Kilometres walked : 11.5

Flights Climbed : 132

Tuesday 2nd May, 2023.

With a lovely slow start for my birthday and some Aussie catch up phone calls we decided to walk to Corniglia today which is the next village heading north. Again not really that far away but yet again through mountain goat terrain to reach it. But what lovely terrain it was. Getting our steps up immediately we climbed and climbed and climbed some more.

After passing many beautiful olive groves and grapevines set into the terraces we arrived at Volastra. The cutest village you ever did see. Perched upon the mountain top about an hours walk from Manarola. With views to die for and the prettiest coloured little houses it was just like a postcard. All the gardens were beautifully attended to and lovely old olive trees surrounded the place. We wandered around taking a million photographs and grabbed a very good coffee before setting off on the next section of the trail. God I love Italian coffee. I’ve never drunk so much espresso in my life!

Winding our way through thousands of grapevines covering the hills and with the Ligurian Sea glistening to our left we blissfully walked another two hours to Corniglia. The middle of the five villages along the Cinque Terre. Corniglia is the only one of the five villages that doesn’t have direct sea access. It sits perched upon the top of the cliffs above the Ligurian Sea with majestic views up and down the coast line. Again we encountered a very cute and pretty village with lots of colour, flowers, grapevines, olives, gelato, trattorias, views, lemons, alleyways, steep staircases, the obligatory church and thousands of tourists. Oh my god, where do they all come from? I know we are travellers as well but I can’t say I’ve ever encountered so many other tourists on our travels previously. But who can blame them, the world is their oyster and it should always be rediscovered and adventured.

Admitting defeat instead of walking back the way we came we caught the train back to Manarola so we could save our energy for tomorrow’s hike. Had a lovely home cooked pasta dish on the terrace and a limoncello for dessert while the sun set. It’s the simple things in life that matter! Happy Birthday to me……