After arriving at Corniglia we had to track down our landlady and rooms.  Our instructions were to ask at the Bar Matteo between 2 and 4 PM.  I am guessing that the specific times are 1) so that she doesn't have to be available all the time and 2) because the bar is less busy during that time and so they don't mind being the contact point.  However, this meant we had to figure out where Bar Matteo was.  Streets are not labeled especially well in Italy and particularly in small towns.  After some wandering, we did eventually figure out which small street off of the square was Via Fieschi, we located the bar, then met with the landlady who showed us to two charming rooms at Via Fieschi 166 (view to the right).  Known as Camere Taragio, there are 4 rooms in the building, very nicely decorated, comfortable, with modern bathrooms.  They also include television which we didn't use but Dave apparently enjoyed watching some American TV in Italian.  We paid 60€ for each room but the cost likely varies by season.

 We thankfully shed our backpacks; since we just had overnight supplies and a change of clothes, there wasn't much unpacking to do.  Our first stop was the nearest gelato!   (I am lactose intolerant, but trust me, it was worth a whole box of enzyme tablets to be able to enjoy the gelato daily.)  Then we split up and wandered the town, agreeing to meet for sunset at the terrace at the end of Via Fieschi (Belvedere Santa Maria).

There are definitely tourist-centered businesses but not so many as in the other towns (which is what we had hoped when we selected it for our overnight).  We walked about half way down towards the shore and discovered a cute little piece of equipment that must be very useful in this terrain.  It is much like a wheelbarrow mounted on small caterpillar tracks.   The man who was moving a load of dirt saw our interest and pantomimed putting the dirt into the box and running it up and down the hill!  The picture above is not of that one, but another that we saw later with a flatbed rather than a "wheelbarrow." Corniglia is not without the ubiquitous cats we have seen everywhere.  They add much to the charm of a town, as they are usually observed curled up peacefully in the sun.  


We walked up the other side of town to the church of San Pietro (built circa 1334) with a lovely palm tree in its courtyard.   Left to right: the facade, the view from the back and the tree in the front.  The streets are very narrow, making it hard to get far enough away to get a good picture of the whole building.


We climbed up to the Oratory of Santa Caterina Fieschi-Adorno (18th century - by local standards, practically new) and a medieval Torre, found more views, and then descended back to the Largo Taragio (town square) that is used as an outdoor seating area for Bar Matteo.  We had some cool drinks (beer and peach iced tea) and just enjoyed our surroundings for a while.  Picture to the left is the square with the Oratory above and behind it.


We were treated to an awesome sunset this evening and the Belvedere Santa Maria terrace (just walk towards the water to the end of Via Fieschi) was a perfect place to watch it.   Below you see John (as captured by Katie) watching the sunset with the moon rising and on the right, the end of the sunset as well as the lights of Monterosso al Mare far up the coast.


Dinner was anti-climactic after that (in my opinion anyway).  We ate at Locanda Daü Tinola on the corner of Via Fieschi at the town center.  The food was okay, but not great - Katie and I had pesto (the Cinque Terre is said to be where pesto originated), Dave had spicy pasta and John had various antipasti.  The wine was 16€ (which was relatively high) and the rest of the meal 73€.  

I ate too much but slept soundly anyway.  We had agreed to be ready to leave at 9 AM on Saturday.  The advice to not visit Cinque Terre on the weekends and to be on the trails very early is sound!  But, in trying to fit the two days in between our other excursions, and limited by when rooms were available, we ran into the weekend.  And, not being morning people, we couldn't bring ourselves to get up way early.  We naively thought that the path at this end wouldn't be crowded because it was so strenuous.  Wrong.  The silly people not only came out in masses, but some in high heels, flip-flops and with cell phones glued to their ears.  And the consequence of leaving at 9 AM is that, by the time we got to Vernazza our t-shirts were soaked through.  So, I pass on the advice we ignored: do the trails early in the morning and avoid weekends!  (And this was in September...  I don't even want to think about July or August.)  This picture is our farewell to Corniglia.

Remember I talked about steep?  Here is a picture that is fairly typical of the path between Corniglia and Vernazza.  No, I'm not exaggerating!  For a little perspective, see the picture at the right - that's looking back down at Corniglia so you get a feel for how high we climbed pretty quickly.  It seemed that the first half was up hill (felt in thighs) and the second half was downhill (felt in calves).  I don't think it would be better going one direction or the other.  I tried various strategies to convince myself this was good for me.  It was a free stress test to demonstrate my heart health.  It was showing me that 57 wasn't all that old, really.  This would be my exercise allotment for the next year or so.  None of it worked real well.  I think maybe because 57 really is that old!    

The rewards, however, were the wonderful views.  And stopping to take pictures gave me a good excuse to stand still and catch my breath!   In the picture below, left, you can see a relatively flat part of the path carved into the side of the cliff - and that's Monterosso off in the distance (our eventual destination for the day). On the right is one of the the trail markers we were following.  There are actually dozens of footpaths in the Cinque Terre area - we were on the most popular which is #2.  John and Dave along one of the easier parts of the trail was taken by Katie. 


Aha, Vernazza finally seems within reach in the picture on the right above!  We climbed down into town - this is just a nice window we passed on the way - and immediately found the nearest gelateria!  It is amazing how much better one feels sitting down, shedding the pack and enjoying a gelato.   That leg took us about an hour and a half which is exactly the estimate of the park service.

We spent about an hour there in Vernazza, looking around, getting a couple of souvenirs (I bought a tile for the sunroom), before setting off on the last leg.







This is where, in hindsight, I should have bailed out.  I think were I to do it again, I would take the boat from here up to Monterosso and then have an extra two hours to spend in the town.  (The ferries just run up and down the coast - you buy a ticket for a day and can get on and off whenever you want to, spending time in each town - except Corniglia that doesn't have a dock.)  We'd already seen most of the best views and on balance the cost/ benefit of the last two hours on the trail wasn't worth it.  However, I didn't know that at the time and, stubborn as I am and determined not to be a wimp, I loaded up and we marched on.  These first two pictures were taken not long after we left Vernazza - the looking back down at the town and the train tunnel north towards Monterosso.


Going down the hill into Monterosso was easier on the heart and lungs but not the legs.  They were almost rubbery by the time we got there.  That part of the trip took us about 2 hours, which again is exactly what the park brochure estimates.  But it was definitely a more strenuous 2 hours than any of the previous segments.

See the yellow umbrellas on the right side of the picture to the right?  That was the first cafe we came to and that's where we stopped!  Actually, Dave didn't get that far - he just went directly down the steps to the beach and into the water.  He had eaten along the trail in preparation for this moment.  We felt much better after sitting down for a while, having lunch and lots of cold water to drink.  After that, we bought the 8€ ferry tickets (that's the one way trip - an all-day ticket within the villages is 12.50€ - it is higher if you leave from La Spezia) and agreed to meet for the 4 PM ferry giving us about an hour and a half for our own browsing.

On the left is a view down one of the major streets in Old Monterosso - you can see the bell tower of San Giovanni Battiste (1244) in the background; in the center is a slightly better view of the facade of the church and on the right, another of the old streets showing the arches which were prevalent in this community.