Come with me to el Parco Nazionale dell’ Cinque Terre

We get up at 5:30am to gather my things, drive to Arona, and catch the early train to Cinque Terre. This is an Italian National Park within the Italian Riviera. In order to preserve it from tourism, the only traffic is train and pedestrian. I came here a little over three years ago, fell in love with it, and now we’re back. It is the one location that I will revisit on this trip.
Approaching Cinque Terre by train is fun. We pass through innumerable small towns, switching trains in Genova and suddenly our train is hurtled into darkness as we travel underneath mountains via the system of tunnels. Boom! There is a flash of blinding sunlight and to the West you catch the first glimpse of the Mediterranean Sea. Just as your eyes are getting adjusted to the sunlight, you are sent back into darkness. This pattern continue for about an hour. But as the bursts of light become more frequent, the levels of anticipation and excitement rise because you know we’re getting close. You can hardly contain your joy and a smile slowly spreads across your face without really knowing why. What is it about this place? Finally, we arrive at Monterossa dell’ Mare and you try to restrain yourself from running as you leave the station and head to the water, beaches, mountains, and tiny towns of Cinque Terre.
Cinque Terre (5T) means five lands, and it consists of five tiny towns that are smashed up against the mountainside and spill out into the Mediterranean Sea. It’s the birthplace of pesto and the air is heavy with the smells of the sea, basil, olives, and the mountains. The steeply terraced landscape spill over with flowers, vineyards, and trees weighed down by lemons, apricots, and olives. The towns are bubbling with the life of the natives patroning countless gelaterias, paninerias, and pizzerias. One of the reasons for the precarious nature of these towns was as protection from pirates hundreds of years ago. They tried to fortify their homes and make them hard to access… they succeeded!
Riomaggiore is the first of the five towns. It is the biggest non-resort town, and seems like the logical place to start our day. Murals on the walls greet us as we head to the waterfront. We climb out along the rock outcropping in the bay to eat a picnic lunch. I look at you to say that it’s almost reminiscent of Grand Marais and we’re reminded of bouldering with Team MIS as well. Despite our attempts to be careful, I get splashed by the waves twice and am drenched in the salty water of the sea. We laugh and I cling to the joy that the Lord gives along with humility and humiliations. People we pass on the hike give big smiles and ask in Italian for the story. I just smile back and take a little bow. It’s an easy walk to the next town, and one section is referred to as the “Via dell’ Amore”. We split off from the main path for a while and hike up to the old castle-like stronghold and tower. Across from the tower, I spot an elementary school and tell you that I’m tempted to apply.
We head back to the hike and wind our way over to town number two, Manarola. This is our home base while we’re here, so we follow the explicit directions to the hostal: “Go through tunnel, turn right, go up the hill, and take a left at the church”. The tunnel that is referred to there is painted a bright green and it’s a fun way to get from the train station to the town. There seems to be more of a neighborhood feeling here in Manarola, but maybe it’s because we know it’s home for the weekend. When we went to mass Sunday morning next door to our hostal, we were some of the only non-Italians there. The parishioners were all hanging around the piazza before mass started. Later on in the day, you spot those children who were altar servers that morning playing soccer in that piazza. The feeling of community is permeates this life.
As we head down the path towards town number three, you point out signs that say the path is closed. We hope that they’re out of date, and decide to see if we can maneuver our way through anyways. About half-way there, we discover that the path really was washed out by a landslide and we are forced to turn around and catch the train. I heard rumors of an upper trail later on that day, but we were unable to find it before leaving. Corniglia is the third city of Cinque Terre, and even though we took the train, it is still hard to get to! After climbing the 382 steps up to the city center, we discover the “city on a hill” of this place. It’s the only town not directly on the water, and it’s open to a little more traffic than the others. There are lots of motorcycles and Vespas parked nearby. It seems somewhat fitting the the middle city, the heart of this place, would be the hardest one to access. Talk about being on a remote hilltop!
I remember as we begin the next hike that this one (between #3 & 4) is the wildest, greenest, and toughest of them all. As our feet get splashed and muddied, you comment on the wet trail and how it’s not surprising there was a landslide on the other side of town. Finally, after an hour of arduous hiking, we spot Vernazza, town number four. This is my favorite town out of the five. I find it the most picturesque with it’s rambling staircases and reinforced walkway out into the bay. As we sit and take a rest, there are some ambitious swimmers in the bay, and lots of people sunbathing nearby. I recall that this is the town where I had the best gelato ever at “Gelateria Antigliari” so we visit it twice while we’re here. I’ve made a rule for myself that I can never try the same combination of flavors twice. Saturday brings me “Frutti di Bosco & Ciocolate” (Wild Berry & Chocolate) whereas Sunday is more adventurous with “Ciocolate con Pepperocini & Limon” (Jalepeno Chocolate & Lemon). Whew! Despite your grimace, I try to convince you that it’s really good… honestly!
Finally, we reach town number five, Monterossa dell’ Mare. This last one was another intense hike of about the same length, but it took us longer because I was tired. It’s the most resort-like of the five, and is clearly more touristy and upper class. There are many more people who are here for the beach and the shopping, not the hiking like we are. It does have the only sandy beach, and it reminds you of more typical beach resort towns that you’ve seen. Once we venture off the resort path and start taking back ways though, we both start to see how it’s very clearly still related to the other four.
We had mixed weather throughout the weekend, but it was nice in general. One thing that I couldn’t help noticing was how the scenery changes with the weather. This is most notable regarding the color of the water. When it was sunny on Saturday, the water varied from an amazingly brilliant royal blue to a true aquamarine. On Sunday however, the weather was cooler, cloudy, and brought some rain. The water then appeared a gray to dark blue-green hue. It was a packed weekend and we’re tired, but man was it worth it! Glory to God!