We are only here for one night, and its for a simple purpose: to walk the newly re-opened Via del amore, the path of love. We’ve added this stop after reading a news article about this coastal walking track cut into the cliffs which has been closed for nearly 12 years, and literally only opened this month.
As we walk up the hill from the train station to where we thought our accomodation was, we enjoy the cuteness of the brightly coloured town houses up the main street, but also quickly realise we are back in tourism hell.
Despite good reviews on HostelWorld, we arrived at the hostel’s “location” to find that our room was actually a solid 15min walk, more than 1km away, and entirely uphill. By the time we had passed the big church on the hill, reached the castle bell tower, passed that, and continued along the road to our room, we were well out of the city but definitely still paying city prices… in cash… oh and there was no air conditioning (with a nighttime minimum of 26 deg C), no kitchen facilities (despite the hostel listing as having them) and the light in the room didn’t even work.
Thankfully the town itself made up for the frankly pretty appalling hostel, with its cute streets, beautiful views and great vibe as we rock-hopped our way around the shoreline. With an outside temperature of 37 deg C, the water was perfect for a quick swim as we shared a cheap bottle of white wine from a takeaway bar halfway up the hill.
Unfortunately it seemed that the Via del amore was actually not opened as expected, and only opened to locals, with visitor access open only from August 9, but we were there on August 7th and 8th. Worst still, this supposed access required bookings of 100 people every 15min and required a guide, completely destroying any chance of a romantic walk.
However, luckily after dinner and a couple of glasses (bottles) of wine, David and Dory felt game enough to just walk down there and have a go anyway. It seemed to be opened, with a security guard at the end, but nothing stopping us from simply walking into Amoredor.
It was a beautiful walk as we finished our last glass of wine, then turned back when we reached the next town and train station at Manarola.
The next morning we shared a lovely breakfast at our favourite “Old School” cafe before we’re back on the train, next stop Roma!
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