We were looking forward to visiting the five villages of Cinque Terre having read so much about it and seen so many photos including ones Lisa had taken a few years ago. Sea Princess docked at Livorno and many of the excursions were going to Tuscany to visit Florence, Pisa and San Gimignano all fabulous places to visit, one tour was even calling into the town of Greve where we stayed in a castle for a week a few years ago. Hence we chose to go to Cinque Terre having missed it when we were in Tuscany.
When our daughter Lisa went to Cinque Terre she walked the several kilometres from village to village along a mountainside track entering each village as locals had done for eons and enjoying the natural character and ambience of the area.
Apparently a couple of years ago a massive landslide covered a lot of the pathway and for reasons best known to the Italian government it has never been cleared away and the pathway remains closed. Access to the isolated communities can be made by a train that runs along the coastline through numerous tunnels and even connects with Rome in the south. Motor launch is another means of connection if the weather permits and a narrow winding road gives access to a couple of villages.
Our coach took us to Manarola one of the first of the five villages making up this World Heritage area. You still have a lot of walking to do up and down and in places steps but we travelled along the coast on a launch and that was interesting and scenic and in one centre we caught the train to the next centre, I think more for the novelty than anything else. There was something lacking by not being able to walk the connecting pathways, I'm not sure what it was, perhaps it was too clinical and organised. It was very crowded top tourist time crowds everywhere and hot as hell. Maybe the fact we couldn't do the walk was a blessing with the heat, but then we were unable to whinge about the climbing and I couldn't go crook at Nancy for being so slow - sad.
Don't get me wrong we still loved it although it was as hot as hell and the drive to and from Livorno to Cinque Terre was great also.
I have attached some photos of the region.
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| On some properties they have a mono rail system they use for moving things around the slopes |
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| Our lovely guide |
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| Narrow streets |
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| Intriguing alleyways |
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| Fishing boats are pulled up into the village |
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| Beautiful traditional Mediterranean fishing boats |
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| The boat ramp |
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| One of the landslides |
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| Not exactly Bondi Beach |
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| Umbrellas anyone |
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| Where there is a gap in the mountain put in a railway station |
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| The road was so narrow buses and cars had to reverse back and forth to get past |
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| Marble bearing mountains |
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| Marble factories |
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