Cinque Terre

Last weekend I visited the Cinque Terre with 2 of my crew mates from the yacht that I work on. Cinque Terre means 5 lands, and is 5 villages in a row North to South on the Ligurian Coast, part of Italy's West Coast. We took a train from Principale Stazzione in Genoa, Italy close to where the boat was docked. The train was old, but comfortable and the scenery changed quickly and drastically from urban to hillside villages and seaside towns. The topography of this section of Italy's coast forces a Coastal track to slice tunnels through many hillsides and cross steep valleys on numerous bridges. After 8 or 9 stops we reached the starting point for our hike through the 5 Lands, Monterossa the Northern most town of the Cinque Terra. It was nearly noon, stepping off the train the air was warm and sun was shinning brightly as the last clouds of the morning were moving away.
A cafe' , the drink same name as the place, was a great choice for the first activity upon arrival. So good that the next activity was another cafe'. Aside from 2 delicious espressos each, Matty got some directions on how to find a store that he could buy a swim suit. Casey and I had brought our surf shorts, but Matty did not have his along. On the boardwalk, we had met an intern from Venezuela named Romina. She was doing a university project at an acoustics engineering firm in La Spezzia, IT and she accepted our company for the remainder of the day. Matty returned from the store with what may be the smallest mens swim suit or

costume de bano

. Us guys got dressed in the

Italian changing room

and ran into the cool Mediterranean Sea for a swim in the warm, midday sun. Oh, the Italians regularly don't use changing rooms, so by this i mean drop trow on the beach. Romina had already done her swimming while we were drinking Coffees, she hadn't a swim suit either but opted to swim topless to our delight. After a cold, refreshing dip in the Mer we warmed up by sitting on the warm gravel beach, a great start on the trail so far and it was time to start walking.
About a 3Km walk, which was slated at 2 hours, took us to Vernazza. This part of the walk went up steep steps, traversed terraced vineyards, and wound through evergreen and birch forests. The occasional picknick stop was thrown in there and there were continually views of the Monterosso and the Mediterranean. Paragliders soaring up and down the cliff front on the thermal air, sounds of creeks and chirping birds were the only sounds heard. One really enticing feature about the Cinque Terre is that they can not be reached by roads. Travelers must seek these ancient towns by rail, sea, or foot. A great feature of this is that no traffic can be heard when hiking.
Vernazza! Immediately entered the first restaurant we came to. Pizza and beer! Next to the coffee bar, which also served the local wine! The bartender was sampling his own craft, and with shaky pours was keeping our glasses full. He was telling stories to Romina, who was then translating to us in English what he was saying, and many of his noises were complaints about American tourists trying to pay with credit cards. Meeting a quartet of American English teachers, we bought some bottles of wine and took them to the rocks on the harbor front to watch the sunset.
My groups hiking was apparently done for the day, but the night was still young. After trying at least a dozen ( i think we drank 16 ) bottles of local white wine (and a strong red), we all hopped a train to Riomaggore. I found us some accomodations there in Riomaggore by asking the bartender, who called his friend whom owned rooms. He set us up with an attick type large dorm room that had three twins.
The next day was rainy and cloudy. My big hiking ambitions were countered by my two mates, who preferred a short hike on the trails most famous section, followed by a train ride to the city of La Spezzia. Via Del'Amore, Lover's Lane was adorned with the locks that couple lock around the fence that line the trail to keep the cliffside from tumbling across the trail. This short trail lead us to the most scenic or the villages, Manarola. First order, you guessed it, coffee and a snack. The wind had churned up the sea, and here it was smashing into the villages rocky harbor. I found it hard to imagine the ferry traffic and swimmers that would be found here at the popular times of the summer. We were sharing the village with only 5 or 6 other tourists on this morning. The other memorable thing was the duet playing in the tunnel from town to the train stop.