We were out the door at 6:30 ready to hit the road. We planned to hike the first two and then take the train to the second two because the path was closed due to rock slides and such. The first hike was about 3.5 km and was a lot of uphill stairs made of rock and steep inclines and declines. If I wasn’t in such good shape, this would have been pretty difficult. It took us about an hour to get to the first village of Vernazza. Once there we walked around a bit, took pics and then were ready to start our second hike to Corniglia. Because we went so early, we also didn’t have to pay the trail fee because it didn’t start until 8:00. That was clutch.
The hike to Corniglia was about 4 km and took a little less than an hour and a half. This one was tough with a lot of rocky, steep, high steps. At about the halfway point, there was a tiny little village where we stopped for some much needed Gatorade to rehydrate a little. It was so necessary. At that point we still had about 40 minutes left until we got to town, but it was so much easier after getting some cold electrolytes in. Once we made it to Corniglia, we again strolled the town and then made our way to the train station. This station was far from the city center and was down an obscene amount of steps. We bought our train ticket and waited for the next train to Manorola. The train ride was super quick and no one even checked our tickets there.
We had heard Manorola and Riomaggiore were the prettiest of the villages and this proved to be true. In town, we walked around a bit before walking up to a viewpoint that did not disappoint. After this, we finally decided we needed food. We hadn’t eaten breakfast this morning so to finally sit down to eat something and rehydrate again was necessary. We went to some hole in the wall restaurant where we were the only Americans there and split a pesto and tomato bruschetta and a salami and mozzarella panini. Both were incredible. We used the bathroom and headed back out to the train station to catch our last train. Since no one checked our train tickets the first time (or yesterday for that matter), we took a gamble and didn’t buy tickets again this time. We figured we’d play dumb if asked, but the train ride was about three minutes anyway, and this time we purposely got in a train car that was far from the conductor.
At Riomaggiore, we knew we had to find the best vantage point. Basically, and I’m not even going to front, the one we saw over and over on Instagram. We climbed another hill or two and made our way down the other side of it for such an incredible view. Like we were in literal awe. There was no glare, the sky was so blue, and the color of the homes and boats was just amazing. It was legit one of the prettiest places I’ve ever seen. Totally picturesque.
Once we took it all in and got our pictures, we decided to take the ferry back. It was 13 euro and stopped at all the villages but Corniglia. We thought it would be fun to see all the towns from the water and just being on a boat is always great, especially in the Med. The ferry was actually decently fast and the dock back in Monterosso was fairly close to our hotel. We were sweaty, filthy, thirsty and soooo ready to jump in the pool and relax. Six hours later after hiking 5 miles, walking around four villages, taking two trains and a ferry, my watch said we had over 20,000 steps and about 100 flights of stairs. We earned a chill afternoon. We even decided to split a pizza by the pool that was also excellent. We were living an Italian dream.
After about four hours at the pool (that included splitting a pesto and tomato pizza as well), it was time to head back to the room to shower and change and take in some AC before heading back to town for dinner.
Showered and rested, we headed back to town to grab dinner. We looked at the menus of a few places in town and settled on one that looked good. We split a caprese salad that was so fresh and delish and then I ordered gnocchi with pesto (yes, my third time eating pesto today, don’t judge me) and my friend got spaghetti bolognese. Our food was great, but our waiter was rude and the service was terrible. When we finally got the bill we noticed something we hadn’t experienced before called a “cover charge”. It was three Euros each and when we asked the waiter what it was, we were told it was to cover the fee of using the knives and forks and having tablecloths. At first we thought we were being scammed, but we asked the people next to us if they had heard of it and they said it happened to them last night and apparently it’s common here. I don’t remember that kind of charge when I was in Italy before, so maybe it’s local to this part, but whatever, we paid it. When we got back to the hotel, we asked the guy at the front desk and he confirmed it’s standard here. Okay fine.
After a very long day, now stuffed, tired, and happy, we wanted to try and figure out what to do tomorrow. There may be a train strike here tomorrow so that could hinder some options, so stay tuned.
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