We stopped by a Cinque Terre National Park office yesterday afternoon and learned that there are still two sections of the trail closed after the major storms of 2011. It seems there were massive mud slides that damaged the trail and the village of Manarola. The National Park rep was full of insights and options that we had not considered. With all the information, we made a plan last evening and stuck to it today!
We were up and on the 7:14 a.m. train from Riomaggiore to Corniglia, the first village north of Riomaggiore where the trail is open. We began our Cinque Terre hike at Corniglia and had the trail mostly to ourselves the first two hours of the morning. As we got near to Vernazza, foot traffic started to pick up. Vernazza is stunningly beautiful, with a natural harbor, two tall stone towers, and very colorful houses. The trail from Vernazza to Monterossa del Mare was about a 8.5 on a 10 point scale of difficulty. The trail is not well maintained, is narrow, and has probably 2000+ stair steps, quite uneven. There were so many people on that section of the trail, coming toward us from Monterossa, that we had to go slowly just to pass. It took us close to 2 hours to go 2 miles. All that being said, the views were spectacular and we had a wonderful hike! We treated ourselves to big servings of freshly made focaccia afterward and of course, stopped for gelato. What a day!
We were up and on the 7:14 a.m. train from Riomaggiore to Corniglia, the first village north of Riomaggiore where the trail is open. We began our Cinque Terre hike at Corniglia and had the trail mostly to ourselves the first two hours of the morning. As we got near to Vernazza, foot traffic started to pick up. Vernazza is stunningly beautiful, with a natural harbor, two tall stone towers, and very colorful houses. The trail from Vernazza to Monterossa del Mare was about a 8.5 on a 10 point scale of difficulty. The trail is not well maintained, is narrow, and has probably 2000+ stair steps, quite uneven. There were so many people on that section of the trail, coming toward us from Monterossa, that we had to go slowly just to pass. It took us close to 2 hours to go 2 miles. All that being said, the views were spectacular and we had a wonderful hike! We treated ourselves to big servings of freshly made focaccia afterward and of course, stopped for gelato. What a day!
