Let me start by explaining our room here in Vernazza. First it is on the 3rd floor,
which means climbing 66 stairs, most narrow and steep. The room is quite spacious and has a
loft. The bathroom is tiny. It is about 3 feet long and has a raised end
(like a very low seat) leaving a tiny space to put your feet in. Mine barely fit, David’s of course not at
all. You could only stand one way to
take a shower and getting in and out was a challenge. The second issue with the bathroom is that
every time someone below flushes the toilet a rank order comes up ours and
permeates not only the bathroom but the whole room. So, when we heard we could move into another room we jumped
at the chance. Patti and Steve were
scheduled to move from room 2 to room 1.
I asked if we could move to room 2 and our host Paulo said why not.
We went down to breakfast about 10. They said they would move us about 11. By the time we got back to our rooms,
everything was done. We had decided at
breakfast to do the Vernazza to Corniglia, a 2 ½ mile trail that starts just
above the train station. Rick Steves says
the trail from Corniglia to Vernazza is demanding. I think that is an understatement. Everything is up until, of course, you start
back down.
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| We met all ages |
We started off at noon and the start of the trail was pretty
easy. Uphill and not too steep and the
steps weren’t very high. We arrived at
the gate where you get your trek card.
The door was closed but not locked.
I started to reach up to knock on the door but Steve beat me to it and
opened the door. The worker inside was
rudely awakened by us. He mumbled something
about the trail was free today. Closed
the door and we assumed back to sleep.
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| A view from the trail |
We reached a small restaurant with wonderful view and bought
water and rested a bit. Still going
mostly up with a few flat spaces, we trekked on. As I said the views were spectacular. It was a partly cloudy day and so pretty
muggy which didn’t help my efforts. More
than once, I cursed myself for being talked into this “short” hike.
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| Vernazza from the restaurant |
The trail continued to go up and the stairs got
steeper. Some places have guardrails and
others don’t. Those required David to
hold my hand to keep me upright. I was
getting very tired, my stomach was upset and I was dizzy. The small breakfast we had was long
gone. We found some rocks to sit on and
I ate something and drank some water. In
about20 minutes, I was ready to start again.
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| Steve and Patti waiting for us |
As we got closer to Corniglia, the path got wetter and
slipperier so my pace slowed considerably.
I was beginning to think we would never get there. There are a few
points along with way now where we could
see our destination…it still looked a long way off to me.
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| First view of Corniglia |
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| This used to be a nude beach. It's a long hike down. |
We came upon another small restaurant called the
half-way. I went great, we are only half
way!! But with some sugar (cookies),
chocolate and a large bottle of water, after a 30 minute rest gazing at the
amazing views of the water, we moved on.
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| Corniglia |
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| Cornigla Church |
Not too much farther, we came upon a sign that said
Corniglia 25. Steve assumed that was 25
minutes. We started down now. Very steep and very slippery. For me, this was the worst part of the hike
as I was paranoid about falling or turning my ankle. It was slow going and in some ways, harder
than the uphill portions. Of course, we
still had some uphill to do and I was really running out of steam.
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| These are used to facilitate picking of grapes and olives. |
Finally about 5:00 we reached our destination. At the first restaurant I saw, I sat
down. I made it, thanks to patience of
David, Patti and Steve. We had a bite to
eat and then the three of them went to wander around town. I opted to enjoy a glass of wine staying
seated until it was time to go to the train.
The train ride back to Vernazza was 4 minutes.
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