I hiked from Manarola to Corniglia today. The usual trail is closed, so I did a long one that went up the mountain behind Manarola to a little village called Volastra. There are streams everywhere ( you can see and hear them running underneath the towns as well) and the trail goes through people's yards and farms. It was cloudy and cool today, but that didn't keep me from sweating during the climb up to Volastra. Volastra is a tiny village that smells of fermented grapes. I explored a little until I got stared down by an older woman, so I turned around and found my way to the Santuario di Nostra Signora della Salute. Apparently each of the towns is associated with a sanctuary up on the hill. I wanted to visit all 5 but only made it to the one in Vernazza and Manarola. The trail from Volastra stretched to another little hill town and then descended to Corniglia. The first stretch is through hills of vineyards. The trail is very narrow, to one side are all the grape vines growing in rows, and the other side just drops, it's almost like walking on the edge of a cliff. After the long stretch of vineyards there is a lush forest, with moss and vines and ferns everywhere, and then eventually the trail descends steeply toward Corniglia. And of course, lovely views along the way of Manarola, Corniglia and the sea. Altogether I hiked for about 2.5 hrs. I wandered around Corniglia a bit, very small town, then took the train to Monterosso. I walked around there, trying to find a sandwich place that had been recommended to me, but I had no luck. At that point the beauty and romance of the area started to wear of since I was hungry and tired, my legs were shaky, and there were herds of tour groups everywhere. I returned to a focaccia place by the station that I'd eaten at the day before and sat and watched the people and the sea( if you haven't noticed yet, Liguria is plentiful with pesto and focaccia. I returned to Manarola for a much needed shower at the hostel, then was hoping to get a gelato but the gelateria is closed. So sad. I'm too tired to walk around at this point so I will just rest until the shops open up after their afternoon riposo.
