11 July

11 July
Cinque Terre is one of the things we were all excited to do in Italy.  The name literally means "five lands" and refers to a set of five villages, each perched on or at the foot of a cliff jutting into the Ligurian Sea. A set of trails connects the villages--you hike up to the top of a ridge and then down into the next village.  The towns, in the order we planned to hike them (west to east) are Monterosso-Vernazza-Corniglia-Manarola-Riomaggiore. There are the simplest (blue) trails which are the closest to the coast and other (red) trails that go farther up into the hills.  We knew one of the trails was closed due to being washed out in a flood, but we hoped to do the other three.  When we arrived at Monterosso, there were swarms of people buying their trail passes. The first trail is supposed to be the longest and most difficult, 2.5 hours with the most elevation gain.  

Plenty of people seemed game to try it, and we made it--although I was fantasizing an indecent amount about gelato for the last half hour.  We all supremely enjoyed that gelato in Vernazza!

Here are a few other points regarding our Cinque Terre experience:

• the view really is as amazing as the guidebooks say.  To be hiking up a trail and see a village perched on the side of a cliff, right by the water, in pastel colors and shimmering in the sun, is something magical
• I do not consider it to be a "trail" if it consists of stone stairs going up and down.  Stairs are not good on my knees. At all. It is a stair climb, not a hike. Just sayin'.
• The second trail was closed (Vernazza to Corniglia) but some people coming from the other direction said it was fine, so we went ahead and hiked it.  It was, in fact, fine.  Another hour and a half, also beautiful, with slightly fewer stairs and more dirt trail than the first leg.  We had a nice pizza lunch in Corniglia.
• The next leg was also closed (three of the four trails closed?!), so we decided to take a train to Manarola and then hike the red trail (still pretty short, just an hour) as our last trail.  However, we missed the train.  There was no bus.  Hmmm....  Lane wanted to do the red trail from Corniglia to Manarola, but it was supposed to be another 2.5 hour trail, with lots of elevation.  I just wasn't sure my knees were up to it.  The alternative was waiting another hour for the next train in a sticky train station with nothing around (the town of Corniglia is way up the stairs...).  The boys were up for it, so I figured I could survive.  Had I known...
• Well, the trail started out just torture--yes, more stairs. The middle part was lovely, nice flat trail, on dirt, through shaded woods, then along a terraced path between rows of olive trees.  Then, the double torture--a long, long downhill on stone stairs.  I honestly wasn't sure I was going to make it. Without complaining too much, let's just say that it was bad, and that I was limping by the end.

In Manarola we missed the train back to Sarzana by 3 minutes, but we eventually made it back.
Would I do it again?  No way.  Am I glad I did it?  Umm, well, except for the last trail!