Cinque Terre

Today was great - although quite tiring. We took the train from Levanto to Riomaggiore (about 30 minutes down the coast) and think the train service is a bit like the language. Not always easy to figure out if you don't have the basics but you get there in the end (although not necessarily running on the schedule you anticipated). We then walked back along the coastline from village to village for a total of about 7 km. We started on the Via Del' Amore walk at Riomaggiore, and then walked to Manarola, then to Corniglia, and finally to Vernazza, We could have continued on to the final town at Monterosso but this was about another 1.5 hours further on and we needed to have a break in order to cool down from the previous sector. The temperature was in the mid to high 20's most of the way and the terrain between Corniglia and Vernazza was uneven steps up the hill followed by uneven steps down the hill followed by more uneven steps up the hill for about 4 km. By the time we had sat for a while at Vernazza we decided to give our feet a bit of relief and take the next train (7.30 pm) back to Levanto (the other option was to wait until the temperature dropped to make the walking more pleasant but the train schedule was starting to get further apart by that time).

It was a really great walk and we loved being in the outdoors for a change. There were lots of people on the track but mostly they were just passing in one direction or the other. The coastline is beautiful (hopefully the photos capture some of this) and the walk went from well formed paths around the side of the cliffs to hilly terraced terrain, uneven steep steeps, and then down into the small village streets along the way.

Riomaggiore to Manarola

Manarola to Corniglia

Corniglia to Vernazza

Tomorrow we are off to Florence and haven't yet decided whether to go direct or via San Gimingnano (at this stage we are thinking direct so that we have time to walk around a bit once we get there and can then orient ourselves for a full day of sightseeing on Saturday).