Your retro Virtual Italy Vacation continues as Thor and I hike the rugged coastal trail between Cinque Terre villages clinging to the cliffs.
NOTE: Since European travel is still a no-go with the pandemic continuing to surge, I’m continuing my blog series offering a virtual vacation and time-travel to my first big trip with Thor in 2008. Italy! After starting with highlight photos posted here on Saturday, Jan. 30, I’ll now resume every week (after the blogging detour in real time to Hawaii). Join us in Rome, Florence, Cinque Terre, Venice, and Milan. Buon viaggio!
The Sentiero Azzurro (Blue Path) along the rugged coast, linking the isolated five villages of the Cinque Terre, dates from the 12th to 13th centuries in the early Republic of Genoa. It was originally a mule track, the only link between the villages. Thor and I were lucky to hike sections of it on our 2008 trip, as a catastrophic storm and rains in 2011 severely damaged the route and two villages, and some sections of the trail remain closed today. Today we’ll relive our hike from Monterosso al Mare to Vernazza.
After hopping the small coastal train from Riomaggiore to the northenmost village of Monterosso al Mare, we set out on the first leg of the Sentiero under overcast skies that quickly turned into a broiling hot day. Railings on the right in the above photo mark the start of the trail.
The trail immediately started climbing through agricultural terraces with grapes and olive and lemon trees. Many terraces were fallow.
A secret door:
No matter how rugged and rocky the trail, there always seems to be someone like this tough gal who wore a sun dress and cheap, thin flipflops. She made it, smiling, the 2.5 miles to the next village of Vernazza.
By this time, I was wearing the minimum possible, but at least I had sturdy shoes!
Thankfully, Thor took a lot of photos, since mine have mysteriously disappeared.
Looking back at our starting point…
…and ahead to more steep, curving cliffs plunging to the sea.
Very different hiking from what we’re used to back home in the mountains of the Pacific Northwest. The trail often passed close to the back doors of houses perched on the steep slopes.
Through tunnels of green.
A look back at more houses nestled among the terraces:
Around a steep curve, and we could see Vernazza far below, clinging to the cliffside.
Hot and sweaty, but happy!
Italians, like the Greeks, love cats, and here at the high point was a station where people were feeding feral cats. There were also several shelters, including a miniature tent.
Winding down through more fields past rock walls:
Getting closer to the fishing village, with Cinque Terre’s only natural port, reinforced with a breakwater. The tower on the promontory is part of Doria Castle, a Medieval fortress.
Next week, September 11, we’ll finish our hike, explore the town, and enjoy a cold beer by the breakwater. And Thor will explain some of the geology of the disastrous 2011 mudslides and mitigation techniques. See you then!
*****
You will find The Rambling Writer’s blog posts here every Saturday. Sara’s latest novel from Book View Cafe is available in print and ebook: The Ariadne Connection. It’s a near-future thriller set in the Greek islands. “Technology triggers a deadly new plague. Can a healer find the cure?” The novel has received the Chanticleer Global Thriller Grand Prize and the Cygnus Award for Speculative Fiction. Sara has recently returned from another research trip in Greece and is back at work on the sequel, The Ariadne Disconnect. Sign up for her quarterly email newsletter at www.sarastamey.com
1 thought on “The Rambling Writer’s Italy, part 18: Hiking Cinque Terre’s Sentiero Azzurro”