The One Thing I Had to Do

As I took my first step up the trail behind the large blue and white house in Levanto, Italy, I knew that the next two days would be physically exhausting, but I also knew that these steps would take me on a path that I had been looking forward to for five years.

Porto Venere, August 2011

I first heard about Cinque Terre from a friend five years ago. Hiking through five villages along the coast of Italy sounded amazing and I hoped that one day I would have the chance to do it. At that time, I had no plans to visit Italy, but knew if I ever visited Italy again; Cinque Terre would be the one thing I had to do.

 This past weekend, I hiked the trail.

 I hiked the longer of the two trails, Sentiero Rosso, and walked from Levanto to Porto Venere. My hike didn’t follow one trail; the direct path from Levanto to Porto Venere actually skips over the five main Cinque Terre villages and I wanted to visit all of them. Since I was coming from the northwest and couldn’t arrive until noon, I did the hike over two days. On Saturday, I hiked from Levanto to Corniglia (west to east) and on Sunday, I hiked from Porto Venere to Corniglia (east to west).

Though I was interested in the small towns that the trail goes through, my main interest was the journey. As soon as I arrived in Levanto, I quickly bought the Cinque Terre pass at the train station (only needed for the paths from Monterosso to Riomaggiore), picked up a focaccia lunch and headed to the start of the trail. It’s a steep uphill climb for the first hour with very little shade, but when I reached the top of the mountain and had a clear view of the Cinque Terre villages along the coast, I realized the climb was completely worth it.

First View of the Cinque Terre Area, August 2011

After hiking down to Monterosso, the westernmost Cinque Terre village, and loading up on water, I headed for the next trail to Vernazza. I became slightly confused because the main entrance was closed, but a young Italian man helped me and two other hikers find the correct entrance. This trail had more people on it because it’s part of the main Cinque Terre trail, but it was nice saying Buongiorno (or Bonjour or Hello) to people as they passed heading in the opposite direction.

Vernazza is an adorable little village, but it was also filled to the max with tourists. Most of who appeared to have arrived by train or boat. I wandered around town for a short bit, but quickly found the trail to Corniglia. At this point, I had hiked for four and a half hours and knew that if I sat down, it would be hard to get back up!

I was starting to get tired so luckily the trail to Corniglia was not as long as the trails I had just hiked. When I arrived in Corniglia it was close to7pm; tourists were starting to leave and locals were either opening their restaurants for dinner or closing their stores for the night. I took some pictures and ate gelato before heading to the train station to catch a train to La Spezia to meet my couchsurfing host.

Corniglia, Cinque Terre, August 2011

I woke up early on Sunday to catch the first bus to Porto Venere to start my hike before the Mediterranean August sun heated up the air. I wish I had more time to spend in Porto Venere, but knew I had seven hours of hiking ahead of me. I found the start of the trail directly behind the castle and slowly climbed up the first mountain of the day. That climb definitely woke me up!

In the first three hours, I crossed paths with only three other people.

It felt as if I had the entire mountain to myself.

On the trail between Porto Venere and Campiglia, there is a fork in the road; either you can take a 1-hour difficult trail or 2-hour easy trail. I immediately choose the difficult trail and two seconds in was glad I did. The path takes you along the side of the mountain with constant views of the Mediterranean and the towns along the coast. You walk on cliffs with a hundred meter drop on one side. It’s definitely not for the faint of heart!

My walk from Porto Venere to Riomaggiore the easternmost village of Cinque Terre, was anything but a straight shot. My original plan was to hike Trail #1 to Trail #3, which is the most direct route. However, after a couple of wrong turns my route ended up being: 1 – 4B – 4 – Step over an electric fence, then see the gate directly next to me – Down Unknown Trail – Up Unknown Trail – 1 – 3.

I don’t try to make things complicated sometimes it just happens.

It was just past noon when I wandered into Riomaggiore. I was starting to get hungry, but wanted to walk to Manarola before stopping. This walk was an extremely quick 20 minutes along the Via dell’ Amore where lovers hang locks and write inscriptions along the walls. It was also the most crowded and at times, I had to squeeze through people to get past.

I knew I had to load up on food and water in Manarola because the main path to Corniglia was closed due to a rockslide. I would need to take a longer path up and over the mountain. When I stood up after lunch, I could feel my muscles start to cramp up; I knew I had to start the hike before exhaustion hit me. The hike from Manarola to Corniglia was one of the best hikes I’ve ever done. The trail starts with stairs up and through the small town of Volastra, and then meanders through vineyards on small cliffs cut into the mountain and finally down the other side of mountain beside small streams. Every single step there was something new to look at.

Trail from Manarola to Corniglia, Cinque Terre August, 2011

As I walked slowly, and a little painfully, into Corniglia, I looked behind and ahead of me to the mountains and villages I had walked over and through over the past two days, I was amazed by what I had accomplished. The walk was tough and there were times I wondered why I even liked hiking. But the hike took me through forests and prairies and vineyards and along cliffs and through small Italian towns. The hike was everything I had hoped it would be.