Did someone tell us that you're supposed to allow a day to walk between each village? Was it you, Cath? Well, we've sprung you, and found out on that, on that basis, you'd have a LOT of drinking time left over. Sue said that my relaxed attitude wasn't good enough, so we set out this morning from Levanto with our €10 train/park access ticket (good value) and headed to Riomaggiore via the “scenic” rail route (NOT – it's mostly in tunnels). After checking out Riomaggiore, we did the first part of the coastal walk (on the via Dell Amore = “Lover's walk”) to Manarola. This is a relatively flat walk (after an initial set of steps), hugging the cliffs, and quite spectacular. I think it was Paul who told me that it was originally built to access an explosives magazine, but it's now crowded with tourists. Then by train to Corniglia (would have done this anyway, but for the record the walking path is closed due to collapses - EDIT - this refers to the coastal path. You can still walk between the towns, but via the longer inland route). Catch – Corniglia is 382 steps UP from the station. Yes, there is a bus that saves you the effort of walking up the hill (as we had been told), and what's more the cost is included in your park access ticket BUT this is Italy and the bus only runs once an hour and of course we missed it by 10 minutes. So we earned the lunch we had there. Then down the steps again, train to Vernazza, had a look around, and then again to Monterossa, and finally back to Levanto. So, you can see we did all 5 villages in a day, and checked out each one. Each village is different in its own way, and the whole coast is indeed picturesque. As a comment, we were less impressed by Monterosso than by the other villages, as Monterosso is more of a resort town (but that's not to say it doesn't have it's own appeal).
Just a couple of practical points: first, check out the train schedules as you go, to save waiting around (the service is OK, but there can be quite long gaps). Secondly, there are free and reasonably adequate WCs at each station. Thirdly, there are ticket checks at both ends on the via Dell Amore, and if you don't have a ticket (for example, because you've only got a ferry pass), you'll have to pay €10 anyway (although the ticket you then get presumably covers the train as well).
A few other, more general comments, for the record. Breakfasts - I had read that Italians regarded a coffee and roll as adequate. Well, in the hotels where we've had breakfasts included (Venice, Lucca and Levanto, they've all been great buffets. In Lucca, it included chocolate cake, and both there and here in Levanto, there have been Tuscan baked apples (these are in addition to scrambles and boiled eggs, prosciutto and other cold cuts, cheeses, muesli etc etc). Freight trains - in an earlier post, I commented on these, but at least on the Cinque Terre line, I've seen a couple, and with bogie wagons. Church bells - everywhere we've stayed, there have been bells at about 7 am (but only once or twice later in the day) - just enough to wake you up. Foreign cars - when walking around, I do have moments to occupy (hint - Sue keeps an eye on the shops!), but in the inner urban areas where we've been, I've seen hardly any non-Italian number plates. In fact, even the Italian plates are very often local. Given the fact that almost every Italian town that we've walked around has extensive "ZTLs" (no-go areas except for local cars), it's not hard to understand why non-local cars give a miss to the inner urban areas.
A few other, more general comments, for the record. Breakfasts - I had read that Italians regarded a coffee and roll as adequate. Well, in the hotels where we've had breakfasts included (Venice, Lucca and Levanto, they've all been great buffets. In Lucca, it included chocolate cake, and both there and here in Levanto, there have been Tuscan baked apples (these are in addition to scrambles and boiled eggs, prosciutto and other cold cuts, cheeses, muesli etc etc). Freight trains - in an earlier post, I commented on these, but at least on the Cinque Terre line, I've seen a couple, and with bogie wagons. Church bells - everywhere we've stayed, there have been bells at about 7 am (but only once or twice later in the day) - just enough to wake you up. Foreign cars - when walking around, I do have moments to occupy (hint - Sue keeps an eye on the shops!), but in the inner urban areas where we've been, I've seen hardly any non-Italian number plates. In fact, even the Italian plates are very often local. Given the fact that almost every Italian town that we've walked around has extensive "ZTLs" (no-go areas except for local cars), it's not hard to understand why non-local cars give a miss to the inner urban areas.
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