Italy - Cinque Terra

Riomaggiore in the morning sun

I took the train from Rome up to Genoa, it was a nice trip up the west coast. I went through Pisa and caught a glimpse of the leaning tower from the train. I stayed a couple of days in Genoa and used it as a base to explore the Cinque Terra which was the main reason for my visit. The Cinque Terra "The Five Villages" is an awesome 11km walk which links five of Italy's finest coastal villages.

The start of the trail from Riomaggiore
I caught a early train from Genoa to Riomaggiore where I started the walk. As soon as I saw the awesome rocky shoreline I knew it was going to be a great day and I went a bought some goggles as it looked like a top place for diving.

Downtown Riomaggiore

The towns hummed with all the tourists and locals. All the cafe's and ice cream shops were doing a good trade.

The second town, Manarola

The day started out hot and sunny and with the sea looking so inviting I could not walk for longer than 20 mins without climbing down to water and jumping in.

The diving was good with clear, warm water and plenty of fish

The first hill climb up to the village of Corniglia

The track was not a flat stroll, it did have some climbs in it. Normally they would not be too bad but in the heat they were a challange. The trail traversed cliffs for a while as well as cutting through vineyards and olive groves.

The forth town of Vernazza
The clouds came in after lunch and we had a period of heavy rain, which was refreshing after the sunny morning. The walk to the last town was the most challenging of the lot, the views were good though. Just before I reached the last town of Monterosso al Mare I came across a primo bridge to jump (see previous entry) which was a great way to finish the walk. It was an awesome day and I would definitely recommend it, bringing the goggles was really good and I spent hours during the day using them. If I was to do it again I would try and find accommodation in one of the middle towns like Vernazza as it would be great to spend a night and split the walk in two. It was still good to do it in a day but I could have definitely spent more time there.