A glorious sunny day! The breakfast deck was in alot of demand as everyone wanted to enjoy the amazing view with breakfast, and we were all eating early to get on the tracks before the crowds. There was a popup market in my village with crowds of people everywhere, a complete contrast to last night, I kept going but some of that street food looked great!
I arrived at corniglia to start my walk but first explored the village. I got excellent advice to take the bus to the township, as it is much higher on the cliff than it looks from the train station, we passed lots of people on the road who were begging the bus to stop. I really liked corniglia, it is very traditional and has very narrow paths between the houses and everywhere has spectacular views as the village is on the top of a ridge and surrounded by steep cliffs. I was looking in a dress shop when I ran into carla, a work friend who I knew was somewhere in Italy! Small world! After a catchup that mentioned best gelato shops in town, it was time for my daily gelato - chocolate Nero and caramel!
Time to continue my walk ... Today I did the path to vernazza, or climbing hell as one German tourist described it (my knees agreed). It goes through wilderness areas, olive and fruit groves, vineyards and then follows the cliffs with a single person wide unbarricaded path that is either climbing up or down. The views were spectacular and worth the pain, but it was not an easy walk and not for the faint of heart with heights (which I am). The oddest thing was a third of the way on the track in the middle of nowhere, at the one picnic spot there was a cat greeting everyone with loud meows. I am sure he gets tidbits but you wonder how he got there.
You enter vernazza from above and what an arrival to my final cinque terre town - another quaint harbour town with a beautiful church and fortress. After 2 hours stair stepping I just wanted to sit down, find a bathroom and eat. I had just sat down and ordered when the heavens opened out of nowhere and it poured with rain, so glad I was not on the track as it would have been a precarious descent slippery (it was bad enough dry). The town was buzzing, lots of people eating in the piazza and other hikers like me finished their walking for the day and celebrating!
Back in monterosso for my last night, I decided to do a wine bar crawl and try all the free tapas that come with your drinks. My first bar I tried a local red wine, which came with olives, caperberries, and peanuts and classical music. My second bar was in the piazza garibaldi with the statue of my great great great.. Grandfather, and I had a local prosecco with olives, bruschetta and frittata. There was a old style rock band playing in the piazza with a lead singer with an elvis style hairdo and moves, and all the local kids were dancing to the music. To finish my meal I went to the local pizziera and had tira misu and expresso! Total cost €15.