The Cinque
Terre - what can one say about the Cinque Terre that hasn’t been
expressed thousands of times, in words and pictures. How do you
describe the raw beauty of such a heavenly sight? First how do
you pronounce Cinque Terre? Here’s my pronunciation - CHEEN|kweh
TEHR|reh. Each of the five small villages is vertical and
cliff-tactic, leaning toward the Liguria Sea, but curiously rests comfortably
on the mountain side too. Each village seems to have its own personality and
striking beauty. Come on along for a day in the Five
Lands! Note: cars are banned *links at bottom of post
This morning, we are met by
Loredana, a private tour guide, in the lobby of the Grand
Miramare Hotel to begin our second day of sightseeing. Giancarlo
is our private driver for the day. We begin with a brief stop in Rapallo-population 28,000, with boasting rights to over 700 varieties of olives grown
in the region. The area is renowned for silk and damask cloth and is home to
many famous poets. There's a picturesque castle in the sea, a small harbor,
seaside promenade, and pedestrian shopping streets in the historical center,
with renowned seafood restaurants.
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| Grand Miramare Hotel- Santa Margherita |
Giancarlo drives on-taking the A-12 highway, for
another ninety minutes into La Spezia province. The landscape changes
dramatically during the drive and we see organic vegetables being grown and it
becomes a landscape of contrast. Loredana narrates the entire drive and shares
her humor, information, and historic facts. She is a truly amazing tour
guide, a true professional! There are 1000km of vineyards in the
area, and the landscape becomes more industrial as we leave the area: shipyards,
a container port, and manufacturer of washing machines, Navy Museums, a Navy
Hospital and a Navy Base. In the La Spenzia province, large tour
buses are not allowed in city center - it’s considered a protected and preserved
area, and the port has limited tourism, all-the-while importing coal, oil
and natural gas to the region.
Giancarlo is maneuvering our van on narrow, cliff
hanging, single-lane roads, up, up, and to the tippy top of the mountain; 600
meters high and falls directly back down to sea! What a beautiful sight! The
road is so narrow that Giancarlo toots the horn when rounding the hair-pin
curves on this one lane road… Someone may need to back-up to pass.
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| German tourist maneuvering the one-lane road |
We can tell the landscape has changed; we now see agave and
cactus. Wow! Monorails steeply set on the terraced
hillsides for the vineyard workers to transport the grape harvest in
September. What back breaking work!
We have arrived
in Riomaggiore, safely at the southernmost
village of the Cinque Terre. This is where Giancarlo leaves us, and we
won’t see him or the van again until we reach Monterosso al Mare. According to Loredana, origins of Riomaggiore date back to the thirteenth century
and inhabitants during that time sought after a milder climate, to raise
grapevines and olive trees. The town climbs up along the sheer-cliffs
overlooking the sea and the facades of each house are beautiful, painted in
rich colors, with slate roofs. There are many reasons to love Riomaggiore: fresh
seafood, wine, and the place is just plain photogenic!!
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| Riomaggiore-Cinque Terre |
From Riomaggiore- Loredana has
purchased our train tickets, and we continue on to Manarola.
Our train tickets are good for hop-on-hop-off in all the Cinque Terre. Manarola
is the second
smallest of the five villages but noted to be the oldest. We
walk down the steep incline into Main Street, the only street, and pass several
displays of Christmas Nativity exhibits, mounted on the cliff side, very curious.
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| Manarola-Cinque Terre |
Loredana explains this village is known for their Crèche
displays year-round…nearly 300, with twinkle lights affixed to the mountain
side. We climb up to a prominent point above the small
harbor to see the incredible vista.
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| Vernazza-Cinque Terre |
We hop the train to Vernazza, the fourth
village heading north, just in time for a beautiful lunch of mussels and fresh
sea bream fish and more fabulous wine! Vernazaa’s port is famous for exporting
goods, olives and wines and considered a true fishing village; sitting directly
on the waterfront.
From here many hikers walk the Via dell'Amore, "The Walk of Love"- to Corniglia. Its 368 steps upward to begin the walk………! We skip the walk of love but we learn there has been a rockslide in 2012 and it’s actually closed to walkers and hikers. We are saved the walk! We can see helicopters in the distance transporting buckets of concrete and equipment to the rockslide to make repairs.
After lunch, we buy ferry tickets to Monterosso al Mare, the
largest of the five lands with a long span of beach
front. Monterosso still has the fortified stone walls from the
thirteen centuries. Only ferries and fishing boats are allowed to
come in close to shore. The water is pure turquoise today and with
sunshine you only find in the Mediterranean climate. Monterosso has a
population of only 1,200. There has been a celebration during the
past few days - the..Mortis-et-orations festival. Commemorating sailors who left their lives at
sea. Where children make designs on the
sidewalks with flower pedals and use colored salts ....like colored chalk in
America. Curiously, there are six monks who live here on this remote
island year-round.
| Beach at Monterosso |
We conclude our five villages of the Cinque Terre tour and
reflect on the beauty of the region, over wine back at the seaside promenade of
our hotel. Travel magazines and postcard pictures do not do these
villages justice… magnificent beauty. The Five Lands can easily be done by
train or ferry, since cars are banned. For a truly awesome experience hire
Loredana and Giancarlo to take care of the arrangements and savor the beauty of
the Cinque Terre! Thank you for joining our journey.
