The Big Meander

I apologize in advance to all of you who have already been to the Cinque Terre (five towns) area of Italy ~ this post may produce a yearning to return.

Lots of people have heard of the Cinque Terre ~ a coastal area in northeast Italy consisting of five towns whose only defense against pirates and invading hordes back in the day was to build their homes beside small harbors up the steep hillside. These days there is a train that takes you to the heart of each of these little villages, the pirates live in the village and the only invasion force are the tourists coming to enjoy these picturesque villages.

“Why do people think this place is magical?” I asked myself as I disembarked from the train. “It’s just a bunch of houses clinging to the side of cliffs overlooking the sea.” Visitors outnumber the locals pretty much every day of the year. Without the train it would be accessible by foot or boat only most of the year. There are a million stairs leading either up or down, and the harbors are so small that docking a boat looks might be “challenging” every time. As with many love affairs, it was the little things that snuck up on me and made me see the beauty tucked behind the less than attractive parts. The light, waves breaking against coastal rocks, abundant sunshine and a laid-back atmosphere were the obvious reasons to love the Cinque Terre….but there is something more ~ some unexplainable feeling in the air ~ call it magic.

We decided to actually stay in La Spezia. There’s not much to say about La Spezia particularly except that I think of it as the San Diego of Italy. The historic home of the Italian Navy, La Spezia is a thriving working class town. Not pretty in that way we often think of when we think of Italy, nonetheless, La Spezia has a beautiful port that grants a lovely view of the hillside in the sunset. La Spezia is also the port for cruise ships who want to access this part of the Italian Riviera and the Cinque Terre. There are lots of restaurants and a walkable city center that is busy day and night. The passeggiata is alive and well in La Spezia.

With La Spezia as a jumping off point we travelled by train to Monterosso al Mare one day and Vernazza the next. In Monterosso, all roads lead upward from the small harbor. The nonnas (grandmothers), were having a good chat on the benches in the intermittent sun as we tourists went up, and up, and up towards wine tastings and pastries and gift shops. Erin and I had a cappuccino, a walk around town and then hiked up the ridge to the cemetery ~ the views were to die for (no pun intended). Lunch afterward in a restaurant back down by the bay was worth the walk. The weather was blustery and the waves were huge as the tide came in. The church was pretty and historically interesting. We visited on a Friday, which at this time of year meant lots of locals going about there business and less tourists than in the summer.

Vernazza was a different experience than Monterosso for sure. We visited on a Saturday along with approximately 4 million of our good friends and fellow tourists, (a good portion of them Italian). We shuffled off the train, down the large main road that used to be a stream bed toward the very small piazza/harbor about a quarter mile away. Erin and I took in the scene, decided we needed a glass of wine before diving into all that and sat a minute for some good people watching. Fortified, we climbed up to a look-out tower/old castle and were rewarded with amazing views on a sparkly sunny day. The stairs were steep and windy ~ a defensive measure designed to make the access hard to get to by more than one person at a time.

Back to the harbor for a late lunch, then……….magic. The sun was out, waves were booming against the breakwater and you could taste the salt spray in the air. We sat for a long time watching the ocean. There was nothing else on my mind but what the next wave would bring and the feel of the sun on my face. The people were still there, the houses still clung to the side of the hill, the stairs were still steep, but I finally understood why people I know who have visited love the place so much.

Things we would do next time to make our time even more enjoyable:

1. Stay in one of the towns rather than La Spezia. Visiting was easy on the train, but it would have been even nicer to be there at night to get more of a sense of the place
2. Go earlier in the year. Some things aren’t open this time of year….which makes it cheaper to visit……but I think we would have liked a few more activity options
3. Drink more white wine than red ~ it will be warmer when we visit next time after all.

Would we live here? No ~ pretty isolated in the winter and crowded in the summer. Would we visit again? Yes ~ for sunshine, white wine, hiking between the towns, and a boat ride!