Cinque Terre: single trails with a sea view. The travel guide at home in Munich had quickly persuaded us to take a short trip. However, all the accommodation was closed in November, explained the lady from the tourist office on the phone. All except for one guesthouse in Monterosso: Renzo. He would open his house for us again. We count the bends. Sure enough, after the third bend at three o'clock in the morning, a figure in a bathrobe appears in the headlights.
The railway is the main means of transport in the Cinque Terre. Monterosso is one of five villages that cling like eagles' nests to the rugged rocky coast of Liguria. The coast is so steep that the farmers had to stack their fields on top of each other in terraces. The villages also have hardly any space: interlocking houses leave only narrow alleyways, so you often have to be careful not to bump into anything on your bike. The only way to get from village to village by car is via winding little cul-de-sacs that branch off from the main road at the top of the mountain. Or directly by train or bike. On the wild Ligurian coast between Genoa and La Spezia, there are a number of well-maintained Sentieri. The most famous of these is the Via dell'Amore. Carved into the rock in 1930 as a connecting route between Manarola and Riomaggiore, today many couples in love hike along this path right by the sea. Those who are tired take the train back. We have a similar plan: from Monterosso to Riomaggiore. Only twelve kilometres, but lots of steps and a few tough climbs.
