Thursday, March 23, 2011 (Part 3)Did I mention that we did a lot of walking Today? And, for the most part, we were walking on trails that were technically closed. At the start of the trail from Cornelia to Vernazza, a gentleman (he looked like he was with the park service -- Cinque Terre is part of a national park) -- told us that the trail was closed and "dangerous" -- in part due to landslides -- but we could go if we wanted to. His mouth said don't go, but his shrug said he wasn't going to stop us, and the entrance was not physically blocked (as we had seen elsewhere). So what is an American tourist who has traveled thousands of miles to hike these trails supposed to do? Katherine and I exchanged a glance, and with little hesitation, we started down the trail.
Ok, so there was some risk, but how bad could it be?
Let me further clarify that we were in the middle of the five Cinque Terre towns - Cornelia. Unlike the other four towns, Cornelia does not sit directly only the water. Rather, it sits at the top of a very high cliff just above the water.
What that means is that getting to Cornelia, on foot, is itself a physical challenge. We arrived at the Cornelia train station and realized we had a decent walk into town. Additionally, we had to maneuver a very long series of staircases to get there. When I say "very long," I mean very, very long. When we arrived at the top of these stairs, there was a sign
that said that we had just climbed 372 steps!
It is hardly surprising that I saw no overweight people in Cornelia -- or, for that matter, anywhere else in Cinque Terre.
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