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!
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