The 'Sentiero Azzuro' is a popular hike that links the 5 villages of Cinque Terre - Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza & Monterosso. It is about 10-12km long & the difference in height is about 500 metres.
This trail was used by people from centuries ago & remained largely untouched by advances in civilisation. No roads link the villages, only trains & boats.
We started from Riomaggiore to Manarola... & i remembered thinking... Hey this is easy! All flat & wonderful sea views. But alas, this stretch was the easiest. Keeping in mind that since the villages have a marina or little harbour, one has to climb up & then go down again eventually to reach the next village.
But at every turn, we had the magnificent Mediterranean on the left, & sun-drenched olive groves & vineyards on the right. This picture was taken after about 2 hours when we left the 3rd village behind... Corniglia is higher up than the other villages so we had to climb 386 steps to reach the town center. In the distance at the upper left corner is Riomaggiore our village!
By this time, the initial flat path has long ago given way to rocky winding paths that go up, up UPPPPP... my thighs were aching like mad, i couldnt even look up the winding steps cos it would have killed the last ounce of willpower i had. Most of the hikers stripped down to their bikinis as the sun was merciless.
Finally we see the clock tower of Vernazza in the distance... so we went down endless steps again... the trail is pleasant & not that difficult for generally fit people... but the stretch between Corniglia-Vernazza-Monterosso can be challenging... all up & down & UPPP & down. The number of steps is.... my god... easily over a couple thousand.
How the villagers transport their stuff up to the vineyards & houses high on the cliffs. :)
We reach Vernazza & went straight into the sea... BLISS.
A specialty of the region -Testaroli... pasta dough with 3 types of sauces - pesto (my all-time favorite), olive oil & parmesan & bolognese.
Cinque terre is a dry white wine produced in the region & it was delicious.
When we reached this point... about halfway between Vernazza & Monteresso, the last village, i really felt like a pilgrim, grabbing my best friend & panting "The promised land". It looked so near, yet so far.
This must be what every hiker dreams of doing when it is at last finished.
Actually it's what i'd like to do every single day.. xx
No comments:
Post a Comment