Corniglia

Up at the stroke at seven (again!) and today we go to the last of the five towns—Corniglia. Corniglia is perched up on the cliffs and does not really have any access to the sea. When you get off the train, you are at sea level, so we rode the Park Service shuttle bus that is available in every town. It saved us from the climb up 463 steps (not that we couldn’t do it!).

We took one walk down the main street of Corniglia, and that was it! Of all the towns, Corniglia is the quietest. Many of the tourists don’t go there because it is difficult to get to. It was about 10:30 in the morning and nothing was really open. We walked up the street to the end and there was a wonderful overlook right on the edge of the cliffs. We could our town of Manarola to the south and Monterosso to the north.

So that didn’t take long and we decided to head back to the train station and go to the next town—Vernazza, where our Internet connection is. This time we decided to hike down to the train station and take on those 463 steps! It was a nice hike down, but rather warm. I can’t believe it’s the middle of November and we are still sweating! Every time I pack my summer clothes away, I think I’m all done with these for the year. But sure enough, I’m wishing I had one of my short-sleeved shirts on today!

OK Rick Steves would be so proud of us today and our lunch. He always advocates “Picnicking” and that’s what we did in Vernazza.

We found a meat shop and they said they would slice some bread for us. So we bought some thin slices of proscuitto, 2 slices of cheese (very thick slices I might add) and some pesto. This region is known for four things: pesto (it originated here in the Cinque Terra, focaccia bread, wine and anchovies. We headed off for the town harbor to sit and eat our little picnic.

We found some benches that faced the harbor and they were all available. All the benches were doubled—some faced the water and some faced the town square. We chose one that faced the water of course! No sooner had we sat down and started to make our lunch then the town drunk sat on the bench right behind us! He then lay down and proceeded to sing himself to sleep! Of all the available benches, he wanted to serenade us!

The sandwiches were great, the atmosphere interesting and the pesto was delicious! (Pesto not the pest!) Print this post