That first sip of cloudberry liqueur is sooo good. Sitting on our little terrace with my feet up, I watch the activity in the piazza below us. The last walkers are catching the bus to the station, a young couple are sitting outside the bar opposite enjoying their wine in the sunshine, the first people are having dinner at the restaurant near us. Someone is playing melodies on the church bells: it's a tune I know but I just can't place it. Our first full day at Cinque Terre and we walked from here in Corniglia to the next village east, Manarola. Colin tells me it will take 45 minutes to get to the top of the hill and then an hour from there to Manarola. We set out and start to climb, and climb AND CLIMB!! The steps are narrow and steep and there are plenty of walkers from all nationalities. Passing those going in the opposite direction is sometimes tricky. The book wasn't kidding when it said 45 minutes! It is a beautiful day for walking - warm and sunny with a bright blue sky. The views of Corniglia and the coastline are truly magnificent. We can see the ferries and yachts sailing along the coastline. Finally we reach the peak and the pathway levels out as we walk towards Manarola. It wouldn't be more than 40cm wide and there is a sheer drop on one side for most of the way. While I'm not afraid of heights, there are times when I just keep my eyes on my feet and the path and don't even consider looking to my right and over the edge! Now almost the entire hillside is terraced with grapevines. All of a sudden, a house appears in front of us and the path takes us right through their front yard. There is a terrace with tables and chairs surrounded by roses, tulips and red geraniums. Two young boys are playing soccer on the lawn. Most people greet each other as they meet on the path, "bongiorno", "bonjour", "hello", "howdy", etc. We usually say "g'day" because it's nice occasionally to find another Aussie. By this stage we have been walking for 2 hours, Colin has just decided he read the map incorrectly and 'missed' a whole two hour section! I say 'g'day' to the next couple we meet and they are Australian! (The first we have come across). They tell us we are only five minutes from a trattoria in the tiny village of Volastra where they had just eaten a delicious lunch of gnocchi with seafood and asparagus. They try to direct us but in the end, walk us back so we won't miss it. I don't think we would have found it otherwise. We order the same dish and it is delicious. Given the path we are on, we decide to have sparkling water instead of wine. From Volastra (we are now nearly 400 metres above sea level) we now begin following the steps down. Some of these are even narrower than before and STEEP! Wow! Down and down we go and four and a half hours after we left home we are at Manarola station waiting for the train back to Corniglia. It was a fabulous walk! The station is really crowded with walkers and the train is packed. It's just like Town Hall station in Sydney at 5:30pm! We arrive at Corniglia and decide to walk the 380 steps from the station UP to the little piazza and our apartment! But first a gelato........