1001 Places/Experiences to See or Savour #506 - Corniglia, Cinque Terre

1001 Places/Experiences to See or Savour After Remission #506

- Corniglia, Cinque Terre, Italy

 

 

(Corniglia is the last of the 5 villages in Cinque Terre, and easily the smallest. Only 150 people live here, a true kampong. However, it requires a bit of climbing to get to it - exactly 382 steps - because it sits on top of a hill about 150m high. The orange trees lining the hillside brightened up this village, with many fruits dropping to the ground - they were so squinty-eye sour to be eaten. At the end of the walk through cobblestone paths to the town's edge, you get a coastal view towards fairy-tale Manarola. Most shops here are loaded with local trinkets, with many doubling up as Air BnB's. The room views from here must be worth it, but it seemed too remote for us - using Monterosso as our base was the right decision)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1001 Places/Experiences to See or Savour #505 - Manarola, Cinque Terre

1001 Places/Experiences to See or Savour After Remission #505

- Manarola, Cinque Terre, Italy

 

 

(The next day, we took the local train again and headed out to Manarola, the 4th village in our Cinque Terre discovery. Goodness, it is another gem of a village. Train loads of tourists came in to enjoy the warm sunshine. The "Love Path" which starts from here to Riomagiorre, regarded by locals as the most beautiful mountainside walk in Italy, was closed to all pedestrians because of the landslides several years ago. It was a shame we were not able to walk along it. But the beauty of this village was enough to compensate for that. We walked up the hillside vineyards and was at a higher level that the top of the town. The views here were simply gorgeous! - Watch the timelapse video below)

 

 

 

1001 Places/Experiences to See or Savour #504 - Vernazza, Cinque Terre

1001 Places/Experiences to See or Savour After Remission #504

- Vernazza, Cinque Terre, Italy

 

 

(Can this be the most beautiful village in Cinque Terre - Vernazza? I think it surely can. The Italians must have drawn this on canvas and then built it, one colourful house at a time. They even came up with a castle at the top, as if to say, the princess must have a castle at the end. The afternoon sun crept out for an hour here and all was perfectly in harmony - the marina, which looks like a private swimming pool, the church tower and all the paste-coloured buildings. And with vineyards and lemon trees on the hillsides, this place really does look magical!)

 

1001 Places/Experiences to See or Savour #503 - Monterosso to Vernazza trek, Cinque Terre

1001 Places/Experiences to See or Savour After Remission #503

- Monterosso to Vernazza trek, Cinque Terre, Italy

 

 

(The morning was again wet, but only a light drizzle. We were warned against taking this trek to Vernazza from Monterosso, but we were set to do it, having read in Tripadvisor that it is beautiful trail to complete, and can be done in less than 2hrs. Well, it took us 3hrs to get to Vernazza, with some stretches flooded - it was quite tough with several steep climbs but it was good training for our 2nd Everest Base Camp trek in April. The vineyards and lemon trees along the way made the steep hillsides a pleasurable experience. 30min from reaching Vernazza, we could see the coastline reaching out to as far out as the other villages of Corniglia and Manarola. The sights alone from here were worth this 3hr trek)

 

 

 

 

 

1001 Places/Experiences to See or Savour #502 - Riomagiorre, Cinque Terre

1001 Places/Experiences to See or Savour After Remission #502

- Riomagiorre, Cinque Terre, Italy

 

 

(Cinque Terre means 5 Villages in Italian, so we chose Riomagiorre as the 2nd village to check out. By local train from Monterosso, it took a mere 20min to get here. And what a big visual blast for our eyes, when we got there. To get to the centrepiece, the Marina, you walk through a tunnel from the train station and when you pop out of it, Riomagiorre just takes your breath away. It is picture postcard perfect - and it was raining too. Huffington Post wrote in 2013 that it is Italy's most beautiful village, and who would argue against that, once you look at these photos. In fact, we took a 2nd bite of the cherry by returning on our last day here - so tranquil)