The Cinque Terre means “Five Lands” and comprises five old fishing villages along the very rugged and steep coastline of Italy. The villages are: Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola and Riomaggiore.

We stayed in Vernazza.

The coastline, the five villages, and the surrounding hillsides are all part of the Cinque Terre National Park and it’s a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

It’s a hugely popular tourist destination for Italians and foreigners. We heard an array of languages apart from Italians, most notably American, French, German and actually did speak with two Australian women.

Vernazza

We spent a week in Vernazza, the second village along the trail. It’s said to be the most characteristic of the five villages, with colourful Ligurian houses surrounding the main piazza which sits on the edge of a small beach.

One thing we can say for sure, Vernazza has a LOT of steps!

It was from Vernazza that we headed off for a stint on the Cinque Terre (see below) where we came across the most surprising thing.

The village is surrounded by very steeply-terraced olive groves which are said to produce among the finest olive oil in the country. The locals would have to be the fittest Italians ever.

Our apartment was just off the main street. Close and handy. To get to there, we had to climb a few steps.

Then……

Almost there.

And finally, to get from the kitchen to the lounge and bedroom, more steps. 77 steps all up, with most of them deep, about twice the height of normal steps. This meant leg muscle burns at least four to five times a day as we headed out and about for our morning coffee, then lunch, or walking, catching the train and dinners. At our age!

The view from our living area was worth it!

One night we were lucky enough to see a double rainbow from our living room.

It was quite a tourist hot spot, the main street often shoulder to shoulder especially when a train arrived, which was every 20 minutes. But at the beginning and end of each day, the streets were quieter and we enjoyed wandering about.

Jeff was fascinated by this vehicle used to get supplies to shops and restaurants around the town. This guy was up and down steps and around the town nearly all day making his deliveries.

The Cinque Terra Trail

We thought we’d head off on the section from Vernazza to Monterosso del Mare, A mere 3.6 km and rated as average with an estimated time of 1.5 hours. Easy peasy. We were excited. The day was quite cold (I was dressed for the arctic) and the first section climbing the hill to look back over Vernazza was relatively average, although there were a lot of steps built into the track to get there.

What took up a lot of time, was the steady stream of people coming in the opposite direction trekking from Monterroso to Vernazza. In parts of the track, you had to wait for them to pass, often hugging up against the side of the rock walls while they squeezed past on a one person sized track.

During the entire hike, you had to keep eyes on the uneven ground, stairs, ledges and rocky paths. That slowed you up too.

And, did I mention the steps?? The views along the way were spectacular though.

Look at those people on the ferry taking the easy way.

About three quarters of the way along the track, as we were making our way around yet another tight bend, I could hear music. The thumping upbeat sound of a piano accordion was filling the air, spurring me on, just when I needed a boost of motivation.

My second piano accordion sighting for this trip!

There sitting by the side of the track under a tree was this guy, with his dog, and his wife on the other side of the track to let me him know when to strike up a chord because hikers were coming.

I was so buoyed by the experience, I convinced Jeff to throw some coins into his hat, which he did, only to nearly have his hand taken off by his nasty little dog.

And then, the end was in sight. Monterosso. Still a way to go, but achievable. In the end, it took us two hours.

We caught the train back to Vernazza 🙂

Vernazza had a very modest old church, and around the town there were random pieces of art.

It was overall, a vibrant touristy village but still with a productive fishing industry. We enjoyed many seafood dishes. These two were standouts – Gnocchiette with Seafood and the speciality of the area Fritto Misto.

A lovely week spent along the Cinque Terre. We visited all the villages, opting to catch the train to each one. All will be revealed in the next blog.

Catherine & Jeff xx