Too many things happened today but I'm gonna keep it short and add the pictures after reaching Berlin. Woke up pretty late around 8:30 because of the sleep deprivation from the previous day. After a quick shower and getting into my summer clothes (which didn't quite go well with the weather), I headed out for breakfast and random exploration.
I didn't have high hopes regarding the weather today but still they got crushed. The hotel manager had already warned me about the weather and said that hiking routes would be closed because of it. As a result, I decided to go with the flow. Or so I did cursing and muttering under my breath.
After a cheap but delicious mini Pizza Margherita breakfast, I went to explore the area behind the cemetery on top of a hill in Monterosso as it looked interesting to me yesterday. It seemed like an old ruined castle. I have a thing for exploring unknown places that's not touristy. It turned out to be part of the cemetery. The road behind it lead me to the top of the hill which had a gorgeous view of Monterosso and the ocean. So my time was not wasted.
To the unknown ruins
After having seen almost everything in Monterosso, I took the train to Vernazza which is the next village. The train ride was 5mins. Vernazza welcomed me with colourful buildings and crowds of tourists. I made my way through the crowd to reach the harbour from where you could get a stunning view of the village set in front of the hill. I wondered if the houses were colour coded on purpose to attract travellers from across the world (I didn't really read up on the history).
Vernazza. View from the harbour.
Whatever it was, it certainly succeeded in bringing in tourists from everywhere. It was becoming impossible to walk through the crowd as everybody was taking picture of somebody and I didn't wanna get in the way. So I was politely stopping until they were done posing. I am not complaining about tourists taking pictures. I do it too. But first, I look, I observe, I ponder, I admire and then maybe if I like what I see, I take a snap.
I waddled through the crowd to reach the stone steps that lead to Doria castle. I heard that the view of the village from top was beautiful and indeed it was. The sky had slowly started to clear up. I couldn't help but keep staring at the turquoise blue ocean. The view, the sound of the waves, the seagulls flying around, everything was strangely calming.
Vernazza from the blue line hiking trail to Corniglia
I snapped out of my reverie and descended from the castle steps. I had reached halfway down when I saw a restaurant called Belforte right below the castle, next to the ocean but two storeys above the town. I quickly found a table facing the ocean on the balcony and indulged myself with some wine and local cuisine consisting of squid ink pasta and shrimps. The Tiramisu there made every other tiramisu I ever had seem like a sham.
Satiated, I decided to hike to the next village even though the hiking trails were officially closed due to bad weather. The weather had improved a lot after lunch. It was bright and sunny with no signs of cloud. Even though I wasn't wearing my hiking shoes, I was eager to hike the trail. I took a gamble that the weather would stay pleasant and started hiking. The trail wasn't hard to find.
Few minutes into the trail, the view changed from stunning to mesmerising.
Tipsy from the wine, I was balancing myself along the narrow trail, precariously avoiding slipping on the muddy path. The ascending parts of the trail was easy. It was the descending part where I was trying to avoid hitting the ground. I was glad that I was carrying blister tape as my non-hiking shoes were chafing my feet.
I sat down to put the blister tape and instantly thought of Cheryl Strayed from the book Wild and how I had come prepared like her (that's one great book you must read!). Since the trail was officially closed, there were very few people hiking unlike other days when there is a long line of people on the trail. They were not with me but somewhere far ahead or far behind and occasionally I was overtaking or being overtaken, nodding and exchanging hellos.
Soon it was getting hot enough that I had to take off my rain jacket and tie it around my waist. I was stopping frequently to take pictures. I kept overtaking or being overtaken by a couple several times until we started talking. A chatty Italian guy named Riccardo (who scared the hell out of me by almost slipping off the cliff while talking) with his German girlfriend named Karina from Munich (I hope I got the names right). They were friendly and easy to talk to.
After two hours of scenic hike, we reached Corniglia. We entered the town and headed towards the centre and then to the spot with the best view of the ocean. I decided to bid adieu to them as I didn't want to be the third wheel tagging along with a couple.
Anyway I had decided to take the orange route to the next village which is inland and longer while they were gonna take the blue route by the coast. I told them what my hotel manager told me about the orange route being more scenic and left to explore the town a bit. While at the town, I kept bumping into them several times and we pretended to not have met in ages.
As I left the town centre, I kind of got lost on my way to the hiking trail entrance. The locals told me it was too late for me to take that route as it was 5:30pm already. So I decided to take the train to Manarola, the next village. So much for my hiking plans!
As I walked to the coastal front of the village, I was blown away by the view. And also pleasantly surprised at the friendly winking Italian guys. For the first time, I felt like I was in Italy. I thought Italian men flirt with women all the time or whatever.
I sat on stone steps of the rocky harbour from where I could see the ocean waves crashing on the big rocks few meters below. I sat there for a while just watching and admiring everything - the sounds, the fresh air, the people, the ocean. There was a hill on the right side of the village with a cliffside path to a restaurant. I thought it would be nice to drink Prosecco and watch the sun setting on the village from there.
As I was starting to get up, I realised how exhausted my feet were from the long hike. I slowly walked up to the restaurant and saw a couple from Monterosso this morning who had breakfast in the same cafe as me. We waved at each other smiling. I found a seat with a great view right by the edge of the cliff. A friendly looking girl named Lara asked me if I was alone and if she could join me.
I was more than welcome to having company after my crappy lonely day 1 at Cinque Terre. Besides, sharing this wonderful view over a nice conversation while waiting for the sunset seemed like a win-win situation for both of us. She was from Hannover. It's crazy how I keep bumping into Germans outside Germany.
We soon got comfortable talking to each other. Few minutes later, it started getting crazy windy and I could see dark clouds approaching from the horizon. Within minutes it started raining. Hailing to be precise. We moved to a seat under the shade but still with the same view. I was actually excited about the storm. I like the days that end with an unexpected twist. We sat there taking pictures of the storm and the colourful village under the night light. It was magical!
Zeus took over the dark sky and by 7:30pm gave us a magical and scary show of lightning and storm over the coastal village. I was feeling more excited than scared or maybe it was the Prosecco. The restaurant guys said that they were closing because of the hailstorm so we paid and left. Descending from the hill through the side path along the cliff was a mini adventure. With the wind almost blowing away our umbrellas and water streaming down the road, we waddled together towards the village station as fast as we could with our shoes soaking wet.
I could feel the hailstones hitting my legs as I was wearing shorts. Completely drenched and cold, we reached the tunnel towards the station when Karina and Riccardo ran past me yelling at me that the train was in 10 minutes. Funny how we keep bumping into each other. They too were staying in Monterosso. I ran after them with Lara towards the ticket machine.
Turns out, they had just reached Manarola right before the hailstorm began, after hiking the orange line from Corniglia which I had intended to. They said it was a very hard and long trail with hardly any hikers on it. Lucky that they managed to reach just after sunset before the storm got worse.
I bid adieu to Lara and got on the train to Monterosso with Karina and Riccardo. I was happy to see the jolly pair again. They told me to hike that trail next morning as it was very hard and time consuming and I agreed.
We walked together to the village centre after reaching Monterosso talking about the stuff that I don't remember. When it was time to go separate ways, we joked about how we will do completely different things the next day and not bump into each other again.
Sleepy and tired, I slumped on my hotel bed, lying there motionless until I remembered all the exciting things that happened and that needs to be written down.
Did I mention my epic fail at speaking Italian? I said to my hotel manager "Buenos nachos" instead of "Buono notte". Well, at least I made someone laugh. ;D
To be continued...