"The Cinque Terre (“Five Lands”)" Monterosso al Mare by edwis

is the northern gateway into the Cinque Terre (CT) National Park region. The town of La Spezia is the southern entry point. The Cinque Terre is eighteen kilometers of sheer rocky coastline in northern Italy, consisting of terraced hills and vineyards sloping steeply down to the sea. There are five (Cinque) little villages that are built into the rocks between the coastline and the hills. The centuries old footpaths and mule tracks wind about 500 to 1,000 feet above the sea, leading through olive groves and vineyards, orchards and chestnut woods. Because of the uniqueness of the Cinque Terre, it has been named by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. The area has also been designated a National Park to protect the characteristic landscape. Each of the five villages is only a few minutes apart by train.

There are almost no cars as the villages are not easily accessible by road but are connected by various hiking paths and shuttle trains that run up and down the coast. The Cinque Terre represents one of the best preserved natural areas of the Mediterranean.

Each of the Cinque Terre cliff side villages has their own personality and characteristics. Some are fishing villages, some are cliff side, some are olive growers, etc. We bought a 3-day unlimited train pass, which allows one to hop off and on any time, plus gives access to the national park paths. We were actually checked twice for our tickets along the way.
We walked a very rustic and quite challenging pathway between 2 villages taking about 1 ¾ hours with some very tough going. This path always seemed to go upwards and we battled way too many steps made of uneven stone work. Then next day we came back and did a 1-½ hour milder path, and later we did the easiest and paved one called the “Via dell’ Amore”. One other path trail was posted as being closed due to a recent mudslide. The first and toughest walk started out ok, but then as we went higher and higher onto the mountain side it started to snow and the dirt trail started to get muddy for us. It was bad enough just navigating a narrow 24-inch cliff side path with little or no markings, but add some weather conditions and it became Oh my God, Yikes!

Since it is a National Park area, there were a few helpful signs and markings along the way; actually just at the beginning and ending points of the various paths. If you missed the one at the start, then when you are finished you can read about what you actually saw. I was encouraged whenever we came upon some hand railings constructed out of wood along the path, for that indicated that you were getting pretty close to the destination village. Beyond the railings which are near the villages, you are really on your own.

Along the foot paths, we got to see some little hand-made stone bridges over creeks, some orange netting all strung out under the olive trees to catch the harvest, and some wonderful hillside terraces of vines and trees. Some of the hand-made stone fences were about 8 feet tall and you could just imagine the time and work that went into these construction projects years ago, laying each stone piece by piece, and keeping it all aligned and plumb. We were impressed. We even came upon a whole family of cats out in the middle of nowhere just hanging around the path as we strolled by. No idea what that was about, but it was a fun diversion

Vernazza has a natural pier with an amphitheatre shape and colorful buildings making it perhaps the most picturesque village of the Cinque Terre. This was where we came off our toughest hike with the path ending right into the main street of the village. We went directly into the first place we saw, called Giannis, being wet, cold and muddy, we didn’t even look at a menu; just ordered some pasta ragu, soup and wine. We sat next to a Swiss couple and had a pleasant chat while recovering from our grueling hike. Later we watched with interest as the giant waves came crashing over the town’s seawall and breakers. We got so close that we actually had to run out of harm’s way a couple of times. We also found a little shop that had some of the local area’s special pesto pizza, and tried a slice or two as we walked around.

Corniglia
Corniglia is placed on a steep promontory with the village high atop a cliff. From the train station down by sea level, there are 27 stairways which crisscross, back and forth rows of steps with railings going up to the village. If you get off at the train station there, you may decide to skip this place due to the enormous challenge the steps present when viewing from the bottom straight upwards. In reality, there little much to see or do once one does get into this very little village. But its’ there.

Manarola
The village of Manarola is surrounded by vines and is situated along a stream. The wine of Manarola is very famous and the "Via dell’ Amore" starts here: it is an easy way to walk with a smooth touristy paved path a distance of two kilometers long connecting Manarola to Riomaggiore. This is an authentic fishing village and it is probably the most genuine of the “five lands." From the train station here we came out from a long subway tunnel leading into the village that the local children had decorated with some art decor. The main street of this village had all the boats pulled up from the wild seas and they were parked right in the middle of the street by each fisherman’s residence.

Riomaggiore
Riomaggiore is the most southern and the nearest village to La Spezia the southern gateway city. Here you will see REAL Italian life by REAL Italian people going about their business as opposed to Vernazza which has lost this and seems to be run by the tourism trade. The harbor is a quaint as you will find anywhere and the view from the cliff around the corner from the harbor is great for that classic harbor shot. The town is actually much bigger than it looks in the photos and stretches quite a way up the hill but still a great place to walk around and see the life.

This is where a park service clerk girl in a little hut actually checked our train/path walking ticket and gave us permission to enter the Via dell’ Amore on our way back to Manarola.
We noticed that you could always tell ‘the Germans’. They were the ones wearing the hiking boots and alpine-type shorts carrying tall walking sticks and always seemed to be on a mission. This reminded me of a previous trip that while in Zagreb, Croatia a shopkeeper asked me if I was German. Now on this trip when I went into a barbershop in Lucca, the barber asked me if I was German. I said no, ‘Sono Americano, di Miami’. Oh, they all seem to know about Miami and that always brings a smile to their faces. They see all the beautifulness on the TV shows and think that we live in such a paradise, since we were from Florida.
And then, what about the Swiss couples? We met a few along the way and they all have been the most polished, well mannered, friendly, willing to chat, very kind and well spoken people. In my next life, I might have to come back as a ‘Swisser’.