Hiking in Cinque Terre with kids.

Arriving in Cinque Terre.

How wonderful it must have been to travel the world and discover something unseen or unheard before, although during those times the circumstances for travelling were others, and we should be thankful to belong to a group of people who have the luxury to travel for pleasure, nothing that is pleasurable is really left to discover that hasn’t been seen, photographed, and written about with the outstanding ability of those who were born to do so. So, while the world is divided between those who flee in need of safety, work, or basic necessities, the beaches and cities in our hedonistic world are full of travelers who know how to enjoy themselves. I am no different than them, but I do in a certain level despise myself for it.  For the emptiness my travels in the overall scale of importance carry… none. But in the smaller scale, in the center of one’s existence and meaning they carry the hope of a deeper understanding of oneself, and the transmission to our children of something more important than teaching them how to seek pleasure of life, the possibility of awaking  in them the hunger of knowledge, discovery, sense of adventure, and even the possibility to reflect about life at a young age.

From Corngilia, to San Bandolino, to Vernazza

As I walked the historical trails from Corniglia -San Bandolino- Vernazza-Monterosso with my ten year old, in the silence of our strenuous walk we stumbled into sceneries that no video, photo or text could really ever pay an honest tribute to. Beautiful landscapes of sea, villages, and vineyards that despite the intense pain of heat, makes the traveler stop and admire. For the first time in 11 days of our trip my son took control of the motivation between us, for the last part of our trip between Vernazza and Monetrosso was really challenging for me, perhaps he carries the hiking genetic material of Arild his grandfather who is a great hiker. Aleksander motivated me the last 1.5 hours of the trail; I am after all an asphalt middle age walker, who discovered the pleasures of mountain walking in her not so early adulthood.

From Vernazza to Monterosso

Walking off the tourist paid trail was the best mistake we ever did, it took us to higher ground providing greater view of the sea side, villages and inland of the valleys full of vineyard terraces. We concluded our hike in 4 hours, taking around an hour and a half break in Vernazza where we walked and had lunch in a restaurant while we observed the multitude of tourist taking selfies and saw group after group of organized tours arriving to the tiny village following their guide. We continued to Monterosso, where we greedily drank water from the fountain in the little plaza and then did the last effort to walk to the sea to wash away the sweat and gain some energy before going back by train to the quiet, charming and beautiful village of Corniglia.

Going out for dinner to Manarola, Cinque Terre

We had the intention to take the train to Manarola and Riomaggiore in the evening and try a restaurant in Manarola, but due to train delays we had to drop the trip and stayed in Corniglia for the night. We had a nice dinner in another restaurant close to our accommodation. Next day Lidia the charming owner of the Il Carugiodi Corniglia came to say goodbye to us, we were very pleased with the accommodations, the best of the  six Airbnb we have tried during this trip. Her friendliness, helpful manner and the great accommodation in itself only makes us want to come back and recommend her further. We loved our stay in Corniglia.

Tips:

Stay more than two days if you want to hike and see all the villages.

Walk the Corniglia 365 steps from the train station to the town, they are comfortable easy steps and the views are very pretty.

We did the mistake of doing Vernazza – Monerosso from 12: 40 onwards, I would have enjoyed it more early in the morning or later in the evening.

The trails are safe and there were children hiking as well, the best "Wow’s" so far from my son came from our walk in Cinque Terre.

 Corniglia, Cinque Terre

From Cinque Terre and Rome  15.07.2015