Wednesday, April 10, 2002 14:52
Weather: Hazy but sunny, light clouds
Location: On a rock of the seawall of Manarola, Cinque Terre, Italy

Once again I've beaten the odds and the weather forecasters and scored a beautiful day. I'm sitting on a large, roughly-hewn rock on the short seawall protecting Manarola's harbour. From here, I can see along the coastline to my right the hilltop village of Corniglia, the top houses of Vernazza, and in the far distance the resort town of Monterosso al Mare. A large tourist boat (which seems to be named UFO 4) is just passing, no doubt bound for Riomaggiore. There are a few others seated with me on the rocks: to my right, a pair of young women are starting to pack up and head off, while on my left a couple has settled in companionably for the afternoon. In the village behind, the ice cream shop is selling a lot of gelato, because the air is quite warm although the breeze off the sea is refreshingly cool.

I had a late morning, not getting up and out until after 9, and after a cappucino and a piece of bread studded with chocolate chips, I packed up for my hike. I was soon distracted from this by the Internet café in the village, which sucked me in for a couple of hours of "rest of the world" fix. It was after 12 when I set out again, so my first stop was in a little grocery store where I picked up bread, salami, cheese, olives, chocolate and water for a picnic lunch.

Finally I was off, finding the path to Corniglia just above the railway station. It climbed steeply up over worn rough stone steps, past an old tower on top of the hill. The view back into the village was wonderful, and I snapped a couple of photos.

The path continued to climb as it went forward. I passed several groups of people, walking in both directions, many of them German and French (as opposed to the mostly American crowd on the trains), though few of them apparently Italian. I shortly came across a man at a little table who sold me a pass to the trails for €3.

As I write this, UFO 4 has returned from Riomaggiore and has come in, nose first, to sit just off the pier to my left. They've dropped a gangway and are loading passengers.

The trail continued, climbing and dipping along the coast. Tiered vineyards and orchards clung precariously on either side. At length I turned a corner and could see Corniglia, with Manarola behind. I stopped and ate half of my picnic.

Continuing on, I passed through Corniglia, sitting sprawled out across the top of a low hill. I cut through the middle, and came out at the top of a zigzag staircase leading down to the railway station and the pathway to Manarola, which runs along the top of a fortress-like wall, with a stony beach below. No one was swimming, and the beach houses were closed for the off season.

At the end of the wall walkway, the path switchbacked up a bit and then continued around the cliff, cut into the edge with a wooden or steel balcony on the outside. There were a couple of ways down to the water's edge from here, and a pair of men were sitting on the rocks at the bottom of one, with the calm azure waters lapping the rocks beside them.

Around the next corner was Manarola, a small cluster of pastel houses huddling the cliff tops, with a miniscule harbour below. Summer sailboats and dinghys were drawn high up out of the water, but the warm weather had tourists and locals alike out for a seat in the sunshine. I picked up a chocolate and blackberry gelato cone, and headed down to find a place to sit and write this.

Onwards now, on the Via dell' Amore to Riomaggiore, from where I'll catch a train back to Monterosso. Then one last, tough hour and a half walk home to Vernazza, and dinner.
posted by Tom at 3:10 PM | link |