Cinque Terre, Italy, Thursday 1 October
The birthday celebrations lasted most of the day. The Birthday Girl is one of four sisters and the family trait to be well organised in order to have great fun is undeniable. Brunch was served on the terrace of a restaurant that juts out over the sea and looks back towards Riomaggiore. We were sheltered from the sun by a massive cream canvas umbrella (clearly there are no wind blasts here - in fact every morning one of the first things I notice is the calm). The light is so different here (very hot and hazy) so the tones of the sea, the cliffs, the rocks and the village provided a very special back drop to the compulsory games and fun with aplomb well into the afternoon.
In the evening we caught the train to the next town, Manarola, for a seafood dinner. I am pretty sure the Birthday Girl had a fabulous time and the rest of us weren’t too hard done by either. Now we have had seafood every day not surprisingly that is the local specialty, the dishes served though were especially good: marinated anchovies; sliced Octopus(right through the body into flower shapes no tentacles) with oil and balsamic; stuffed anchovies (and deep fried to a crisp); mussels (stuffed with a breadcrumb/ tomato/wine mixture); deep fried squid and prawns; seafood spaghetti (clams, prawns, squid etc); pasta hankerchiefs with pesto and of course a lovely birthday torte.
Today we walk it off.
The walk between Riomaggiore and Monterosso is known locally as the path of love. We imagine this is Cinque Terre story of Pania or Hinemoa. Lovers are separated by distance (in this case 26km and some very precarious cliffs) and one finds a way to be with the other, but it ends in tragedy. We could be wrong but we like this version.
Our key interest in the walk is it is the most famous section of Cinque Terre walkway. Essentially the main path of around 26km takes in five towns. Riomaggiore is the last (although there are many onward tracks) and Monterosso the first. From our end we pass also through the villages of Manarola, Corniglia and Vernazza. All are similar (er…but apparently different)to Riomaggiore, that is all are on the Italian Levante Riveria; all perch on rugged cliff tops and all have been around in some form or another for over 10 centuries. The surrounding area is terraced by around 10,000 km of drystone walls and there are actually thousands of steep stairways in the area to connect the terraces and enable every inch of land to be optimized agriculturally by the locals. We are getting used to the steps in the village but they are arduous work…exacerbated no doubt by the heat which today was 27degrees in the shade. Some of us are off to attempt (part of the track at least) before it gets too hot and because we will not get another chance this trip anyway, today is our last full day here.
Pic is of the second vilage Manarola, venue for Birthday Girl's celebrations.
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