Ali– Our last destination in Italy was a place called Cinque Terre, which translates to ‘five cities’ or something like that…all I really know is that Cinque means 5. And for you monolinguals, it is said like Chinkway. This is important because if you use the ignorant American pronunciation, the Italians have zero clue what you are talking about. Now Cinque Terre is a region on the northern west coast of Italy that is famous for these 5 cities that are perched right next to the Mediterranean waters surrounded by terraced hills. I first read about this place in a NYTimes article 36 hours in Cinque Terre and I knew it was a good destination for the Abrahams, as the area is well known for all the hiking trails that connect the 5 towns.
After some research I decided that Corniglia, the middle of the three towns, would be the best place to stay. It’s the only town not right on the water, which means that it’s slightly less touristy and also means a less than full day hiking commitment is necessary to reach either end of Cinque Terre.
Now when I mentioned to my Italian friend that we were staying in Corniglia, she gave me a blank stare, having no clue to what I referred. Then, once she figured it, proceeded to spend 10 minutes trying to get me to correctly pronounce the town name. The ‘gl’ is pronounced like a ‘y’ so it ends up sounding like Corn-e-ye-a. But don’t feel bad when you fail at this the first 20 times. The Italians can’t pronounce ‘dehumidifier’.
It took us a whopping 6 hours to get to Corniglia from Orvieto on the Italian train system. But upon arriving we met our airBnB host, Cristiana, at the charming little cafe/bar, Pan e Vin that she and her husband own in town.
This became our breakfast spot, as breakfast came with our AirBnB, making the other B actually stand for breakfast instead of what it typically stands for in our experience: bupkis.
Unlike most tourist places, where the AirBnB host will give you tips on what sites to see and maybe a primer on the local transportation system, Cristiana gave us a trail map. Blue trails were the tourist ones you pay for and red trails were the free ones for seasoned hikers and locals. We prepped ourselves that night by eating gelato and wandering around the town.
So Monday morning we roll out of bed at 9 am ish, stuff our faces with pastries at the Pan e Vin, go back to the apartment for ‘post-pastry activity’ and finally hit the trail at 10:30 am. We decided to take the red trail south, with a hike time estimated at around 3.5 hours. I decided these hiking times were clearly based on the average ‘just bought my hiking boots yesterday’ tourist hiker, as you can SEE the southern most town, Riomaggiore, just a couple bumps down the coastline. We manage to locate the trail head, which is hidden behind a church and start going up…and up….and up.
Mind you it’s raining a bit and the trail is lined with stones, so it’s a bit like a slip ‘n slide on a hill.
We finally arrive at a spot where a picturesque town is visable below us 
and Joe asks,”Is that our destination.” I giggled a little hysterically as I informed him that was Corniglia. We had only just arrived above it.
Luckily the trail did eventually flatten out and we found ourselves hiking through beautiful terraced vineyards with amazing views of the Mediterranean. 
We passed a lot of people on the trail speaking a bouquet of languages. Finally we hit the descent, which is also called the ‘place in the trail where I lost my knees’. Luckily, there were lots of beautiful wildflowers to look at to distract myself from the joint swelling. 
At last we reached Manarola, which is crazy packed with tourists. Now one of the specialties of the area is the focaccia with pesto. So I was immmediately on a quest to find some. 
Unfortunately every other damn tourist was also on a quest to find some.
Bellies semi full, we started hiking round 2, 
climbing back up over the next hill and down again to Riomaggiore. When we reached the southern most town it was 5.5 hours after our departure from Corniglia. We dragged ourselves onto the train, and in less than 10 minutes we undid 5.5 hours of hiking. By the time we dragged ourselves back up the hill to Corniglia, we had logged some impressive mileage and stair climbing.
As the sun set, we nursed our knees with ibuprofen, wine and more pesto.
So Tuesday morning comes and we follow the same morning routine. Then we head for the northbound blue route, known as the Via dell Amore, which I think translates in English to ‘The trail tourists pay twice the train ticket price to hike’. Joe and I can both say we have never hiked in crowds like this. It was like transporting a line for a Disneyland ride onto a mountain.
Crazy. But still the views were spectacular. The trail is also surprisingly challenging given the general physical fitness level of the tourists we saw and you do meet some fun characters on the way. We stopped at a nice cafe with fresh squeezed lemon and orange juice along the way to momentarily get out of the crowds. 
That’s right. Let me repeat that. We got off the hiking trail and went into a cafe to avoid crowds. Never thought I would say that.
So the first town north is the famous Vernazza, which is the most photogenic of the towns and has a big port. 
This place was too crazy for us, so after a desperate hunt for a cash machine, we headed on. 
The last town is Monterosso al Mare, which is the one with a beach. This was part of our plan for the day and we were packing suits. 
The Italians had told us that the water wasn’t quite warm enough yet ,but I had assumed they were all thin skinned and spoiled. I had grown up swimming in the brisk waters of Canada so would be fine. I did manage to achieve a semi-comfortable level of numbness during my 20 minute swim but can’t say my skin felt particularly thick.
Back on the train we returned to Corniglia for more inbuprofen, wine and a nice dinner. 
Our last day we just puttered around. We visited a beach with the world’s largest sand. Then on the morning of our departure, the 26th of April, our hosts had a birthday torte for Maya and a gift. That made the 7 hour trip home on her birthday a bit nicer.
