Le Cinque Terre
The "Cinque Terre" is arguably one of the most beautiful stretches of the Italian Riviera.
It is made up of 5 villages (Monterosso, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola and Riomaggiore) picturesquely positioned on a very narrow strip of land between the sea and the rocky hills.
The houses in these villages are huddled together, leaning on each other almost as if they needed mutual support to stand and to stop from sliding down into the sea.
Only one (Monterosso) has a proper beach
while the others have such small harbours that the boats are pulled up in the street.
The villages were built in the 11th century and could only be accessed by boat or via narrow paths for many centuries.
They were quite poor once (the only income came from fishing and the cultivation of olives, grapes and lemons on the men-built terrazze) but now tourism had given them a new lease of life.
The Cinque Terre are a National Park and a Unesco World Heritage Site and this means of course overcrowding in spring and summer.
I had never been there - although I travelled along that stretch of coast many times as it's on the main railway line that links Genova to Pisa. But if you are on a fast train you see very little: only flashes of light and intense blue when the train occasionally emerges from the long tunnels [it must have been quite a feat of engineering in the 1860s/1870s].
The best way to visit is by train: we parked our car in La Spezia and we were in Riomaggiore 8 minutes later. The villages are 2 minutes apart by train and the trains are quite frequent (one or two every hour, although not at regular intervals).
We didn't visit Riomaggiore but set off straight away on the "Via dell'Amore" to Manarola (it turned out that it was the only stretch of the "Via Blu" path opened - the other parts were closed due to a number of landslides).
The Via dell'Amore is sadly covered with graffiti (I know that a number of you like graffiti but, with a few exceptions, I am not a great fan) and strewn with rather unsightly "love padlocks" .
We stopped at the bar halfway along the walk
and we were joined by a sweet little robin (that was after some crumbs)
We walked around Manarola,
then hopped on the train to Corniglia where we just missed the shuttle bus and had to walk up to the village perched 100 m above the sea.
As it is high up, we enjoyed some more lovely views of the coast and the sea.
The next village - Vernazza - was also very beautiful:
It was a wonderful day trip!
It is made up of 5 villages (Monterosso, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola and Riomaggiore) picturesquely positioned on a very narrow strip of land between the sea and the rocky hills.
The houses in these villages are huddled together, leaning on each other almost as if they needed mutual support to stand and to stop from sliding down into the sea.
Only one (Monterosso) has a proper beach
while the others have such small harbours that the boats are pulled up in the street.
The villages were built in the 11th century and could only be accessed by boat or via narrow paths for many centuries.
They were quite poor once (the only income came from fishing and the cultivation of olives, grapes and lemons on the men-built terrazze) but now tourism had given them a new lease of life.
The Cinque Terre are a National Park and a Unesco World Heritage Site and this means of course overcrowding in spring and summer.
I had never been there - although I travelled along that stretch of coast many times as it's on the main railway line that links Genova to Pisa. But if you are on a fast train you see very little: only flashes of light and intense blue when the train occasionally emerges from the long tunnels [it must have been quite a feat of engineering in the 1860s/1870s].
The best way to visit is by train: we parked our car in La Spezia and we were in Riomaggiore 8 minutes later. The villages are 2 minutes apart by train and the trains are quite frequent (one or two every hour, although not at regular intervals).
We didn't visit Riomaggiore but set off straight away on the "Via dell'Amore" to Manarola (it turned out that it was the only stretch of the "Via Blu" path opened - the other parts were closed due to a number of landslides).
The Via dell'Amore is sadly covered with graffiti (I know that a number of you like graffiti but, with a few exceptions, I am not a great fan) and strewn with rather unsightly "love padlocks" .
We stopped at the bar halfway along the walk
and we were joined by a sweet little robin (that was after some crumbs)
We walked around Manarola,
then hopped on the train to Corniglia where we just missed the shuttle bus and had to walk up to the village perched 100 m above the sea.
As it is high up, we enjoyed some more lovely views of the coast and the sea.
The next village - Vernazza - was also very beautiful:
It was a wonderful day trip!