Last month, we hopped a cramped morning train in Genoa (Genova), Italy and traveled towards the Italian riviera with a bunch of working-class commuters (the body odor gave them away) and sun-worshippers wielding beach umbrellas like jousting lances. As we neared towns like Santa Margherita Ligure and Levanto, the train started to empty out until all that were left were tourists armed with well-thumbed Rick Steves books.
The Italian riviera is a narrow strip of coastline is divided into two sections: the Riviera di Ponente (to the west), from Ventimiglia to Genoa, and the Riviera di Levante (to the east), from Genoa to La Spezia. The former includes wide sandy beaches and the rather commercial seaside resorts of San Remo and Bordighera, while the latter boasts small bays backed by rocky cliffs and more exclusive retreats such as Portofino and Cinque Terre. Portofino is the best known, with its small picturesque harbour full of sleek yachts, its luxury clothes shops, and its romantic villas owned by the rich and famous perched on the hillside. The beach at Santa Margherita Ligure, just 3 miles south of Portofino, is an excellent place to swim, with a magical view of the surrounding cliffs and villas from the warm and crystal-clear aquamarine water. Nearby Rapallo, 5 miles south of Portofino, is less fashionable and subsequently less expensive. At the southern tip of the Riviera di Levante, lies Cinque Terre, a series of five picturesque fishing villages linked by scenic mountainside paths and surrounded by vineyards, and lemon and olive groves. The beaches here are less exploited for a reason - they're hella hard to get to and the rocky beaches are reminiscent of that Annie Lennox song about broken glass.
We debarked the train at Riomaggiore, the eastern-most of the Cinque Terra and obtained our train passes (a great deal that includes the train rides between all of the Cinque Terra and the hiking path fees as well). As we got off the train, the entire train seemed to hop right onto the hiking path. We waited for the queue to subside and timed our entry between a couple from the US and a tour group of children from Italy.
The easiest of all the hikes was the walk from Riomaggiore to Manarola, coined the "Lovers Walk". Various parts of the paved hike were decorated with quotes inscribed in marble. After Manarola, the hike became adventurous. The towns were a pretty distraction from the true attraction: the path between the Cinque Terra. Although Rick Steve touts the virtues of each of the cities, I think that the shopping generally sucks. If you can navigate your way around the tourists in each of the cities, the photo opportunities are great as well. But for us, the real attraction was busting our humps on the challenging terrain of the path. Word of caution: do not attempt to bring your suitcases or rollerbags on this path. We saw some unwitting British tourists who were rolling their bags out of Vernazza onto the path and heard them mumbling "that train sure sounds good about now".
In Vernazza, we dined on pesto pizza and gelato and rubbed our tummies like overfed buddhas. As we exited Vernazza, we were running out of daylight and decided to jump the train to Monterosso and live out the rest of our day there. The first warning should have been the packed train station with drunk people singing to an accordion player. Then, like lemmings, everyone got onto our train. We stopped in Monterosso and got off the train - along with everyone else. Flashing each other looks at the mosh-pit anxiety that was sure to ensue, we jumped back on the train and headed for Levanto where we joined the World Cup-watchers.
Flickr links to Cinque Terra are here.
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