Walking to Corniglia

On our last full day in Cinque Terre, we decided to walk to Corniglia, the next town to the north from Manarola. You can't get to Corniglia via boat as the town doesn't have a harbor. While many many people come to the Cinque Terre to hike between the towns, all the guidebooks warn how tough the trails are. As you can see from the pictures, the towns are on cliffs and the trails require a lot of going up, up, up.

As a hater of hills in general (hills for me equal being unable to breathe), I just knew hiking between the towns would be bad news for me, and I was okay with that. Then we learned, from a lovely American who had been here 15 years, that you can take the bus to Volastra, located in the hills above Manarola, and from there, the walk to Corniglia is basically flat until it goes down into Corniglia. Sold.

Off we go!


Follow the red and white paint.


Vineyards lined almost the entire walk.


Manarola








Our destination - Corniglia.





Lots of skinny stone staircases


And skinny pathways


Throughout the vineyards, we saw the rail for the grape carrier (which I'm sure has a more technical name)


And then we saw the grape carrier itself.


We passed lots of folks walking from Corniglia to Manarola including these two girls, about 8, who seemed to be alone. Luckily, we passed their moms about 5 minutes later and saw them later swimming in Manarola.


Corniglia gets closer!











Down to Corniglia we go!


Apparently I only took one picture in the town of Corniglia. Whoops.


To get to the train station to get back to Manarola, you have to go down a massive set of stairs. So massive, there are a bazillion switchbacks.


So massive, there is a picture with a "You are here" sign at the bottom. How depressing to see this upon arrival in Corniglia. Imagine if you had a suitcase!?!


Visiting All five Cinque Terre towns? Check.