Right outside the doorstep of our apartment in Manarola, we climbed to the vineyard trail that runs around Manarola to begin our first big hike in the Cinque Terre, a trail that goes to Corniglia via Volastra. Corniglia is the next town up in the Cinque Terre from Manarola. (If you think of the Cinque Terre as five fingers, Corniglia is the middle finger.) And Volastra is the village that sits on top of the hill that divides Manarola and Corniglia.

Up, Up, Up in to the sunlight and above the colored houses of Manarola.

To the nativity that overlooks Manarola and beyond, into the vineyards above.

We could see where we were headed to the north, the town of Corniglia on the next “finger” up along the coast. She beckoned to us from her perch on the top of the rocks.

We climbed high over the vineyards to Volastra before dropping down to Corniglia. 

We were happy to see the blue, blue sea below. 

Every once in a while I would turn back and see how high we had come above Manarola.

Signs lets us know how far we had to go.

And vineyards leveled off at the top of the ridge.  

First time to be wearing short sleeves in a long, long time. We were thrilled to see the sunshine in Italy.

Below the vineyards, we could see the train tracks running from tunnel to tunnel. It’s an impressive network running through the mountains to each of these villages. 

Manarola is almost too far away to see now. 

We followed the red and white markings all along the trails. 

And soon we were dropping closer to Corniglia.

Steep stairs and paths down into the village.

A square for resting and a spot to see the sea.

First order of business in Corniglia: gelato, of course. 

And next: Lunch. 

I’m not sure which was better: eating outside for the first time in months or having pizza spread with fresh pesto. 

After lunch we wandered around Corniglia.

We found all the best spots to see the sea. 

This is the square we had lunch in behind our viewing spot.

Hello sunshine.

I loved how this region is just soaked in color.

After lunch, Ben hiked back to Manarola the way we came. He loved the trail we had walked and said he was happy to walk it again

Down the steps we went to try to find the train station back to Manarola.

We had read that there were 365 steps down to the train station, so we just started descending steps until we reached the sea.

It seemed super deserted, and I vaguely wondered why there were not more people coming up the steps from the train station.

When we got down to the sea, we realized that we had taken the wrong steps. 

We were in an isolated fishing harbor. 

We sat for a minute and enjoyed being so close to the water, and then we tried to find the a way to the train station without going back up the steps.

It was a no go.

We climbed all the way back up to Corniglia.

When Mama gets that lost, there are second helpings of gelato.

Then we found the right set of stairs to the train station. 

And back to Manarola where Ben had been waiting for ages for us, wondering what had taken us so long.

PS. Here’s a little vine of our day of hiking from Manrola to Corniglia!

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