My family has a now infamous photograph of me, around age 14, hiking Utah’s Bryce Canyon in flip-flops. I still get plenty of flak for my persistent avoidance of tennis shoes, but I admit that not even I could hike the trails of the Italian Riviera without proper footwear.
This weekend, my roommate Ali and I took our first excursion out of Rome to the area of Italy known as the Cinque Terre. The “Five Cities” along the coast are connected by winding mountain trails, which Ali and I were determined to conquer. I guess in the interest of full disclosure I should note that this was really my ambitious goal, and Ali, who is not exactly the hike-for-fun type, begrudgingly agreed to go with me.
So bright and early (don’t overestimate us…it was actually closer to 10 a.m.), we began our seven-hour, sweat-pooling, jaw-dropping, almost asthma attack-inducing adventure.
Riomaggiore to Manarola: Via dell’Amore
Armed with the Cinque Terre Card, a pass that allows you to access all the area trails and local trains, we located the trailhead. The path from Riomaggiore to Manarola is known as Via dell’Amore, or the “lover’s trail.” Obviously, the following photograph was necessary:
Please note how the trail here is beautifully flat and stable. For this reason, later in the hike Ali and I decided to rename Via dell’Amore The Path of False Hope. This 20-minute jaunt was by far the easiest stretch, luring us into undeserved confidence in our “hiking” abilities.
Regardless, this stretch has some unique and interesting history behind it. For instance, it’s a tradition to walk this section with your lover and lock a padlock together somewhere along the trail. Cheesy, I know, but think of the relationship stability! I mean, it would be pretty hard to break up with your boyfriend back in the States if you knew you had a painted lock halfway across the world symbolizing your eternal commitment for thousands of tourists to see. I guess it’s a testament to my cynicism that I found myself wondering how many ex-couples are regretting their stroll on Via dell’Amore.
A "love-lock" hot-spot.
My personal favorite part of walking to Manarola was the tunnel of graffiti created by years of visitors to the trail. Most of it was typical bathroom stall fare — “Mario! Ti amo!” “John + Jess, 7/9/05″ — but there was also some incredible art to be found on the walls. Unfortunately, since the only writing utensil on my person was a mechanical pencil, there’s no evidence of our stroll.
Manarola to Corniglia
We breezed through Manarola and were rewarded with amazing view of the town. It did cause us to wonder, however, why the hell anyone thought it would be a good idea to attempt building on the rocky coast of the Riviera.
It was also during this leg that Ali discovered I may have been less than truthful about the difficulty of the hike. The flat, paved path of Via dell’Amore was replaced with increasing slopes, and it was finally completely replaced with trails such as this:
An increasingly skeptical Ali leads the way to Corniglia.
About 45 minutes of medium-difficulty hiking, we arrived at the base of Corniglia to find a cheerful, “You Are Here” sign.
Yup, the little red dot at the bottom of this picture was us. And those triangles? Those are the 360 stairs up to the town. Now, in all fairness there is a shuttle bus that takes weary hikers from the bottom to the top. But not wanting to cheat, Ali and I dutifully scaled those stairs.
After discovering how out of shape we really were, Ali and I did the only logical thing – reward ourselves with gelato. I also discovered the place I’m going to plant myself the day I retire:
At exactly age 65, this is where you'll find me. That is, if social security isn't completely in a shambles.
Corniglia to Vernazza
Maybe it was the gelato. Maybe it was the fact that we think we may have accidently taken a wrong trail. But this path was a grueling stretch that somehow pulled off the amazing physics feat of being uphill both ways. Not that the rare downhill stretches were any better…
Luckily, we pressed on and were rewarded with some of the most amazing views on the entire trail.
Our next destination - Vernazza!
Vernazza to Monterosso
Truth be told, we were a little worried about this section of the trail. We’d heard that the last stretch was by far the most difficult and had just spent the last two hours out of breath and being bowled over by intense German tourists with hiking sticks. The man checking our passes didn’t help matters either.
“So, this path is hard, huh?” we asked.
“Yes, quite difficult,” he responded in his distinct Italian accent. “Are you absolutely sure you have enough water?”
We looked down at our half-full bottles, our enthusiasm waning as we realized we were smack dab in the middle of the hottest part of the day.
“Well…thanks for your help!” we said with as little worry in our voices as possible.
But when we finally panted our way up to the highest point, we were glad we had pursued the trail.
Beautiful panoramic views that awaited us on the last leg of the trail.
And when we finally made it to Monterosso, a friendly, middle-aged American couple we kept running into on the trail was more than happy to take a photo of us striking the victory pose (we returned the favor).
Success!
So goes the saga of Ali and Sarah, two non-athletic twin souls, hiking the Cinque Terre. No worries, we rewarded ourselves with yet another piccolo cono of gelato and an amazing glass of Sciacchetrà, a specialty dessert wine of the region. Cheers!
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