As the day was forecast to be our hottest so far yesterday, we decided to catch an early bus to the start of our walk, the village of Biassa. From there we aimed to walk to Col del Telegrafo, an ancient mountain pass, and then down to Riomaggiore, the most easterly of the Cinque Terre.
What we weren’t expecting was for our bus stop to have been taken out of action for the Friday market. However, after following a stall holder’s direction, and a run, we managed to catch the bus we wanted.
Once in Biassa, we followed some white and red trail markings, to a cacophony of barking dogs (one starts, then a second, and after a third, takes over) but when we reached a road, we realised we were on the wrong path, but the end point, Telegrafo, would be the same.
From Telegrafo the signs were good and the trail, an old mule track, took us along terraces of vineyards and down steep steps.
Only a quarter of the old terraced plots are still cultivated as more and more young people are choosing not to work on the land.
Once we got to Riomaggiore, we continued our descent down the long, narrow street leading to the harbour. The name ‘Riomaggiore’ derives from the stream, Rivas Maior (biggest river) that flows under the road, but which was in view until the early twentieth century. The houses were connected by bridges and Riomaggiore thus became known as ‘Little Venice’.
After a wonderful fish lunch at a harbour-side restaurant (me: spaghetti with anchovies, Mark: bream) we caught the train back to La Spezia.
The path to the next village, Manarola, has been named ‘Via dell’Amore’ for being the place that the young people from the two villages met up, but sadly has been closed since 2012 when a landslide caused injury to four tourists.
Tortoise Travel 