Corniglia - get ready to climb

Corniglia - I think this means 'land of many steps' in Italian!  Corniglia, unlike the other towns of The Cinque Terre that I have talked about so far, is not directly adjacent to the sea..... it is on the top of a hill and to get there you have to transverse this set of steps:

 They call this the Lardarina.  It is a brick step walk way that is made up of 33 flights for a total of 382 Steps.  Now I know what you are thinking....there has to be another way to get there.  And you would be right!  There is a main road that serpentines its way up to the town, you can walk that way - no stairs but you are still walking all up hill.  Also, there is a small bus --maybe 20 people can ride in it, that runs up the road, but it doesn't seem to have a regular schedule and there are always people waiting to get on it.  After a train ride to get there, the last thing I want to do is get on a small hot bus.  So I climbed!  It is really not too bad if you just take it slow and easy.  There are a couple of benches along the way if you want to stop and sit.  Besides, it is a great way to work off all the pasta & wine.

Once you get to the top, you can walk through the town which is as lovely as the other towns, just smaller.  There are shops, restaurants and of course gelato to cool you down after you hike up to the town.  Make your way through the winding streets and you will end up at a beautiful look out area

From up here you can see the other 4 towns, two on each side.  The view is lovely and worth the hike.  Just remember to have your water with you, as you will defiantly need it for the hike up the stairs.

We did not spend a lot of time here as we had already been to another stop earlier in the day, and honestly I was a bit spent and looking forward to getting back 'home' to Vernazza and just kicking back.  So I will just leave you with one last nice picture of Corniglia and say good night!

Tomorrow we will see Riomaggiore, the last town of The Cinque Terre