Provincia di La Spezia

We made our way to the Western Coast of Italy, the Italian Riviera. Cinque terre is a series of 5 villages which date back to the 11th century along the rugged Italian Riviera with distinctive colourful buildings up the steep hills. Breathtaking views, cliffside vineyards, scenic hiking trails and bustling harbours. Each village had at least 1 church, always open and masses available on most days at each village. The food … fantastic fresh seafood and delicious pasta and quite partial to a Limoncello Spritz! The down side is that it is either a steep uphill or downhill climb to get anywhere and these are not normal steps. They’ve been built into the rock over hundreds of years and there is no consistency in height, depth, anything so you can’t get into a pattern. Some of the descents are knee wreckers!

Our hostess for the 4 days we had planned here was an eccentric Italian lady and her son. She would always call on video which was rather entertaining if we were not fully dressed! We had to squeeze our car into her garage as there is very little parking with her barking instructions to stop, turn, come, stop. When we asked for directions she would give you the first part and then tell you to video call. She would look at the screen and direct you with No, No just listen …

Tourists move around the villages by train or ferry or hiking trial so every hour or so there is a new wave of arrivals, hundreds at a time squeezing into the small streets.

We stayed at Riomaggiore, the most Southern of the five. The others are Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza and Monterosso al Mare. They are all connected by hiking trial, ferry or train. We did a mixture of all three and enjoyed visiting each of the villages. It has been incredibly hot so the often dipping into the Med has been very welcome. We also visited another close seaside town, Portovenere, which is a little bigger, and has an old castle at the top of the hill with gorgeous views over the village and rugged coast line. There are plenty of narrow lane ways with quaint shops and restaurants.Read more