We had to be out at 10 (or 10.30, or 11, it wasn’t consistent) so that the room could be cleaned, but this wasn’t a problem. We had both slept rather fantastically and were ready to face the day! Today we were going to hike some of the walking paths between the towns.
The day before, the accommodation owner explained the walking paths. We knew that some were shut, but she drew it out on the map for us. The two coastal paths leading out of Manarola were shut - the one to Corniglia, and the one to Riomaggiore. However, the hill paths were open between these. She also explained about the Cinque Terre Card, which gives you access to either the walking tracks, or the walking tracks and trains. She thankfully explained that the tracks out of Manarola do NOT need to be paid for, while the ones between Corniglia and Monterosso DO.
This we didn’t know, and made us change our plans, as we were originally going to get a 2 day pass as we thought we had to pay for all paths. So day 1: We decided to do all the tracks near Manarola which were free, and then on the second day only buy a 1 day pass for the trains and walking paths. This meant that we would walk from Manarola to Corniglia via the hill path and the town Volastra at the top of the hill. Then, from Corniglia we would catch the train to Riomaggiore, and walk back to Manarola. Sounds easy, eh?
We set off at about 10.10am and arrived at Volastra at about 11am, which was 10 minutes faster than we expected! My sliced toe from the day before gave me a bit of an issue at first as the shoe was rubbing on it but as there was nothing I could do, I just kept going and eventually forgot about it. Downhill was more obviously painful than up hill, but I tried not to whinge too much.
The path left Manarola and took us between vineyards and up roughly hewn rock stairs. We had some French girls that passed us, then we would pass them, but thankfully we eventually lost them. The scenery was indeed stunning, even though the day was grey and humid. It was very dramatic! On the way, we found a little unmanned lemonade stand, which was delightful. 2 big barrels of freshly squeezed lemon juice, with some cups and a little honesty jar, as well as a guestbook to sign. Dan put in a euro and I wrote a little thank you note, and we quenched our thirst and got a sugar boost from a cup of fresh lemonade.
The last stage to Volastra was just up and up and up stairs. I was dripping with sweat, and we passed a few people who looked like professional hikers with their stocks. At the top we had a small rest and filled up our water bottles, but there wasn’t a lot to do here so we continued straight on to Corniglia.
The scenery continued to be very beautiful and the day continued to be very muggy and sweaty. At one point we were walking along a ledge between vines, and had to walk precariously around a hiking/walking tour. I couldn’t think of anything worse, to be honest… After what felt like an age of climbing, we started the descent (and I think I would have preferred to keep climbing!). This was a bit tough on my knees, but we still kept up a cracking pace. We kept passing and being passed by the same couple - she was extremely lithe and fit looking, him less so, and we only passed them when they stopped to take photos of her running on the path (and then they would overtake us again).
We passed many people going up who made us think…I don’t think you’re ever going to make it! I think we chose the right direction - the scramble down seemed far rougher than the way up from Manarola, which seemed to be more “stairs”.
At about 12.30pm, 1.5 hours after Volastra we made it into Cornligia. We were very pleased with this time as we thought it would take 2 hours, according to our accommodation host. We even stopped to take photos on the way! Once in Corniglia, we made a beeline for a restaurant called Pan e Vin which I had researched and we managed to nab the last table outside. Turns out the place was tiny, so we were quite lucky to get a table.
I already knew what I wanted; the trio of bruschetta, and Dan ordered the same - we also got wine to rehydrate, of course. Ordering was confusing as things got lost in translation, but we got there in the end. It was completely lovely sitting outside here - it wasn’t sunshiney but it was still warm, and we seemed to be on a main thoroughfare so it was fun to people watch. Soon our bruschetta and wine arrived, and my god it was life changing. One was more traditional - diced tomato, mozzarella and basil, the next was tomato slices and eggplant, and the third was cream cheese with sun-dried tomato - all 3 were topped with a basil pesto as well. I could have keep eating them all day. The bread was also perfect - not too hard so the knife glided through.
We were enjoying ourselves so much we ordered another wine. The electricity had gone out so this added a new layer of complexity, but we were able to pay and continue on our way. We still had Cornliglia to explore - and another hike to do! We had a little wander around the town - it wasn’t too dissimilar to Manarola however it was perched up on a cliff face and therefore had no (maybe there was a path?) access to the water below.
Next stop: the train station. This was rather hilarious as the train station is at the bottom of the hill, and Corniglia at the top. The stairs literally took forever (the next day I would actually count how many steps there were…) - there were so many that at intervals they had placed bench seats so people could take a rest. Eventually we made it to the bottom and caught the next train that went to Riomaggiore via Manarola. This journey took a handful of minutes. It had taken us 2.5 hours to walk it. The train journey was roughly a minute for every hour walked!
Once we reached Riomaggiore, we explored it a little. It seemed bigger than Manarola, but we didn’t find too much that interested us so we made our way straight to the start of the path, which was a bit complicated to find. Here we found a big lock on a tall gate, apparently closed as of late 2017.
What? Our accommodation had said this path was open, so that’s thrown a spanner in the works. While we stood there pondering what to do, we noticed some people on the path. After waiting a little while, a guy appeared at the gate and looked at it a bit surprised. Not far behind him, another man appeared, and they consulted each other and then scaled the bricks on the side, and climbed out.
The two weren’t travelling together, but once they were up on our level, I asked them if it was blocked on the other end. They told us that there was a sign, but nothing to stop you from starting the path and that the walk wasn’t any problem at all. We decided to risk it - we had come all this way, after all! The guys had mentioned there were a few other people on the path who we would probably pass. I didn’t think I’d have the upper body strength to be able to climb down and over, but one of the guys and Dan had spotted a tunnel, so Dan went to investigate. It seemed ok, so I followed him down (there was a lot of rubbish thrown down here!) and soon we were on the path .
This path was far more overgrown than the other we had been on, but aside from that it was almost the same as what we had done that morning. It began with a VERY steep set of stairs that seemed to go on forever. Either I was a little more worn now, or this route was more difficult, but I struggled to keep going and not stop every few steps. I have to play little games with myself when it’s like this - so I told myself I could stop every 100 steps. This proved quite good as it kept us moving forward as Dan was matching my pace. When did I get so unfit?
Sweat was literally dripping from me. My shirt and bag were soaked. It was a good workout! The weeds and thorns were sharper here and not hacked back to the edge of the path, so there was a lot of picking our way through and stepping over difficult sections. The view though was spectacular. After what felt like an age, we started to descend. The downhill was just as intrepid - many sections had ropes to help you down over the rocks. We passed one or two people on the journey, but not many (but at least there were other people on the path!). The downhill continued on and my knees were screaming, but we had to keep going. We could hear music and girls laughing and screaming - later on we would find out there was a group jumping from the rock in Manarola - so we were getting close.
We got close to the town, and there was just a set of stairs to the end. A relatively fit looking could were heading off the journey and asked us how the journey was. We explained that they will have to climb out the other end because it is blocked off, and that they could either scale the fence or climb through the tunnel. He turned to his girlfriend and said, “I’ve taken 50 steps. I’m committed now.” They thanked us and continued up.
Just behind them was a barrier that had been put across the path, but so many people had been past and pushed it out of the way. Next to it was a sign saying the path was closed - so it turns out that there was a barrier, just people were ignoring it. Fair enough! Almost at the bottom, a family which consisted of a lady wearing scuffs, her husband and 2 small children asked us if the walk was appropriate for them. No, definitely not. Not in her shoes and not with the children! We also explained it was closed at the other end, and so they decided to catch the train. I was relieved for them, as they would never have made it.
Rejoice! We were back in Manarola and this meant it was time for a swim! We came down through the town a different way and saw a little bit more of it, mostly the residential area. When we returned to our accommodation, we changed into our swim gear, grabbed the beers we had bought yesterday and which were nice and freezing cold now, and went down to the water.
We put our things on the ledge again and today just jumped straight off the ledge into the water - must easier way of getting in, that’s for sure! The water was amazing, and today we swam around to the waterfall - fresh water rushes into the ocean underneath Manarola and I wanted to put my hands in the bubbles. Dan tasted the water and it was indeed fresh! It was fucking freezing over here though, so we swam back. The rocks on this side were covered in barnacles and what looked like giant red snail shells about the size of my hand. I saw a few little crabbies in the rocks, too!
When it was time to get out, we sat on the side and drank the beer, watching people scramble up the big rock in the middle and listening to them scream as they jumped off the other side. It was finally time for food, so we went back to the accommodation, showered and changed, grabbed our cold bubbly wine and went to get pizza. Guess what? They had stopped cooking again! It was only 6pm today, so I was rather miffed. Turns out they would still make some of the huge pizzas, so we just decided to go with one big over priced pizza and be done with. While that was being made, I ran back to the supermarket and bought more of those delicious olives.
Armed with our liquor and big pizza, we headed back up to the hill again. As soon as we sat down - chubby rain! Noooooo. We weren’t sure what to do, but I suggested we just keep going up - above the restaurant was an undercover section with some picnic bench seating. If it was for the restaurant, they could come tell us to leave but until then we’d just sit there. There was a sign above which I stared at for a while, but it was in Italian and was no help whatsoever. We just sat down at a bench, and soon other people joined us at other benches so we decided we were ok.
The cover was twigs, so didn’t hold out all the rain, but did about 90%. We sat here and popped the bubbly into our sippy cups, nomming on the pizza and overlooking Manarola until it was dark. A lovely end to the day, and now it was time to crash for the night.
Til next time,
xx
The day before, the accommodation owner explained the walking paths. We knew that some were shut, but she drew it out on the map for us. The two coastal paths leading out of Manarola were shut - the one to Corniglia, and the one to Riomaggiore. However, the hill paths were open between these. She also explained about the Cinque Terre Card, which gives you access to either the walking tracks, or the walking tracks and trains. She thankfully explained that the tracks out of Manarola do NOT need to be paid for, while the ones between Corniglia and Monterosso DO.
This we didn’t know, and made us change our plans, as we were originally going to get a 2 day pass as we thought we had to pay for all paths. So day 1: We decided to do all the tracks near Manarola which were free, and then on the second day only buy a 1 day pass for the trains and walking paths. This meant that we would walk from Manarola to Corniglia via the hill path and the town Volastra at the top of the hill. Then, from Corniglia we would catch the train to Riomaggiore, and walk back to Manarola. Sounds easy, eh?
We set off at about 10.10am and arrived at Volastra at about 11am, which was 10 minutes faster than we expected! My sliced toe from the day before gave me a bit of an issue at first as the shoe was rubbing on it but as there was nothing I could do, I just kept going and eventually forgot about it. Downhill was more obviously painful than up hill, but I tried not to whinge too much.
The path left Manarola and took us between vineyards and up roughly hewn rock stairs. We had some French girls that passed us, then we would pass them, but thankfully we eventually lost them. The scenery was indeed stunning, even though the day was grey and humid. It was very dramatic! On the way, we found a little unmanned lemonade stand, which was delightful. 2 big barrels of freshly squeezed lemon juice, with some cups and a little honesty jar, as well as a guestbook to sign. Dan put in a euro and I wrote a little thank you note, and we quenched our thirst and got a sugar boost from a cup of fresh lemonade.
The last stage to Volastra was just up and up and up stairs. I was dripping with sweat, and we passed a few people who looked like professional hikers with their stocks. At the top we had a small rest and filled up our water bottles, but there wasn’t a lot to do here so we continued straight on to Corniglia.
The scenery continued to be very beautiful and the day continued to be very muggy and sweaty. At one point we were walking along a ledge between vines, and had to walk precariously around a hiking/walking tour. I couldn’t think of anything worse, to be honest… After what felt like an age of climbing, we started the descent (and I think I would have preferred to keep climbing!). This was a bit tough on my knees, but we still kept up a cracking pace. We kept passing and being passed by the same couple - she was extremely lithe and fit looking, him less so, and we only passed them when they stopped to take photos of her running on the path (and then they would overtake us again).
We passed many people going up who made us think…I don’t think you’re ever going to make it! I think we chose the right direction - the scramble down seemed far rougher than the way up from Manarola, which seemed to be more “stairs”.
At about 12.30pm, 1.5 hours after Volastra we made it into Cornligia. We were very pleased with this time as we thought it would take 2 hours, according to our accommodation host. We even stopped to take photos on the way! Once in Corniglia, we made a beeline for a restaurant called Pan e Vin which I had researched and we managed to nab the last table outside. Turns out the place was tiny, so we were quite lucky to get a table.
I already knew what I wanted; the trio of bruschetta, and Dan ordered the same - we also got wine to rehydrate, of course. Ordering was confusing as things got lost in translation, but we got there in the end. It was completely lovely sitting outside here - it wasn’t sunshiney but it was still warm, and we seemed to be on a main thoroughfare so it was fun to people watch. Soon our bruschetta and wine arrived, and my god it was life changing. One was more traditional - diced tomato, mozzarella and basil, the next was tomato slices and eggplant, and the third was cream cheese with sun-dried tomato - all 3 were topped with a basil pesto as well. I could have keep eating them all day. The bread was also perfect - not too hard so the knife glided through.
We were enjoying ourselves so much we ordered another wine. The electricity had gone out so this added a new layer of complexity, but we were able to pay and continue on our way. We still had Cornliglia to explore - and another hike to do! We had a little wander around the town - it wasn’t too dissimilar to Manarola however it was perched up on a cliff face and therefore had no (maybe there was a path?) access to the water below.
Next stop: the train station. This was rather hilarious as the train station is at the bottom of the hill, and Corniglia at the top. The stairs literally took forever (the next day I would actually count how many steps there were…) - there were so many that at intervals they had placed bench seats so people could take a rest. Eventually we made it to the bottom and caught the next train that went to Riomaggiore via Manarola. This journey took a handful of minutes. It had taken us 2.5 hours to walk it. The train journey was roughly a minute for every hour walked!
Once we reached Riomaggiore, we explored it a little. It seemed bigger than Manarola, but we didn’t find too much that interested us so we made our way straight to the start of the path, which was a bit complicated to find. Here we found a big lock on a tall gate, apparently closed as of late 2017.
What? Our accommodation had said this path was open, so that’s thrown a spanner in the works. While we stood there pondering what to do, we noticed some people on the path. After waiting a little while, a guy appeared at the gate and looked at it a bit surprised. Not far behind him, another man appeared, and they consulted each other and then scaled the bricks on the side, and climbed out.
The two weren’t travelling together, but once they were up on our level, I asked them if it was blocked on the other end. They told us that there was a sign, but nothing to stop you from starting the path and that the walk wasn’t any problem at all. We decided to risk it - we had come all this way, after all! The guys had mentioned there were a few other people on the path who we would probably pass. I didn’t think I’d have the upper body strength to be able to climb down and over, but one of the guys and Dan had spotted a tunnel, so Dan went to investigate. It seemed ok, so I followed him down (there was a lot of rubbish thrown down here!) and soon we were on the path .
This path was far more overgrown than the other we had been on, but aside from that it was almost the same as what we had done that morning. It began with a VERY steep set of stairs that seemed to go on forever. Either I was a little more worn now, or this route was more difficult, but I struggled to keep going and not stop every few steps. I have to play little games with myself when it’s like this - so I told myself I could stop every 100 steps. This proved quite good as it kept us moving forward as Dan was matching my pace. When did I get so unfit?
Sweat was literally dripping from me. My shirt and bag were soaked. It was a good workout! The weeds and thorns were sharper here and not hacked back to the edge of the path, so there was a lot of picking our way through and stepping over difficult sections. The view though was spectacular. After what felt like an age, we started to descend. The downhill was just as intrepid - many sections had ropes to help you down over the rocks. We passed one or two people on the journey, but not many (but at least there were other people on the path!). The downhill continued on and my knees were screaming, but we had to keep going. We could hear music and girls laughing and screaming - later on we would find out there was a group jumping from the rock in Manarola - so we were getting close.
We got close to the town, and there was just a set of stairs to the end. A relatively fit looking could were heading off the journey and asked us how the journey was. We explained that they will have to climb out the other end because it is blocked off, and that they could either scale the fence or climb through the tunnel. He turned to his girlfriend and said, “I’ve taken 50 steps. I’m committed now.” They thanked us and continued up.
Just behind them was a barrier that had been put across the path, but so many people had been past and pushed it out of the way. Next to it was a sign saying the path was closed - so it turns out that there was a barrier, just people were ignoring it. Fair enough! Almost at the bottom, a family which consisted of a lady wearing scuffs, her husband and 2 small children asked us if the walk was appropriate for them. No, definitely not. Not in her shoes and not with the children! We also explained it was closed at the other end, and so they decided to catch the train. I was relieved for them, as they would never have made it.
Rejoice! We were back in Manarola and this meant it was time for a swim! We came down through the town a different way and saw a little bit more of it, mostly the residential area. When we returned to our accommodation, we changed into our swim gear, grabbed the beers we had bought yesterday and which were nice and freezing cold now, and went down to the water.
We put our things on the ledge again and today just jumped straight off the ledge into the water - must easier way of getting in, that’s for sure! The water was amazing, and today we swam around to the waterfall - fresh water rushes into the ocean underneath Manarola and I wanted to put my hands in the bubbles. Dan tasted the water and it was indeed fresh! It was fucking freezing over here though, so we swam back. The rocks on this side were covered in barnacles and what looked like giant red snail shells about the size of my hand. I saw a few little crabbies in the rocks, too!
When it was time to get out, we sat on the side and drank the beer, watching people scramble up the big rock in the middle and listening to them scream as they jumped off the other side. It was finally time for food, so we went back to the accommodation, showered and changed, grabbed our cold bubbly wine and went to get pizza. Guess what? They had stopped cooking again! It was only 6pm today, so I was rather miffed. Turns out they would still make some of the huge pizzas, so we just decided to go with one big over priced pizza and be done with. While that was being made, I ran back to the supermarket and bought more of those delicious olives.
Armed with our liquor and big pizza, we headed back up to the hill again. As soon as we sat down - chubby rain! Noooooo. We weren’t sure what to do, but I suggested we just keep going up - above the restaurant was an undercover section with some picnic bench seating. If it was for the restaurant, they could come tell us to leave but until then we’d just sit there. There was a sign above which I stared at for a while, but it was in Italian and was no help whatsoever. We just sat down at a bench, and soon other people joined us at other benches so we decided we were ok.
The cover was twigs, so didn’t hold out all the rain, but did about 90%. We sat here and popped the bubbly into our sippy cups, nomming on the pizza and overlooking Manarola until it was dark. A lovely end to the day, and now it was time to crash for the night.
Til next time,
xx
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