After a bit of a sleep in, we ate our breakfast at the supposed number one restaurant in Vernazza – II Pirata della Cinque Terre, or “The Two Pirates”. Conveniently for us, it’s directly underneath our room, so it wasn’t terribly hard to find! Our breakfast consisted of some freshly made pastries, espresso, and some blood-orange juice, and though it was no Full English with HP, I certainly wasn’t complaining. We had read that the hosts – two Sicilian identical twin brothers – were quite entertaining, and they didn’t let us down, making us laugh a number of times whilst we dined.
The day’s weather wasn’t looking too promising, but we didn’t let that hold us back, as we wanted to cover the 1.5hr (or so) hike to Corniglia, the next town to the south. Only a few minutes in, and already having climbed up a decent chunk of steps, we were rewarded with amazing views back over Vernazza.
Unfortunately, the first 10 mintues of our hike were about all that we had without rain; from there on in, it drizzled the entire time, making the already difficult terrain quite challenging! Who’d have thought that rain would make smooth rocks slippery? Thankfully, no spills though, and after more steps carved into the side of a hill than I care to remember, we eventually made if safely to Corniglia. After a quick stroll around the town (and a quick cache!), we found a little restaurant and tucked into a pesto pizza for lunch. Mmmm…. oily goodness….
Our plans for the afternoon were to keep on walking down to the next town (Manarola), but it turns out that the rain had plans of it’s own: to fall, fall, and keep on falling. While we were wiping the pesto and cheese from our chins, the rain became almost torrential, to the point where the owners had to shut all the doors to the restaurant to stop the water from flooding in!
The moment we saw a break in the storm, we paid our bill and headed on our way. After about 20 minutes, we came across a friendly Swedish guy – who I can only presume was a chef. He shook his head and looked at us disspointingly, then said “closed. closed.”. I wasn’t entirely sure what he meant, but his wife then clarified, saying “The trail is closed”. I was still confused – I mean, I don’t exactly speak Swedish – but Kristy managed to figure out that what the meant was: the trails had been closed (due to the weather).
Defeated, we turned around and followed the chef back towards Corniglia. We watched in awe as he proceeded to sell the same story to everyone that he came across; so much so that he amassed quite a gathering by the time we got to the train station! He should have seized the opportunity and whipped us all up a nice snack! But alas, we went without, and instead hopped the train back to Vernazza, to take a well earned rest in our room.
So now all we can do is sit and wait for the rain to clear, in the hopes that the trails will re-open and we can continue on our journey. But given that the path outside our building has become a rapidly flowing stream, I don’t really like our chances!
3 comments
I’m so jealous you met a Muppet on your trip!
Here are a few random memories and comments from this trip, and here seemed as good a place as any to capture them.
Calla lillies grow wild around here. I’ve never seen that before, but they look incredible springing up alongside streams or through cracks in pavements.
People call down to the street from their second floor windows. It makes it seem like everyone knows everyone else.
Dogs wear pearls and babies wear Dior. Seriously. We sat beside a group of Italians around our age and marvelled at their chihuahua’s jewels and their baby’s good taste.
It rains properly here! Not like the drizzly rain we’ve become accustomed to in England. It reminded me of the proper, loud, soaking rains of Aus.
Church bells chime the half hour (not the quarter hour, G). The chiming bells seem to transport you to another time, when life was simpler. Aaaah, Italy.
[...] Once again, we had trouble finding a park – school holidays is not a good time to be in Cornwall – but finally we did, and we hiked down the hill to the beach. It was a lovely town, and walking through all the narrow streets and then emerging at a scenic viewpoint reminded me a lot of Corniglia. [...]