There are many things I love about traveling, it is an experience that can change a person's perspective on life, to experience different cultures to broaden ones acceptance of others. I really do have a bit of a travel bug issue.
However, as the Wizard of Oz teaches us, there really is no place like home. No matter how far or how long one has been away, home is where the heart is.
Reflecting finished, here is my continual description of Cinque Terre. The towns are all coastal but beautiful in their unique ways. Today we walked to paths where we stopped yesterday.
Taking the train to Corniglia we walked to Vernazza. The stairs from the train station up to Corniglia town was already quite a feat. The stairs winds upwards and took us well over 10mins to get to the top. Most people, including myself needed to stop at the top to catch our breath and a well deserved swig of water before continuing.
The trail from here to Vernazza has been clasified as moderate, taking one and half hour to complete. It actually took us more than two hours.
At this point I must mention my shoes that I purchased from Dr Kong in HK. It is a pair of nurse shoes, designed for walking and standing. It was definitely not made for hiking. After yesterday's walk it is nearing it's end, most of the grip is gone but it still handled the terrain amazingly well with so little grip left. There was a bit of sliding when I step on smooth rocks but I was careful to get sure footing before continuing.
I'm pleasantly surprised at these shoe's handling and think it was a really good purchase. Thank you mum for suggesting and reminding I try their shoes!
The trail to Vernazza was not too difficult, but there are more hilly terrains and steps than yesterday. It turns out all the paths except the one from Riomaggiore to Manarola is similar with cliff paths and frequent handrail-less paths.
Here are some photos.
In Vernazza we stopped for lunch at a pizzeria. The Pesto Pizza was terrific, it might be because in Cinque Terre the Pesto is made fresh locally.
There are lots of cats here, most of them wander around and lounge under sunlit spots. Watching them made me feel like finding a spot to curl up for an afternoon nap.
This was the small beach area where swimmers and sunbathers are enjoying their day.
Our next path is from Vernazza to Monterosso al Mare. It is described as the most advanced walk and is estimated to be two hours.
We started the trek up the mountain at 3pm. It might not have been the best idea as the walk up was very hot, the location of the path did not allow much sea wind. The boys did okay but it was more difficult for me and I needed to take several stops along the way to catch my breath and a drink of water. Once we reached the top of the stairs bit it was a much more moderate hike towards Monterosso.
My colleague who have visited Cinque Terre previously advised me to not walk from Monterosso to Vernazza as the stairs at the beginning is very tough, I'm glad we took her advice. The stairs was nearly straight down from the top of the hill with tall steps. Me with my short legs found it difficult walking down these stairs, can't imagine what going up will be like!
The town of Monterosso al Mare.
We stopped to dip our feet in the cool ocean waters!
Taking a walk around town we found out that lemon is one of the local produce here in Cinque Terre, we tried out a lemon slurpy, it was packed with lemon juice, pulp and lemon rind. We all thought it was delicious and refreshing.
That evening we had dinner at a local bar.
I had this Spaghetti with clams. There is something about pasta sauces in Italy, the same flavor and texture just can't seem to be found anywhere else.
We also tried the local specialty Limoncino and sweet wine. The Limoncino is a lemon liqueur, which I thought was fantastic. The sweet wine was much sweeter and tasted of sultanas. If I had to describe their flavors I would say the first is citric and light whilst the latter is Mediterranean sunshine and rustic.
Overall a beautiful and special place of Italy. Cinque Terre almost works on its own time and speed. There is still a feel of rustic charm to the towns even with the tourists infiltrating these peaceful countryside.
A perfect location for a relaxing time away from the hustle and bustle of the city.
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