Wednesday 18th November 2009 – La Spezia, Italy

The reason for staying at La Spezia was its proximity to the Cinque Terre, five towns strung along the coast that were only accessible by sea until the railway line was built. We caught the bus from just around the corner and got off at the railway station where for about £7 each we bought a day ticket that gave us unlimited train travel from La Spezia to the five towns plus bus travel, museum entrance and access to the footpaths along the coast. It was the latter that drew us there – we had visited some of the towns before but our son was young and we were not able to walk on the footpaths.
We took the train to the first, easternmost of the towns, Riomaggiore and set off on the first footpath to the second town, Manarola. This walk is known as the 'Via dell'Amore' (the Road of Love) and padlocks labelled with the initials of lovers were attached to the gates whilst graffiti, some of high quality, proclaimed love. It seems however that these lovers had very little stamina as the signs of love were only to be seen at the beginning of the walk!
This first walk was shown as taking 20 minutes but we were ahead of schedule as we arrived in Manarola to find the narrow main street lined and almost blocked by small fishing boats. This was the only place to store the boats after they had been taken out of the sea by crane. Walking down the main street we continued on the footpath to Corniglia, that was only slightly more demanding and took us a little less than the suggested one hour and ten minutes. Corniglia is the only one of the Cinque Terre villages that is not next to the shore, being high up above it and therefore more of a farming community than a fishing one. Here vines cover the steep hills as this is the centre of the Cinque Terre wine production. It is said that some of the vineyards are so steep and the vines so low to the ground, that the pickers pick the grapes whilst lying on their backs. Now small engines with trailers run on rails through the vineyards allowing grapes, tools and people to be transported up and down the hills.
We were making good progress so we decided to press on to the fourth town of Vernazza. The footpaths become progressively more difficult as you move West and this certainly had a lot more ups and downs and was a rougher track. Here the land was dominated by olive trees, many with nets spread beneath as this was harvest time. We met many Americans on this part of the trip and one Australian couple who explained that they were all on a cruise. Most of them were struggling with the walk and, as we met them on a gruelling up hill (for them, downhill for us) part, the men asked “Are we nearly at the top yet?” and once we had confirmed that they were, they yelled encouragement to their wives further down the hill.
Vernazza was also very pretty and here we found a pizza shop where we could buy a pizza and eat it sat outside the shop on chairs. We chose a pesto pizza, pesto being a speciality of the area around Genoa, and it was delicious. We decided against walking the last and most challenging part of the walk, mainly due to the lack of time. We caught a train to Monterosso and were disappointed. It is much more of a resort than the others with a long beach and a modern part of the town. We didn't really get to see the old town and that may have changed our opinion but the other towns were certainly much prettier.
We caught the train back to Manarola and spent time investigating the town more. This certainly has my vote as the most picturesque and interesting of the Cinque Terre towns. The train then took us back to La Spezia and after a long search for some bread, we caught the bus back to the aire.
I can thoroughly recommend a visit to the Cinque Terre and the walk is well worth the effort. The towns are very pretty and the views along the coast are lovely. Choose a day that is clear but not too hot and try to avoid weekends, especially in high season when it is very crowded.
Photos: The boat-lined main street in Manarola; Jane, with matching jumper, poses in front of the colourful houses of Manarola; A novel way of harvesting the olives using a portable collection device; Vernazza huddles around its harbour and fortified rock; Ladies knit in the late afternoon sun on Manarola's belvedere.