Riomaggiore -> Manarola -> Corniglia

Today does not start well in the morning with gusty rain pouring at around 7.30am in the morning. It is so cold that I can not even stay on the balcony.

We do not mobilise till 2pm. We start tracking from the other end of Cinque Terra. Luckily, at around 4pm, the sky opens up, we decide to take advantage of the good weather and take the alternate red route. The 2.5hr detour takes us around into the forest, up thousands of steps, and gain a panorama view of the beautiful Manarola and Corniglia. Although the track is challenging, we are so happy that the sun is out. Sun in Europe is precious!

Unlike the Spanish who are filled with passion,Italian are lazy, slow, rude, and whatever. None of the guides at the tourist information are helpful; they are actually annoyed to be exact. Their timetable is always minus 10-30min and their infrustructure are desperate for repairs. They would record an announcement for "some train doors are not operational, please make sure you locate a working ones before getting off." These doors must be out of repair for so long that it is easier to record an announcement than fixing them. A lot of Italian villages are really rundown that sometimes I feel like I am in a third world country. Perhaps they have not advanced since Roman time!Read more