The Hiking Houses

For our final European holiday (while easily living within Europe), David and I headed to Cinque Terre with the Tarts.  I absolutely love Italy, and I’d wanted to visit Cinque Terre for years.  I was initially put off by how difficult it is to get there, but once we were on our way, I realized I had nothing to worry about.  Sure, we took lots of planes, trains, and automobiles, but part of the appeal of Cinque Terre is its remoteness. 

Cinque Terre means ‘5 Towns’ in Italian, and that’s exactly what it is – five small, seaside villages in a national park.  Cars are not allowed within the hamlets, so tourists are encouraged to hike between them.  The trails are clearly marked, but they are a bit treacherous in places and the walk is definitely not just a stroll in the park.  Many people choose to take the train or ferry between villages instead.

Alyson and I booked flights for the four of us to Genoa and then a hotel in Manarola, the fourth town in the series of five.  When we arrived in Genoa on Friday morning, we got on a bus to the train station, and from there, found seats on a regional train to Cinque Terre.

When we arrived in Manarola that afternoon, the directions to our hotel stated, ‘Exit the train station, walk through the tunnel, and head towards the sea.’  That is a testament to how small the towns along the coast are.  It’s nearly impossible to get lost, and yet the next day we met two women from New Jersey that had gotten very lost on their hike between Monterosso and Vernazza.  How does that happen?  (Too much wine is my guess.)

Throughout the area, there were either signs like the first one, or red and white stripes along walls, rocks, and posts to assure hikers they were one the correct path.

Sure enough, our hotel was found near the water, surrounded by fishing boats.  Across the street was a focacceria and each morning, we were woken by the smell of fresh baked bread.  Once we checked in, dropped off our backpacks, and picked up a few cones of creamy gelato, Paul, Alyson, David, and I decided to hike to Riomaggiore.

Our hotel was the pink building with the awning close to the bridge

Unfortunately the coastal trail between Manarola and Riomaggiore, Via dell’Amore (or Lover’s Lane), was closed the weekend we were in Cinque Terre.  In fact, most of the seaside paths were closed due to rock slides, so we hiked up in the hills instead. 

Easy trail of Via dell'Amore

Slightly rougher hike through the mountains

At least these steps had a railing!

The hike to Riomaggiore took about 90 minutes, and brought us through picturesque vineyards and gardens full of wildflowers.

Tiny grapes growing on the vine

Riomaggiore

After taking the train back to Manarola, we had dinner at our hotel’s restaurant, Marina Piccola.  We cooled off with refreshing local white wine, limoncino (Cinque Terre’s version of limoncello), and then packed on the carbs with bowls of seafood pasta and pesto gnocchi.

On Saturday morning, we decided to hike the remainder of Cinque Terre – from Manarola to Monterosso.  Paul carried a day pack full of water bottles and beach towels, but the water was gone before we even left the outskirts of Manarola.  Luckily, within Italy there are public water fountains everywhere.  And they are adorable, with spouts shaped like various animals, offering weary travelers cool, clean water.  

Also, many of the vineyard owners were working in their fields on Saturday afternoon, and easily persuaded us to break for their homemade lemonade.

The coastal path from Manarola to Corniglia was of course closed, so we hiked through the hillside again.  

After a couple of hours, we reached a tiny village at the top of a hill, with great views over the landscape.  A small winery was just opening, so we sat down for a snack of bruschetta and sweet, syrupy sciacchetra, Cinque Terre dessert wine. 

Paul wore a Texas shirt every day in Italy, as an homage to our pending return to the Lone Star State.

We found Grumpy Cat's Italian cousin near the winery.  This cat was miserable... 

When we reached Corniglia, we had even more focaccia and gelato for lunch, and then headed to Vernazza.  

Here, we were warned that the coastal path was ‘officially’ closed as well, but ‘unofficially,’ everyone was still using it.  So we decided to risk the rockslides and walk along the sea.  Truthfully, I have no idea why those paths were closed in the first place – they looked much safer to me than the interior trails we’d been hiking along.

Vernazza was stunning.  It was my favorite town of all five.  I loved getting lost in the alleyways, the clock tower in the harbor, and the hidden beach accessible only through a huge hole blown through the rock. 

We made it!  Almost there... only one more town to go!

Vernazza harbor

Plus David and I had the best cheese focaccia and dark chocolate gelato in Vernazza.  David’s face says it all in this photo – he’s like a giddy schoolboy with his afternoon snack!

13 miles and 7½ hours later, we had conquered all five towns and arrived in Monterosso. 

The walk would not have taken quite as long had all of the trails been open, but we were glad they weren't.  Instead, we had the opportunity to explore other tiny villages in the hills, meet some really sweet Italians working in their vineyards, and get better views from above.

That night, we celebrated at Trattoria dal Billy back in Manarola.  We split a giant platter of lobster pasta and watched the sun set from the restaurant’s patio perched atop a steep cliff.  It was a beautiful ending to a perfect day.

Manarola at night

Sunday, we took the train to Santa Margherita and then a ferry along the coast to San Fruttuoso and Portofino.

San Fruttuoso is a miniscule beach hidden in a cove and dominated by a Benedictine abbey.  

It can be reached either by ferry or an hour-long hike through the woods from Portofino.  We all decided that we had done enough hiking on Friday and Saturday, and we would be exploring by ferry from then on.

Plus after all of the hiking we'd done over the past few months in Uganda, Cape Town, Italy, etc. my shoes finally called it quits.  By the time we got back to Manarola on Saturday evening, I had multiple holes in my tennies.  Guess I need to go shopping! :)

We relaxed on the San Fruttuoso beach for most of the day.  

We talked, read, and finally, got hot enough to attempt getting in the water.  With some liquid courage from the wine we had brought along with us, we slowly inched our way into the chilly waters of the Med.

The water looks beautiful and inviting, but it was soooo cold!

After many, many, many minutes of huffing and puffing and whining my way into the sea, I finally made it all of the way in.  As I swam around, furiously, trying to warm myself up, I exclaimed to David, ‘This water is gorgeous!  It’s just like Sardinia, but freakin’ freezing!’  An Italian man nearby heard me and started laughing.  ‘Hahaha, that’s exactly right!’ he said to me.

I beamed.

I was relating to a real-life Italian about another place within Italy!  My Italian grandparents would be proud.

After our swim, we dried off in the sun.  Warm and happy, we waited for the ferry to take us to Portofino.

For lunch, we had pizza in Portofino, and then shopped for some outrageously priced art.  

Nice yachts in the bay

Portofino is known for its painted houses.  The trompe l'oeil paintings are meant to fool the viewer into believing the house's facades are three-dimensional. 

That evening, we caught the train from Santa Margherita back to Cinque Terre and had dinner at L'Ancora della Tortuga, a former WWII bunker carved into the hillside of Monterosso.  Paul entertained us by playing with his seafood.  David, Alyson, and I had had enough shellfish by then.  David ordered the spaghetti bolognese, while Alyson and I chose the Genoese-style ravioli with walnut pesto cream sauce.

Mmmm, parmesan

One of the items on Paul’s bucket list was taking an iconic Leaning Tower of Pisa photo.  While booking flights, Alyson and I made sure to fly into Genoa but out of Pisa to give Paul the chance to tick that item off his list.  So before our flight back to London on Monday night, we had a full day planned!

First was a short ferry ride to Portovenere, another seaside village outside Cinque Terre recommended to Alyson by an Italian coworker.  

The town was made famous by Lord Byron, as he stayed in the area and swam across the gulf to visit Shelley, another Romantic English poet.  It was another picturesque place, dominated by old churches and medieval castle walls.  

After a couple of hours of wandering through the marketplace and admiring the view from the ramparts, we grabbed some pizza and gelato and then made our way back to the ferry.

Then we took the train from our hub of Manarola to Pisa.  When we arrived at the Pisa train station, I spotted the Leaning Tower from the window and I could not believe my eyes – it was leaning so much!!

Ah!  Watch out below!

Pisa was a lot cooler than I thought it was going to be.  I felt bad because people probably just pass through on their way to Tuscany or other parts of Italy, but there is a lot to offer.  The Leaning Tower is the bell tower of the gigantic Pisa Cathedral.  On the other end of the complex is the ornate, Romanesque baptistery.

I was thrilled to discover that visitors can actually go into the tower, and climb up the flight of stairs to get to the top.  So after taking an absurd amount of pictures, we went inside.  

David's Leaning Tower of Pisa pic

A normal pic

This one is ridiculous.  

I was standing just a couple of feet from Alyson, but the tower really does create an optical illusion of making me look tiny, and Alyson look like a giant. 

Another normal pic with the group

It was obvious there was something wrong within the tower.  Some parts of the walk up were extremely easy, and felt like we weren't really climbing at all, while other parts of the staircase were steeply sloped.  It was strange, but really neat.

After our last hike, we had dinner in the shadow of the tower at a small café. 

Then it was time to leave.

Two days later, we left our home in London.  We are definitely going to miss travelling around Europe with friends, but I can’t think of a better way to say ciao.