From Genoa to Corniglia

From Corniglia to Parma

Map of Cinque Terre

CINQUE TERRE

Day 14

Places Visited
– Corniglia
– Vernazza
– Riomaggiore
– Manarola

We left Genoa rather early in the morning in the hopes of getting to the Cinque Terre with plenty of time as we would only have around 24 hours to be there. Thus far, as you’ve been reading, everything has been going splendidly. No issues really whatsoever. I mean, Spain was hot, but that’s really been about it. Unfortunately, that lucky streak ended today on the train to Corniglia. Our primary means for transportation throughout this trip are trains. RailEurope has a phenomenal rail pass system that allows travelers to traverse the continent to fit their needs. We both have the GlobalPass, which allows for 15 days of travel for 2 months. One day of travel means that you can take as many trains as you want for that day. To keep track of the days you use, there are 15 boxes on the pass itself where you enter the day and month. In Spain and France, as we boarded the trains, the conductors themselves filled in the boxes. We thought this was the protocol for all of Europe. Boarding this train, none of the conductors were there to fill in the boxes, so we didn’t fill them in. About an hour or so into the train ride, this Italian Gestapo bitch from Hell starts doing the ticket check. I woke up from my nap, and we weren’t sure what to do about filling in the date boxes. Kelsey filled hers in and as I was filling mine, she yells at me in Italian, “Stop writing!” Thinking that that meant she was supposed to fill it in herself, I gave her my pass. She then proceeds to yell about a 50 euro fine and then takes off down the train with my pass, which is worth about 600 euros. So, off I go in a zombie-esque state, chasing her trying to understand why she was yelling and to get my pass. She wouldn’t stop yelling or pacing back and forth through the coaches, thus preventing me from speaking to her. This went on for about 20 minutes until the train stopped at the next stop. I then cornered her, and she tells me that I need to pay a 50 euro fine because the date wasn’t filled in. I told her about my experience in Spain and France and honestly didn’t know that I was the one who was supposed to do it. Apparently, my mentioning of Spain was not a good idea, as she then took off again screaming “Spagna!?” “Spagna!?” She thought it was the funniest thing and proceeds to tell random passengers that I think I’m in Spain. She finally stopped screaming and wrote the fine. I told her I wasn’t going to pay it, and then she demanded to see my passport. I showed it to her but wouldn’t give it to her because she was a psychopath. She then taunted me about not eating again because she wouldn’t give me back my railpass, which I still don’t understand the connection, but we were clearly at a stand-still. After continuing to argue in Itaglish, I wasn’t going to win. With boiling rage at the idiocy and cruelty of this creature, I gave her the 50 euros and wished her a most pleasant rest of the day.

Arriving in Corniglia, I was absolutely livid, seething even. Luckily, to get to the hostel from the train station, we had to climb to the top of the steep hill with our packs and everything, which allowed me to get some of the pent-up frustration out of my system. Apparently there was a shuttle bus that we could have taken and did end up taking quite frequently, but it was good to get the blood flowing. We couldn’t check-in for about an hour, so we decided to grab some lunch. Despite my residual anger from the train incident, the views of the cliffs, mountains, ocean, and town were breaktakingly gorgeous, so beautiful that it was able to subside my fury…a bit.

(Beautiful Corniglia)

(Mountain with terraced vineyard)

(Me with Corniglia)

(Crystal clear blue ocean)

After lunch and checking-in, we decided to hike to Vernazza. Now, the Cinque Terre is a UNESCO national park composed of five towns, from north to south along the coast: Monterroso del Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore. There are hiking trails that connect each of the towns to each other, but unfortunately, due to landslides, the path from Manarola to Corniglia is inaccessible. So, we started by hiking to Vernazza, which took around an hour and a half. The hiking was fairly intense, and the views from the trail were utterly spectacular. What a magnificently picturesque corner of the world!

(The beginning of the trail to Vernazza)

(View from the trail)

(Another view of the mountains)

(Corniglia and Manarola in the very far distance)

(Me looking a hot mess upon arrival in Vernazza)

(Vernazza)

(More of Vernazza)

When we finally reached Vernazza, we were greeted with the cacophonous sounds of the church bells ringing as we made our descent into the town. In desperate need of water, we bought 1.5 liter bottles and sat along the harbor, admiring the beauty of the town and, more importantly, catching our breath. Unable to move for about a half hour, we decided to take the train back to Corniglia, catch the shuttle bus up the mountain this time, and get ready for dinner in Riomaggiore, the southernmost town.

We had a lovely dinner in Riomaggiore before walking to Manarola, the next town northward, for gelato. Unlike our hike to Vernazza, the path to Manarola was level, paved, and took only about 20 minutes to reach rather than an hour and a half. The town was simply gorgeous at night with all of the pastel-colored buildings aglow. We caught the last train back to Corniglia and called it a night.

(View of Manarola)

(Dinner in Riomaggiore)

(View of the trail to Manarola)

(Manarola at night)

Day 15

Places Visited
– Monterosso al Mare
– Vernazza
– Parma

For today, we had intentions of hiking from Monterosso to Vernazza, the only stretch of trail we hadn’t done (besides the trail from Corniglia to Manarola that was closed). We took the train to Monterosso and walked around briefly before heading to the start of the trail. The town was beautiful, as were the beaches. As we walked along the beaches staring at the crystal-clear, blue water, the idea of hiking in the hot sun for two hours became less enticing. However, we remained strong in our resolve to hike the entire Cinque Terre, so off we went. About a quarter of a mile up the first cliff, there was a booth run by the park service charing a fee for the trail. Apparently this part of the trail cost money, so beach it was! We hiked back down and spent most of the day lounging on the beach, a decision that wasn’t regretted.

(Beach of Monterosso)

(Beach of Monterosso)

(Beach of Monterosso)

We had lunch at a panini place not far from the beach, and afterwards, we took a ferry to Vernazza to do some shopping. Having a ton of really cute shops, Vernazza was by far the best place to do shopping. Unfortunately, we didn’t have too much time to shop before we had to catch our train to Parma.

(Monterosso from the ferry)

(Me on the ferry)

(Vernazza from the ferry)

The train ride to Parma was a lot less eventful than the one to Cornigilia, thank God. We did have a connection in La Spezia, and I tried arguing with the TrenItalia woman at the information desk for a reimbursement for that ridiculously heinous fine. The woman was hardly nicer than the one who gave me the fine, so, naturally, I did make a bit of scene and a little Jersey did come out. Much to my irritation, I did not get the reimbursement but instead just let it go.

PARMA

We arrived in Parma around dinnertime, which was intentional, and had arguably the BEST meal on the trip thus far. At the recommendation of a friend, we went to Trattoria Corrieri. For our appetizer, we ordered torta fritta, which are fried puff-dough squares that you eat with meat and cheese. Not only were they enormous, but they were also so fricken delicious that we had to eat them all. We were drinking a bottle of white wine, which did not please the two Italian men at the table next to us. So, they had the waitress get us two clean wine glasses so that they could share with us the red they were drinking. It was pretty hysterical, but they were so right. The red worked much better with the appetizer. For the primi, I had tortelli di zucca (pumpkin ravioli), a specialty dish of Parma. The tortelli came in a butter sauce with parmesan cheese sprinkled over it. There’s absolutely no way I can adequately describe how unbelievably sublime these tortelli were. The pasta was slightly al-dente. The cheese was sharp enough to provide a bite, and the pumpkin filling was sweet but not in an overpowering sort of way. The butter sauce just made it all go down smoothly. After the appetizer, which was enough for two meals, it was an effort and a half to get the dinner down. It was so phenomenal that it seemed that to not finish it would be a carnal sin. Ironically, I’d never felt so gluttonous in my life, eating to the point of actual pain. When we could physically eat no more, the two Italians filled our glasses with their wine again, and we struck up somewhat of a conversation as they barely spoke English. Apparently we left an impression for they had the waitress bring us shots of Jaggermeister on them. It was certainly a meal to remember.

(Tortelli di Zucca)

We tried to walk off our pain on our way back to the hotel. Since we were only staying in Parma for the night, I tried to snap a few pictures of the city on our way back. Initially it seemed a bit ridiculous for us to travel to Parma for dinner and dinner only, but in the end, I am so glad we did.

(Parma at night)

(Parma at night)

Prossima Fermata: Firenze