Day 16 Cinque Terre.

A wonderful day spent exploring the Cinque Terre villages. We started with great coffee and a croissant at a cafe before buying Cinque Terre cards which gives access to the national park walks and trains and toilets! We set off on the trek at 9 15. It took us from Vernazza to Monterosso. It was a very steep climb out of the village but views were quickly spectacular. The whole walk took 2 hours including a stop at a cafe/bar in the middle of nowhere. It was only 7 kms, but 550 stairs, 62 floors up and down!!! 10,00 steps ( ours). The track was dry and dusty and had mainly rocky steps and it was very high and very narrow in places. Also it was very busy. We finally made it to Monterosso which was a more commercialised village with a swimming beach along with 100s of rentable umbrellas. The beach and water looked beautiful but not an inch of space to be found. We had a nice lunch and caught the train to the third village, Coriglia. It was a beautiful little village but the only one without a marina and it was perched on cliffs above us. It required us to climb yet another 350 steps on a zig zag path to reach the centre. It was full of character and we wondered up and down the alley ways before stopping at a bar with an amazing view for a drink. We then headed back down for the train to Vernazza where we organised ourselves for our Sunset cruise. We left at 6 30 pm and returned at 9 pm after the most beautiful trip out into the Mediterranean on a small 10 person open boat to view both the sunset and all the little villages from the water. David had a swim off the boat and there were drinks and nibbles. It was truly beautiful. When we arrived back we had a pizza at a restaurant and sat talking to a couple from north London for another hour. Apart from the tough start to staying here, we have loved it although it has always felt like we were in a completely different world.Read more