Trips We Remember: Cinque Terre 2008

Rosemary's Travel Diary

Fri - Today we drove to the Cinque Terre (Five Lands). These are five small villages built vertically on the cliffs above the sea along a remote section of the Italian Riviera. The area has been designated a national park and a UNESCO World Heritage site. For hundreds of years these villages were almost inaccessible to the outside world. Now they can be reached by train or by car. We did it the hard way, but not intentionally. An unfortunate confluence of vague guidebook wording, my confusion, and the stubbornness of the GPS system led us to spend an extra hour driving along the winding mountain road that provides access to the villages from above. We were treated to incredibly beautiful views of the coastline, but the trip was stressful for Steve, who had to cope with narrow lanes and blind curves along the entire route.

We parked (and were lucky to be able to do so) near the tiny beach at Monterosso, the westernmost of the towns. Although we had been led to believe that this area does not become overrun with tourists until a little later in the season, we found that the good weather had attracted thousands of people. This is a vehicle-free zone, with the exception of a few shuttles that carry people to and from more distant parking lots. The towns are connected by train and by hiking trails. As it turned out, we didn't take any of the hikes between towns, but one man who did told us that at one of the checkpoints (purchase of a ticket is required to hike) there were at least 100 people stalled in line. Many of the hikers, especially the German groups, had long, pointy hiking sticks carried incorrectly in their backpacks with the sharp ends sticking out.

We had lunch and then strolled around the town a bit. The town has two sections, the old and the new, separated by a pedestrian tunnel (or a short hike along the cliff). The new section has shops, cafes, and the train station; the old is where the people live and includes the church and many other buildings and landmarks, as well as shops and cafes.

We took the train to Riomaggiore, the easternmost of the towns. It seems almost completely vertical. While it is possible to hike up to the top of the town, we chose to take the elevator. That alone was worth the price of our tickets. At the top, the main street was, at first, not nearly as crowded as Monterosso. But as we got closer to the businesses and the harbor, the road was once again jammed with people. This is truly a beautiful place, the kind of place that people picture when they imagine an idealized, classic Italian village. But with so many sightseers filling every available space, it can be hard to really see it that way. The residents are very wise to have designated some sections as off-limit to tourists; otherwise they would have no peace. At the harbor, there were a couple of areas so crowded that people were simply standing, shoulder to shoulder, barely able to move.

There wouldn't be enough time to see all five villages, so after consulting the guidebook, we chose Vernazza, and got back on the train. Again, we strolled through the town with our guidebook, noting points of interest. By the time we were ready to take the train back to Monterosso late in the afternoon, it seemed everyone else had the same idea. We soon realized that we would have to become very aggressive to get a spot on the train, and that it might happen that one of us would make it and the other would not. If we were separated, the person who made it would simply wait for the other one to take the next train. It's a good thing that didn't happen, because even though the trip between each town takes just a few minutes, the trains run only about once an hour, and not necessarily on time. We were pressed, standing, very closely against our fellow passengers, but everyone who had made it on board was good natured and we survived the trip without getting elbowed or stomped. Back in Monterosso, we took a few minutes for a symbolic dip in the ocean (feet only) and then got back on the road. We were able to find a shorter route to the Autostrada and headed for Pisa.