Scenic Cinque Terre

Tom and I on the Cinque Terre trail.

The five famous fishing villages know as Cinque Terre (CHINK-qwe Tay-reh) are also in the off tourist season,  as of November 1. As a result,  Tom and I were not able to stay directly in one of the villages, and instead opted to stay in the nearby town of La Spezia (literal translation,  "The Spice"). Looking to save a little money,  we selected a B & B, which has turned out to be quite comfortable.  I think this would probably be considered more of a boutique hotel in Canada,  as the owners don't actually appear to live on site. They come in in the morning to spread out breakfast and clean rooms,  and are gone by mid afternoon. Our room is spacious and modern,  but the entrance and stairwell in the building are extremely dark. Both Tom and I have tripped down the stairs several times due to the dim lighting.

For our first evening in town, the B & B proprietor suggested we check out the scenic town of Portovenere, and suggested a restaurant for dinner. Portovenere was beautiful, and housed an old Italian castle that is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Unfortunately the sun was going down, so we will try to go back another time (stay tuned for a future post on Portovenere and Pisa). The restaurant had by far the cheapest and BEST food we have had on the trip so far. We are going there again tonight.

Monterosso al Mare.

We began our Cinque Terre hike by hopping on a train in La Spezia. We rode the train through to the last village, Monterosso. From here, we planned to work our way backwards. Unfortunately, we were only able to visit three of the five villages, because two of the trails were closed due to landslides. However, we were lucky in that the two remaining open trails are touted as the most scenic of the five.

A view of Monterosso through local grape vines.

Along the way, there were multiple terraces built into the cliffside, growing neat rows of grapes. Of course, there are no grapes on the vine at this time of year, but we did seem some oranges and limes that had fallen from various trees.

Warped trees along the trail.

There was a variety of plant life along the trail, including warped trees (pictured above), bamboo, fruit trees and cacti. After about an hour of hiking, we caught our first views of the next village of Vernazza. Vernazza is said to be the most scenic of the five villages, and has only recently recovered from intense flooding. On October 25, 2011, a particular intense rainstorm produced flash-flooding that brought mud, rocks and debris down into the streets of Vernazza and Monterosso-- in some places, up to 12 feet deep. Residents grieved for the three people who drowned in Vernazza, and one in Monterosso. Today you would never guess at the extent of damage and destruction. The residents have rebuilt, re-engineered and renovated.

A view of Vernazza.

If Venice is dog friendly, then Cinque Terra can be considered a cat haven. We must have seen over a dozen cats roaming through villages, sunning themselves, and generally enjoying the lazy life of a cat.

Cats sunning themselves.

A large cave off the coast.

The last town on our agenda was Corniglia. It took us about sixty minutes of hiking to make the trip from Vernazza to Corniglia. We were greeted by the sight of late-November flowers and more brightly coloured houses leaning against each other in the hills.

The village of Corniglia.

Brightly coloured seaside houses.

Tom and I managed to JUST miss the train, which arrives approximately every hour and a half. So we enjoyed the view, and strolled through the steep streets looking for photo-worthy scenes. Tom is generally in charge of the camera when we travel. This is because he takes pictures OF EVERYTHING. And when I say everything, I mean EVERYTHING. 

Afternoon sunshine down a narrow street.

But I certainly can not complain about the pictures from this trip!

Up next... Portovenere and Pisa.