Foreign Exchanges: Cinque Terre...The Hike

Friday we got up early to start the hike. First on the list to do was to get some breakfast. We bought some focaccia (Renee tried Eliana’s recommendation of focaccia de Recco which is with melted cheese and amazing). Second thing we needed to do was move the car. The parking lot for the bed and breakfast was closed when we arrived so we parked in the public lot. The problem was there was no ticket to take so I did the only thing I could think of which was to move the parking clock on my windshield to show the time we arrived. So up the hill Renee and I hiked (Bob decided to go back up the stairs to get our passports for the bed and breakfast). Of course we had a ticket on the car for twenty euros. We went to the parking attendant and explained we arrived when no attendant was on duty and he ripped up the ticket, we paid our five euros and eighty cents and moved our car to the bed and breakfast parking. We bought our tickets to the Cinque Terra National Park and walked down the hill to meet Bob. We walked all the way down to the sea (to get to our room we took a bunch of stairs and hallways before you got to the sea) and I realized why I didn’t know about the huge hill…Stacey and I never had to walk down it as we took the train which lets you off at the sea! The hike was amazing. Stage one between Riomaggiore and Manarola…no problem…paved and railings. Twenty minutes. Stage two between Manarola and Corniglia got a little harder. At the end of stage two there are 382 steps up and the sign at the top said you were now in the middle of the Cinque Terra. We stopped in the third town and had a snack. We began stage three between Cornigila and Vernazza. Bob was on the fence in the morning if he was going to do the entire hike so Renee and I bought him the park pass which included a train ticket so he could ride the train between the towns if he wanted. He decided he wanted to do the entire hike. I didn’t have the heart to tell him that although we were in the “center” of Cinque Terre stages three and four were infinitely harder…and by harder I mean death defying. I remember the trail being very narrow, filled with rocks and steps and usually there are no guard rails so you are really one misplaced foot away from falling into the sea…oh and hitting jagged rocks on your way down! The thing that made it even more treacherous is that it had rained the previous few days which meant that the rocks you were walking on, over and around were slippery. My dad calls me “Grace” for a reason…because I am NOT Graceful. As you can imagine all the factors listed above contributed to a little fall down some slippery stairs. I am very lucky it was not worse and that all I sustained were some bruises on my arms and legs (Stacey I’m pretty sure they will be healed by your wedding…but yellow goes with black right?). During the fourth stage Bob commented that the hike started out fun, then the terrain became interesting, then it became ridiculous, and then it became insane (he said this as we were descending about 500 stairs...and I use the term stairs to loosely mean a rock you must step on to descend). The views during the hike were amazing once you stopped in a safe place to view them. This hike isn’t leisurely and you don’t have much time to enjoy the views while hiking as you are trying not to slip and fall to your death. At times you would look back at the area you had just hiked and you would not be able to even determine where you hiked! We finished off the hike with a drink in Monterosso and some much needed relaxation before heading to the station to take the train back to the town we were staying in. Renee and I had to purchase our tickets and as the woman was handing them to me I heard the train whistle…perfect timing I thought…except that the train comes out of the tunnel (which is only about 100 feet from the platform) but on the other side. We make a mad sprint down the steps, under the tracks and back up the steps on the other side and slide onto the train just in time. As you can see from the picture we were very tired and the sprint did Bob in! The twenty or so minute train ride back to Riomaggiore made it seem so easy to get between the towns! Renee made a great comment when she said that the people who built the trail hundreds of years ago are probably laughing at all the people who hike it instead of taking the train! We went back and showered (although I use that term loosely since we had cold to luke warm showers) before going to dinner. The town is not that big so it wasn’t too long before we had decided on a place. We had great pasta and wine to end the night. Well, I mean we did watch a little How I Met Your Mother when we got back…it was becoming a tradition!

Leaving our room to start the hike