CINQUE TERRE
DAY 11
We were up early as we had trains to catch. No luxury as we were on regular Trenitalia trains, four in all - back to Bologna, to Parma (of ham fame), to La Spezia and finally to Riomaggiore. So we travelled from the East Coast to the West Coast, from the Adriatic to the Ligurian Sea.
Riomaggiore is one of five towns (hence Cinque Terre) on the coast connected by the main line railway running from La Spazia to Milan. This railway was opened in 1874 and it runs along the coast through a series of tunnels, The five towns are Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza and Monterossa. Each station is in the open but often the train is too long for the open area and both ends are on the tunnel. We stayed in Riomaggiore, the Southern most town.
Leaving the station you walk through a tunnel parallel to the railway and reach the bottom on the town. There is very little in the Cinque Terre that is flat, it is all hills.
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| The bottom end of Riomaggiore |
Until the advent of the railway the towns were somewhat isolated, there were tracks but no real roads. The surrounding countryside runs up to over 1500 feet, and climbing is the order of the day. We heard the the local suffer from knee problems because they are always climbing slopes and steps. We came to appreciate that fact.
Again we rented an apartment through VRBO and this one was very good. Close by the main street, up steps and stairs, it was well appointed and served us well. Our owner was waiting for us and was very helpful.
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| You get used to steps |
DAY 12
We had bought a book of walks in the region and we found it very helpful, with very clear descriptions. So we chose one that took us first by train to Monterossa, a few miles up the coast, through the tunnels.
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| Monterossa Beach - new town |
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| Montersossa - old town |
The station was in the new town and we walked along the sea front there to get to the old town. The walk took us through the old town and we started the climb which would take us up to the 1500 feet level, with little or no respite.
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| It was this rough or worse pretty well all the way |
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| A small pink chapel in danger of collapsing, time for a breather - the Santa Maria Maddalena Chapel |
At nearly the highest point, about a third of the way along walk we came to Madonna Di Soviore. This Sanctuary is one of the oldest in the region and dates from the 11th century. There is a church, a small shop, a restaurant and welcome bathrooms.
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| The sanctuary and the church |
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| The view down to the coast at Monterossa, on a clear day you can see Corsica, not today |
After a little more climbing we started back down towards the coast and the town of Vanezza. It was no smoother down that going up, lots of rocks on the way and some tricky steep sections.
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| Our first view of Vanezza, still a way to go |
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| Grape vines on the cultivated slopes |
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| This is the start/end of a rack railway that is used to bring the product up the slopes. There were quite a few of these. |
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| The town of Vernazza and its harbour, note the yellow umbrellas |
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| The round tower of the castle, Belforte |
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| Down at the harbour |
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| Vernazza |
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| Here are those umbrellas |
After the customary gelato we made our way back up to the station and back to home base.
DAY 13
The favorite walk in the region is the Blue route from Riomaggiore to Monterossa which includes the the Via Del Amore, which runs along the coast from Riomaggiore to Manarola. However, this walk has been closed for a while due to rock slides and will remain closed for a while yet. So in a rather less pleasant day, slight drizzle in the air, we chose to take to train up the line to Corniglia. Whereas all the other four towns are on the coast at sea level, Corniglia is a little different, the station is at sea level but the town is up on a hill and reached to easy way by a little bus or up a zig-zag set of stairs.
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| You get used to climbing up and down - 33 flights with 382 steps |
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| The church of Saint Peter in the upper part of Corniglia. It was built in 1334 |
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| Corniglia from the steps |
DAY 13
It was a much better weather day and we decided to do another of our walks from the book. It was another up and down walk, there aren't many other types. We took the train to Monterossa and set out for Levanto to the North. We set out and almost immediately we were on the climb.
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| Monterossa from the initial climb |
At the highest point we reached Punta del Masco, where there is the ruin of the medieval chapel Sant'Antonio and the more recent ruin of a lighthouse
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| The view from Punta del Mesco |
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| The ruin of the medieval chapel Sant'Antonio |
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| Inside the ruined light house |
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| The highest outcrop at Punta Del Mesco |
We started down the long slow descent towards Levanto passing what looked like an experimental farm. It was quite isolated and there was no evidence of a road to get there.
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| The experimental farm |
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| The typical rough path looking back to the farm |
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| Getting close to Levanto |
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| Levanto Bay |
It was a relatively tough walk and we were quite surprised to see just how many folk made the journey up from Monterossa and Levanto, the highest point was about 1250 feet. After a refreshment break we walked on to the station to catch the train back to Riomaggiore. It was a busy line with about four trains an hour to the five towns plus the long distance trains between Genoa and Rome.
DAY 14
It was our last day in Riomaggiore and we did a local walk from home base to the Sanctario di Nostra Signora di Montenero, up on a hill outside Riomaggiore and back down. This involved a climb up to about 1100 feet. It was reasonably easy up but much more difficult down.
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