Cinque Terre (prologue): Riomaggiore

Cinque Terre means “5 lands†or little towns namely Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza, Monterosso al Mare and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site as well. The 5 coastal villages built on top of the rock cliffs are very popular with nature lovers, hikers, and tourists.

I have long wanted to visit Cinque Terre and last year around November when I was in the French Riviera for work, a plan hit me to take the intercity train from Nice, France to Genoa, Italy and then to Cinque Terre. Sounds like a plan right, but the weather was the killer. November is cold and the walking paths could be very slippery ergo dangerous.

So fast forward 5 months later, I finally laid my promise to rest and visited Cinque Terre! Ah, what a lovely, lovely experience! I also visited the nearby coastal villages of Portovenere, Santa Margherita Ligure, and Portofino which are all fantabulous. I will go back anytime!

For a real genuine Cinque Terre experience, I was looking at staying in one of the coastal villages but but it was almost near to impossible to find a hotel and even a guesthouse with internet reservation. I like my reservations done before I travel so that was out of the plan as most accommodations are only rented out on site, and I’ve learned are quite basic, nevertheless it could have been a great Italian coastal village experience. Eventually we ended up staying in Deiva Marina, about 18 minutes by train from Riomaggiore.

Of the five villages, Riomaggiore in my opinion is the most authentic, striking and timeless. It has this aged and historical appeal, untarnished throughout the changes and folds of time. This traditional quaint fishing village has managed to successfully preserve its chaste and magical Italian charm. I read that Riomaggiore came into existence around the 11th century with only a fraction of inhabitants living in the village, and it was only during the early 19th century that the number of residents reached to about 3000.

Here are some fotos of Riomaggiore:

From Riomaggiore, there is a boat that leaves to the other villages in Cinque Terre and nearby coastal towns. We were quite adventurous that day so in the spur of the moment, we sailed to Portovenere, another UNESCO world heritage site which I will talk about in another post. Riomaggiore is also connected to the other Cinque Terre villages by train and walking trails hanging from the cliffs. The tourist office sells the Cinque Terre card which entitles the visitor entry to the National Park Cinque Terre (this is the walking trails along the coast) and unlimited train ride from Riomaggiore to Monterosso al Mare and vice versa.

We walked on the famous Via dell’Amore road (the lovers road) that links Riomaggiore to Manarola. The trail is paved and hanging from the rock cliffs. Lovely trail it is with amazing views to the Ligurian Sea. It takes roughly half an hour of leisurely walk to reach the next Terre town, Manarola.

On a side note, it was very nice to see a lot of local tourists because that means we were in the right place.

Dutchman brought the camera with him to Asia for his biz trip, so I am using my Nokia Navigator phone camera. Not as bad as I thought with only 2MB pixels.

Next entry is the next village: Manarola

Travel Period: May 2008
Destination: Cinque Terre (Liguria), Italy