Our final stop in Italy for the trip is just outside the Cinque Terre in Tramonti National Park. It’s one I’ve been both looking forward to but with a little trepidation as it’s very remote and kind of basic (no mains electricity – just 12 volt battery run off a solar panel, outdoor shower and gas powered fridge) but at the same time very cute and thoughtfully decorated. There’s also no WiFi but fortunately our visit coincides with the end of roaming charges across the EU meaning we can now call, text and surf the internet across Europe using our home phone package. This benefit brought to us courtesy of the EU so we’ll probably loose it in about 18 months when we crash out of the trade area without a deal (which seems all but inevitable given the chaos our government is currently in.
But back to the accommodation… there are also no roads so we must trek in from a parking area 10 mins walk away. We meet our host Alissa at a prearranged spot, about 15mins drive away. When she sees our car she declares that we had better park at the first car park and we soon see why, the second one is down some rough and rocky road – the Mazda was not built for that! From there it’s a steep walk down to the house and a further 25 min steep walk down to the beach. The house was originally a wine store built in 800AD… 1025 years older than our house!! Alissa’s husband’s family bought it in the 1960’s and added an upper floor and made it fit for habitation. It’s obviously a holiday place for them, and what a brilliant pad to have! There are at least a couple of days supply of food included; plenty of fresh fruit, tomatoes, fennel, onion and garlic, plus fresh and dried pasta, rice, pesto, preserved mushrooms, tins of fish, tomatoes and chickpeas, lots of biscuits, wafers and long life cakes / cornetti, local olive oil and balsamic, plus a full wine rack of locally made wine and homemade lemoncello, grappa and blueberry liquor – we are self-sufficient for at least a couple of days.
We are staying about 300m up from the sea which now has the appearance of looking down from a plane. Huge boats look like toys and the waves look like minor ripples. It’s sunny and it’s hot so we grab the snorkels and follow the path past the grapevines, down to the water. It only takes 20 minutes and we dive in. The waves are now much bigger with big swell coming in from the sea. In reality it’s just that we are closer, the waves were probably always this big. The return journey however takes us over 45 minutes, requiring many rest stops in the shade. We feel the effect of this strenuous walk in our thighs for the next few days!
The Cinque Terre is unlike Tramonti, although the terrain is similar the crowds are an unwelcome addition. We drive in to Riomaggiore and wander down the labyrinth of passages towards the harbour, so far so lovely, but being a one street tourist town everyone is concentrated in the centre. After the tranquility of Tramonti it is a bit of a jolt to be dropped back into full on tourism.
We drive on, along some lovely twisty roads to Corniglia which is much higher and requires some effort to get to from the train line that serves the five towns. This is much more our thing and we take some apperitivi overlooking over the sea which reminds us that we love tapenade, especially in the sun with a glass of chilled local white wine.
From Corniglia we descend the 365 steps and take the train on to Vernazza for a dip in the sea at a beach that was carved out during the horrific floods of 2011 . It’s a good spot, plenty of fish to see in the rocky bay but the devastation of the flood is still obvious and will no doubt be fresh in the minds of the locals for decades to come. Vernazza feels to touristy for us and we head back up to Corniglia for lunch and then a return to tranquil Tramonti.
On our last day at Tramonti we walk up to the nearby village of Campiglia for lunch using the local walking trails. This feels much more authentic than the Cinque Terre and is a delight offering frequent shade, beautiful views and we basically get it to ourselves. The paths meander all over the fertile hillside terraces and we beat a much shorter ‘Ben diversion’ on the way back through forest and numerous vine plantations.
We are sad to leave our haven on Tramonti – Alissa, our host, has been so welcoming and the place is divine. It’s somewhere we’d love to return to in the future.