Off to Corniglia

Charmelle & I went down to the station and planned to go to La Spezia and then stop at Riomaggiore and then home. However, our train was delayed 40 minutes, so we went to Corniglia, which is the next town up.
I guess I should explain Cinque Terre a little. There are 5 villages along the shore of the Ligurian Sea. The villages are connected via trains and trails. With Charmelle on crutches trains are the best option. Going from north to south the towns go in this order:

Monterosso: A big beach town and very tourist focused.
Vernazza: Slightly smaller town and has lots of shops. Just suffered huge mud slides this spring.
Corniglia: Sits high atop the hill above the train and the water. Great little restaurants and views.
Manarola: The city is build into the hill side and seems to rise up from the sea.
Riomaggiore: The least tourist focused town with murals and a little more of an outdoor focus, kayak and bike rentals, etc.

We were really happy to see there is a shuttle that will take you up the very steep hill to town from the train station. €1 each was worth every penny. I wish they had this in Manarola. It would make Charmelle's life a lot easier.
We had more great views of the sea and the vineyards. Then we wandered up into the narrow alley filled with restaurants and a few shops. What a wonderful day. We made it out to a lookout for a photo op, and then headed back in for lunch. Manarola is between our heads.




We stopped into a little place thinking we would have a starter (appetizer) there, then continue down to another for another course, but we were happy and full after our starter. We had an anchovy medley. They are caught fresh each day and prepared in ways that would make all of us that are used to really salty canned fish rethink them. These were unbelievable. We enjoyed them with fresh bread and Charmelle had an Italian beer.




The doors of Corniglia caught my eye. So for some reason, I started taking pictures of some of them. Here are a few that I just found interesting.

More on Murren

Murren is a nice little town. Actually, it's quite a bit bigger than Gimmelwald. There are only 125 residents in Gimmelwald, so Murren feels like a big metropolis. They have restaurants, a grocery, spots stores, and miscellaneous shops.

Jo, JJ, and I came back down to Murren and had emailed Charmelle from Suppenalp while having coffee to take the cable car up and meet us. Once we arrived back in Murren, we found out Charmelle had walked up to Murren!


She is a crazy woman, but I love her. She was waiting for us in a little restaurant. The three of us were hungry from our hike, so we enjoyed a local standard. I'm not sure how to spell or say what it is actually called, but it was good! Hash browns made of of something like Yukon Gold potatoes, with cheese cooked into them, topped with a couple of fried eggs. Don't judge until you've had a nice hike in the Alps and have an opportunity like this one. Yummy!

A wet walk around Gimmelwald

After a nice long night and a couple more big thunderstorms, we got up and decided to check things out. We grabbed a nice European breakfast down stairs: fresh bread, butter & jam, OJ, Swiss cheese, and hot cocoa.
One thing is certain, the beds are not made for anyone over 5'8". My head touches one end and my feet hit the other with my knees bent. So I to tossed and turned a little, but still slept well.


Jo & JJ were not up, so we decided to wander down the hill to Gimmelwald. Walter's is a 15 minute walk up from town, so with Charm crutches, it's a little more of an adventure. When we arrived yesterday, we took the trail (shortest distance). This morning she and I took the road. It was raining and we figured the road would be easier. We were right. Plus, there were some great views. Here are a few of the local critters trying to stay out of the rain. And then there are the crazy humans that think Gore-tex is all you need.






Once we arrived in town, we enjoyed the Honesty Shop (Europe's first unattended village shop). Then we hit the Pension for lunch, make that a yummy lunch! We chatted with the Australian bartender and enjoyed mountain veggie soup and an assortment of cheeses, meats, and pickles. It was outstanding. Charmelle went on another successful fly hunting expedition and we enjoyed chatting and taking in the scenery.




The walk back up the road wasn't too bad. The rain had stopped and the views were even more amazing.












On the way back up, we saw Charmelle's next investment coming down t road from above. She thinks this would be a good idea, I don't know about that.




We got back to Walter's as Jo & JJ were heading out. The weather tomorrow is supposed to be clear and nice. We plan to head up to Murren and take in some more sights.

On the way to Gimmelwald

We really did take three trains, a bus, and a cable car. The mass transit




system here is something to be respected. Things run on time, they are clean and so far they are understandable. I've included a few photos of the journey. There are Jo, JJ, and Charmelle heading to another train.




The first two trains were about an hour each. Then we had a short trip of about 20 minutes. After that we packed into a bus for 15 minutes to the cable car. The cable car was pretty empty. One passenger mentioned that it is cheek-to-cheek during ski season. We enjoyed a nice quiet ride up.




We are sitting about 4,000 ft above sea level here. As you can see from the photos, it's a little cloudy today, but still quite amazing.

Location:Gimmelwald, Switzerland