure the view for everyone. But as I say, this is new to them and at some point they might be more considerate of the rest of us. The good news is that they are a slow group because they cater to a wide variety of fitness issues and can usually be avoided, but in confined spaces like Corniglia they would be difficult to circumvent.
Most of the people here are younger, much younger than us but that only adds to the adventure aspect of this challenge as we are definitely on the downward slide of peak athleticism. Mette, our host’s contact for her 2 rooms is both young and fit and says that she and her triathlete-type husband routinely do the hike that we have chosen in about an hour which is fantastic considering the distance and difficult terrain. She offers up that someone moving at a more ‘moderate’ pace, stopping to take pictures and water breaks would take 1 1/2 – 2 hours to complete the trek. Of course my inside voice is thinking okay, that’s about 1 1/2 hours for me then, not bothering to look below my chin to see what reality actually is. Plus the fact that with a pair of hikers the pace will always be determined by either one moving at their slower pace at each spot. ie: we will each become an anchor to the other along the way.
While hiking boots aren’t necessary, proper footwear is a must as the trail is uneven, sometimes with sharp rocks, and sandals wouldn’t work here.
Off we go, past the old church and through a gate and we climb at a lofty 15° angle and the path has some loose rock already this close to the start and a precipitous drop on one side. But the path is narrow and you are mostly looking where your feet are going to land and there’s no time to think about plunging over the edge. After 15 minutes my lungs were hot but we had already climbed a considerable height and we stopped often to survey the stunning views of the town and the sea below. It was incredibly exhilarating!
These mountain trails are different from the few, in comparison manicured, ones back home that Carol and I had tackled previously. Steps had been either carved into the rock or more commonly built with rock many, many years ago. We went through terraced, ancient olive groves where the walls were from centuries past and had been overgrown from almost as long ago. Trees and dense vegetation shrouded us and kept the heat from us, at least at this stage. Birdsongs were everywhere and no man-made sounds could be heard. No barking dogs, as dogs are not common here or have not much of a place in a situation like Corniglia.
We didn’t start early by hiking standards but there was nobody else in front or behind us and the stillness was surprising and welcomed. We knew we would be overtaken soon enough and as we neared Manarola we would see hikers from the opposite direction too. Also the heat would become a factor as the day wore along as it was obvious that our pace would take us about double what was first mentioned by Mette.
Again words are difficult to describe how beautiful the settings that we past through were and the views in every direction. As with every day so far this was turning out to be much better than I anticipated.
After about an hour and a half we were starting to head down. We had been passed by only a few couples, female pairs generally, and it required hugging the mountain or backtracking to a wider spot. Everyone is on the same page and a few words are exchanged, mostly inquiring about home countries and such. The world was represented as they were from Germany, Asia, Chile, and other faraway spots.
One couple of early 20s girls that we met and then met along the road to the train later, stuck in my mind as after we had passed them we could hear them say “aw, that’s so cute” which was a phrase we had heard Rachel and her friends use when they would see some ancient couple do something tender or unexpected . It was like we were born in the Jurassic period. We were doing fun and exciting things long before their parents got drunk, fell on a floor somewhere and decided to copulate; “so cute” indeed!
There were a few spots on the downward route where the terrain changed for the better and I expected we were nearing our goal, but nope we were still 100s of feet above the town. At one point we arrived at a civilized area and thought it might be the outskirts of Manarola. There was beautifully kept olive groves and vineyards with fences and pots with exotic plants but no it only lead to a very rustic, but well crafted set of stairs that wound down the mountain far out of sight. I didn’t do an exact count but it would be in the 800-1,000 range and they were of a serious incline but about 4 feet wide. We came across more hikers from Manarola and finally a view of the town with actual detail.
By the time we arrived it had taken 3 hours. A lovely seaside town where just as we arrived so did the tour boat and unloaded about 100 passengers right in front of us. Like lemmings they poured into the first establishments that they came across forcing us deeper into the bowels of the town to see what they offered (like a cold beer and sandwich). No such luck. The only decent spots were plugged with Asian-language speakers and their gear. Their language clashed with the romantic, passionate tones of the Italian, French, and Spanish customers. Even English can be made to sound rhythmic and carefree, but for Mandarins it is a losing battle.
Carol, her of noble nose, found us a great little bar (20 seats) where you had to walk down a few steps and we were actually subterranean. It had cool jazz playing and instruments piled in a corner where obviously live music would be played at some future point. The vibe was great, bartender/everything girl was upbeat and funny, with good language skills and the local Italian beer hit the spot. Carol has succumbed to the siren call of barley and hops lately, which is quite a feat considering she was nursed on red wine as a child. This venue had saved the day regarding my short impression of Manarola. Soon, we had made the circuit and were on the boat that carries the tourists and locals from town to town.
It was a pleasurable ride along the coast with many languages spoken all around us. Of course I chatted somebody up and passed the time as we went to the town of Vernazza which was on the other side of Corniglia. It has a harbor of sorts and a microscopic beach area but seemed huge in comparison to our location on the mountainside in Corniglia. It probably housed 400 locals and had all of the tourist amenities that you could want.
Again Carol sourced out a fabulous eating spot with a view of the water and we ordered up more local beer and the best lasagne with pesto sauce that we had ever had. The pasta was delicate with 6 layers and yet was only less than an inch in depth. The original plan was to walk back from Vernazza but we were spent and we walked up to the train station and arranged for a seat on the local train which only takes 5-6 minutes.
Corniglia can be reached by shuttle bus or on foot from the train station and we chose to save the 3 € and walk as we had no luggage; along with 2 dozen others who disembarked with us. There are 400 stairs leading up to reach the main square and as we snaked up each level we had another opportunity to learn about our fellow short term residents and share details of our home countries.
We grabbed some groceries at the market and retired to our terrace and lovely view and spent the evening recounting the day’s events. We felt good and had a sense of accomplishment, but of course we would pay the price in the next couple of days as muscles convulsed and would probably leave me begging for pain killers.
Oh well, one day at a time.
Blue Delivery 
Wow, great details! Felt like I was there!
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Ya, me too.
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