The Walking Begins

Thursday, Marsh 24, 2011 (Part 2)

Today, we walked . . . and walked . . . and walked.

There are four sections of walking trails between the five Cinque Terre towns. It is the walking trails that bring the tourists to these picturesque, seaside towns. Much to our dismay, however, only one of these trails was officially open today. Of the remaining three trails, one was gated and locked. The other two

were officially closed but unofficially open. Given that these trails were the reason we had come to Cinque Terre, we decided to walk as many as we could get to. So we walked three of the four trails:

(1) from Riomaggio

re to Manarola (called Via dell'Amore);

(2) from Corneglia to Vernazza; and

(3) from Vernazza to Monterosso.

Dad joined us for the Via dell'Amore which is considered the easiest of all the trails. It was, in fact, a very easy stroll. It was a gently sloping, entirely paved path that ran along the hillside above the coastline. This trail was the first of the trails to have been created and it has a history as a "lovers' lane." Along the trail, there are hundreds of locks with names or initials engraved on them that have been affixed to the fence. They have been left there by couples as a sign of their enduring love.