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The Cinque Terre Trail System - What to Expect When You Walk the Cinque Terre

By James Martin, About.com

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The Cinque Terre Trail to Corniglia - - We Take the Hard Way

cinque terre trail picture

Above Corniglia at the intersection of trails 6d and 7a

James Martin
Ok, so here are a group of 50 somethings who've decided that the little lines on the map can't be a really bad thing. Usually, taking the blue trail, the walk between Manarola and Corniglia takes about 1 and a half hours. But once you pass Manarola's hostel, you see another side of the Cinque Terre. I mean, what could we have been thinking? There's a reason that the grape vines we see are so radically terraced, no?

So it's steep. Luckily there are college kids on the trail. Some of them are whining. There's nothing like someone half your age whining about their exertion level to put some oxygen in your blood and a lilt to your step. So on we went, right up to the little village at the top, where the sign next to this church told us where to go for the village of Corniglia, or for trinkets. We chose the village, mostly because we were hungry.

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