Day 4: Riomaggiore – Monterosso – Milan - Germany

 

In the next day, by the time we had our breakfast it was already 10 am. We checked out in the morning and afterward headed to a nearby cafeteria to have our breakfast. Since we had no plans for today other than catching our flight from Milan at 8.35 pm there was no hurry for anything. The waitress was a very beautiful girl. Definitely very young, and her English was just “adjustable”. But how does that matter, she was doing her job relatively good and moreover I immediately forgot what her name was when she told me. She was so beautiful that there was no time to listen to her name! Afterwards we just sat on the piazza enjoying the sun and chatting. When compared to the last days the weather was perfect. Suddenly we had idea. We decided to take the boat back to Monterosso, enjoy the weather and water at the beach and take the train back to Milan in the afternoon.

That was really a good decision.  Because the view from sea towards the villages was beautiful and it looked like a postcard. As one can expect it is quite different from the impression one gets from the land. With the village of Riomaggiore and Manrola almost at the sea level and the village of Corniglia high up in the cliff, the 5 villages had its own charm and definitely justified its status as one of the most beautiful coastal villages in Italy. I was really glad on our decision to take the boat back to Monterosso.  Once we were there we purchased our tickets back to Milan and then headed to the beach. We spend more than an hour in the water. The water was a bit cold, but with the sun shining it became quite comfortable once we came out of the water. It was a perfect ending to our wonderful trek.

Our train from Montrerosso to Milan was at 3 pm. It was quite a boring journey. We lost our seats after about half an hour to other “intelligent” passengers who reserved in advance. For the rest of the journey we sat on the corridor of the compartment. We were not alone, since it was a Sunday, the train was full and a lot of people were sitting on the corridor. I didn’t care! The flight from Milan was at 8. 35 pm. After an hour we landed at Zurich airport. I said good bye to Bru for one last time. I don’t know when we will be travelling together again.  I catched the connecting flight from Zurich to Germany and by the time I reached home it was already midnight. It was a good trip, my last one, to my favourite country in Europe!

Day 3: Prevo – Corniglia – Manarola - Riomaggiore

 

Next day we started in the morning after breakfast at around 10 am. We have a long day ahead of us. Our plan was to hike to the village of Riomaggiore via Corniglia and Manarola. The easy walkway along the “Blue path” is completely blocked as at most of the places the pathway doesn’t exist anymore. So we have to take the “high path”.  The “high path” climb started from Corniglia. It did become really steep at some points especially the initial climb from Corniglia. Most of the time it was steps, and I really hate steps, no matter if I am climbing up or down.  After the initial climb the track became more or less levelled and the path goes through the mountain top. Though the mountain top is at an altitude of around 700 m our path was much less than that at around 350 m. Still we climbed from around 75 m altitude to reach those levels and most of them through steps carrying our heavy luggage! The weather was not so friendly, drizzling initially and then cloudy later on. Once we left the woods the landscape opened up to vineyards. The view was quite interesting with Cornilia on one side and Manarola on the other with the view of the never ending sea ahead of us and vineyards on the background! All standing on the edge of the cliff from a height of around 300 m above sea level! We took the path to Manarola via the village of Volastra. I have to admit it was a long walk.

Once we reached Volastra the path change into cobbled narrow streets which lead to a series of steps. We thought we will first have a look of Manarola before proceeding towards Riomaggiore. For that we have to walk back to Volastra from Manarola to take the high path. The only problem with that plan, as we realised later on, was that we had to climb down atleast 500 steps to reach the village of Manarola. Or to take the route back to Volastra to take the high path we had to climb up all those steps!!!  Once we started climbing down I immediately gave up the idea of climbing back those steps with our heavy luggage. After a long walk through those very very boring and stressful steps we reached the village of Manarola. It was one of the smallest villages in Cinque Terre.
While climbing down the steps the view of the village was again beautiful – small village surrounded on one side by the vineyards and the sea on the other side. There were lots and lots of tourists there. Due to rough seas there was no boat service at the jetty. We sat at a place overlooking the street leading towards the sea and had our packed lunch there. Just relaxing and enjoying the sun. We decided to cancel the plans to trek to Riomaggiore. The very thought of climbing those damn steps where not at all motivating. We decided to take the train instead. Since the boat service was cancelled the ‘piccollo’ train station was heavily crowded. Also the completely crowded trains travelling in the other direction from Riomaggiore towards Manarola became completely empty once it stopped at Manarole. This is definitely a popular tourist spot.  We took the 4 ‘o’ clock train to Riomaggiore. I think it just took 5 minutes to reach Riomaggiore.

We found our backpackers hotel in one of the main streets of the little village of Riomaggiore. It looked more like a room for romantic couples with lot of pink colour and fake decorations all over the place! After leaving our backpack and taking a shower we headed towards the seaside restaurant. We started with a beer, watching the sunset. The wind was a bit cold, still the view was good. We had our dinner – risotto de mare, and a grappa. When in Rome, be a Roman, right? We spend some time at the rocks taking some snaps and enjoying the atmosphere. After leaving our cameras back in the room we went out again. We didn’t had any plans, so we decided to try some cocktails in the nearby pub. I planned to stop after a couple of cocktails. But it didn’t exactly go that way. Some guy started chatting with us. Either he is stupid or very rich or both he started buying us cocktails, for the sake of company (he was also drinking), and we both ended up drinking one cocktail after the other. As usual Bru was in “really good spirits”. I had a Caipirihnia, French connection, 2 Jagermeister and a Bamboosa!!! And Bru had much more. Finally when our good friend left both of us were completely drunk! It has been years since I was so drunk.  We had real difficulty in finding our hostel and climbing up the damn steps towards our room in the 3^rd floor. Since we couldn’t manage to lock the doors properly we placed a table infront of it!!! After a while I heard a loud sound. Bru was no longer in the bed. I saw a head popping up from the floor. It was Bru, blabbering some nonsense. That was the last thing I remembered!!!

Day 2: Prevo – Corniglia - Prevo

 

The next day we had our breakfast at leisurely pace. The weather didn’t look good. It was raining a bit at night and in the morning it war more cloudy than sunny. Still the views from the balcony of the homestay towards the village of Corniglia was breathtaking.  After the breakfast we decided to climb up towards the church of St. Bernadino. We had the whole day infront of us. Our plan was to hike around in the national park and visit Corniglia at some point in the day. We didn’t know the exact hike route towards St. Bernadino. But the church was visible from a distance and there were signboards pointing the direction. The only problem was that due to the landslides some of the marked routes were blocked. We still decided to go up. We reached the church without much problems and from the village surrounding the church we had a good view of Corniglia and the surroundings and also a hazy view of the village of Manarola at a distance.

From there we decided to hike towards Corniglia. As some of the routes were blocked, the hike became more and more tricky as we proceeded. There were tracks partly covered by landslides, tracks which were blocked where we ignored the warning sign boards and finally we landed up in a tarred road. The road was still going up. When we asked one of the road workers for directions towards Corniglia he was surprised and pointed towards the opposite direction!! We decided to proceed further and finally we followed a signboard that pointed towards the village.  We had the direct view of the village as we trekked down. But after a while the marked path narrowed, became bushier and reduced to a small track. We were not even sure whether it was a proper track as the thorny bushes were making our trek difficult. After a while we completely lost track of what ever track we were following and there were no more tracks ahead. We really doubted that whatever tracks we were following in the last hours are probably the tracks of a wild pig. The thorny bushes were so dense that we were scratched all over our body and blood was coming out at many places. Funny thing was that we still had the direct view of the village of Corniglia from a distance. It was too late to turn back as the track we came was no longer visible. We decided to proceed ahead getting further scratched by the thorns. Finally we landed up in olive plantations.

Suddenly I came across a snake lying on the ground. Before I could warn Bru and show him the snake the startled snake ran away. Not sure what kind of snake it was. But if I could remember correctly it was having stripes of black and yellow.  So quite adventurous experience so far in such an unlikely place. After a few meters of walking through the plantations and climbing down the stone walls we reached a road. Finally we reached a place where we had a clear idea of how to reach the village of Corniglia. We sat on the road for some time, eating some fruits and inspecting our wounds. And then we slowly moved towards the village. Like the other villages the fishing village of Corniglia was also very charming. Narrow walking streets and shops, for the tourists of course, and at the end of the street the endless view of the sea.  From there we could see our next destination – the village of Manarola.

We had our lunch there, had some beer, which we definitely earned after our hard day in the bush, and relaxed for a while. We also bought some postcards to send back. Then we started walking towards our homestay at around 1.30 pm from there. The route was easy as it was clearly marked. And walking along the edges of the mountain with the sea on one side and beautiful landscape on the other side was a wonderful experience. When we were back in our place it was around 4 pm. Both of us were exhausted. We cooked some spaghetti and opened our second wine bottle and relaxed watching the sunset, the starts and the illumination at the village of Corniglia from a distance.

Day 1: Germany – Milan – Monterosso – Vernassa - Prevo

 

I met Bru at the Zurich airport and then we flew together to Milan. It was nice to see Bru again. We understand each other pretty well and had been on trips together before. Our flight reached Milan at around 10.30 am. My plan was to take the train from Milan Central to Moterosso al Mare at around 12 noon. By the time we got out luggage it was around 11:30 am. And the train from Milan Malpensa airport to Milan central took us more than 45 mins. So we had to take the next train around 1.

By the time we reached our starting point – the first of the 5 villages  - Monterosso it was around 4 pm. There are two tracks to choose from to visit the villages, the first one and the easiest is called the ‘Blue Path’ which runs at almost the same height above sea level as the villages. This is also the most popular route and one can find a large amount of tourists on this route on a sunny day. The second one is called the high path which runs high up the mountains. That means one has to climb up and climb down as we move from one village to village. It is also a bit strenuous and time consuming and one needs a certain level of fitness to try this route.

At the time of our hike some portions of the blue path was closed due to landslides the previous year. Some of the tracks were partially opened and some others were completely closed till next year. From the Cinque Terre National Park website I downloaded a map of the hike routes and information about the current state of the tracks. The five villages on our hike route were Monterosso, Vernassa, Corniglia, Manarola and Riomaggiore. And our stop over on the first day was a homestay midway between Vernassa and Corniglia on the blue path.

At Monterosso we stopped by at a restaurant to pick up some food and water. I also wanted to get some information about the status of the hike route. The owner of the restaurant told us that it will take about 1.5 -2 hours to reach Vernassa and an another half hour to reach the homestay. But he is not sure whether the hike route from Vernassa is open or not. Since its already a little bit late to start the hike he recommended us to take the train to Vernassa. “Take the next train at 4:25 pm and you will be there in Vernassa in 5 mins. From there you can easily hike to the homestay. Since it’s a sunny day the hike route may be open today”. Not an optimum beginning to our hike and definitely not something that I would have liked to hear. On one hand if he was right, it was already a bit late to start and if we didn’t find the hike route, it can get a bit risky as we will not be able to find our homestay in the darkness.

We thought for a while and then decided to fuck the risk!!! No risk, no fun, right? We came here to hike, so let’s take the chance. So Bru and I decided to try the luck. With a backpack of around 12 kgs, the hike was not exactly easy. Especially to climb up the stairs from Monterosso. We had to stop in between to catch the breath. I began to wonder if it would have been wiser to do the hike from Riomaggiore to Monterosso. In spite of the difficulties, the landscape was absolutely beautiful. It was motivating enough to keep us going. It took almost an hour before we started seeing Vernassa from a distance. Vernassa lies about 3.3 km from Monterosso.  About 10 minutes from Vernassa we came to a clearing which looked like a perfect  photo spot. With the golden light of the setting sun hitting the village from a distance, it was a quite magical view. We climbed down to Vernassa and walked around the village. In between we stopped to do some shopping for the night and for breakfast the next day.

 Afterwards we continued the blue path towards Corniglia. The distance between Vernassa and Corniglia is about 3.2 km.If the path is not closed then we should be able to find the homestay halfway between Vernassa and Corniglia. From almost sea level at Vernassa we again had to climb up to proceed to Corniglia. But the walk through the woodlands with a view of the sea on one side was never boring. After about 30-45 mins of hiking we reached our homestay called “the heart of Cinque Terre” in the small hamlet of Prevo. It was an absolutely beautiful location. The garden of the house was on the cliff with full view of the sea and from the balcony of the house one has a direct view of the village of Corniglia on the mountain top. Our host Peter was a nice guy. It is a pity that he has only one room to rent. We felt really lucky to have got the accommodation at this beautiful location in the national park and also directly in the blue path far away from all the noises and disturbance that comes along with such touristic places. It was beyond doubt the best place to live in the whole stretch.

We were glad that we found our accommodation in time. Both of us were really tired from the travelling and hiking the whole day. We sat on the garden overlooking the sea, enjoying the sunset, ate our dinner and finished our first wine bottle of the hike! Life couldn’t get any better than this.  We just chatted old stories long after we finished our dinner and also long after we finished our only bottle of wine. I always enjoyed travelling with Bru. Kind of freak like me, but honest, sincere  and more over we both have the passion for the same continent – Africa!

Cinque Terre Hike

Italy is my favourite country in Europe. I usually end up travelling in Italy atleast once in a year. Though I live in Germany, I feel more comfortable and pleasant to travel in Italy than in Germany. Especially when compared to the weather, Germany is not at all an attractive option. More over I like the Italian culture, and of course the Italian girls.

The moment I saw the picture of Cinque Terre in some website, I marked it in my mind to go there some day. But the fact that it’s a bit far away from any of the biggest international airports made me postpone the trip more often. The hike was never in my mind as I didn’t know that one can hike from one fishing village to the other. I came to know about it only when I tried to figure out the nearest airport I could fly to from where I live. Once it was clear that hiking between the villages is the best way to see the region I was excited. I am an outdoor person, so the possibility of hiking was like God send.

I didn’t want to do the hike alone. I checked with some of my Italian friends – too busy, other commitments etc. Then I checked with Bru. I was half optimistic as he is busy most of the time. To my luck, he was very keen to do it. We decided to fly to Milan and take the train to the first village. Since Milan is a big airport, we had the chance to find more cheap flight options. In May I had a long weekend from Thursday till Sunday due to some kind of religious holidays. So we decided to go for the hike on that weekend. 4 days means we had the luxury of doing the hike at a leisure pace.