DAY 5 - A HIKE AND A TRAIN RIDE: IT JUST DOESN'T GET ANY BETTER THAN THAT

FRIDAY - 5 SEPTEMBER 2014 - MONTEROSSO AL MARE, VERNAZZA, AND MANAROLA


The day started humid and hot. Nevertheless, most of the group was ready for the hike from Monterosso al Mare to the due terre, Vernazza. We were issued carbon fiber walking sticks (I told you Tauck doesn't skimp) and led by our Tour Director onto the hiking path through the Cinque Terre National Park that connects the five towns. Thomas told us that the park passes he obtained for us include unlimited use of the train line that connects the towns. Finally an opportunity for a train ride. Hooray.

The trail is moderate at most, certainly by Colorado standards, at less than 3 miles long and with a gain and loss of about 400 feet, but tiring because of the heat and humidity. Also the first half mile consists of a very long flight of steps carved into the cliffside. But the hike from Monterosso to Vernazza is the most scenic of the connecting trails and only takes a couple of hours. We looked up the hillsides, down to the sea, and off in the distance to actually not far off Vernazza until we were virtually on top of Vernazza and headed down through a side street into town.

We stopped briefly in actually very scenic (and also very crowded with tourists) Verrazza. After resting on a bench with a nice view of the harbor, we joined the tour director for the train ride to the quattro terre, Manarola. Thomas exclaimed that we didn't want to visit the tre terre, Corniglia, because of a "climb" from the train station into town. OK, we said.

Upon arriving in Manarola we walked through this smaller and less crowded town and looked at its harbor before choosing not to join the tour director in a walk to, "a park on the top of that hill with some sort of canon on top". Instead we ventured back through a smaller number of gelato and sunglasses shops and found the railway station on our own. By now we had decided that we were up to the essentially level one mile walk to the Riomaggiore on the "Via dell'Amore". Who wouldn't? Well actually, everyone it seems because a big sign on the closed gate indicated that the path of love was chiusa. Not wanting to violate a chiusa sign, we headed back to Monterosso al Mare on the next train where a beer at a cafe overlooking the rocky but pretty beach ended the active part of the day.

Dinner that night at a seaside cafe at the bottom of the hotel's long and steep driveway consisted of various local seafood products from the Ligurian Sea, mainly sardines and anchovies. Really good actually. The walk back up the driveway was not.