Cinque Terre

I have always wanted to visit Cinque Terre and today was the day. Our coach took us to the beautiful seaside town/municipality of Porto Venere which is located on the Ligurian coast of Italy in the province of La Spezia. It comprises the three villages of Fezzano, Le Grazie and Porto Venere, and the three islands of Palmaria, Tino and Tinetto. In 1997 Porto Venere and the villages of Cinque Terre were designated by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.

From Porto Venere we travelled by ferry along the magnificent coastline to the first of the five villages, Riomaggiore. After dropping off a number of passengers and also picking up a few we cruised onto the second and oldest village, Manarola again to drop off and pick up a few passengers. The third village is Corniglia, population of 150. Unlike the other villages of Cinque Terre, Corniglia does not have a port as it is built on the top of a promontory about 100m high, surrounded on three sides by vineyards and terraces. The fourth side descends steeply to the sea. To reach Corniglia, it is necessary to climb the Lardarina (a long brick flight of steps composed of 33 flights with 382 steps) or walk along the road that runs from the station at Venazza, which was the next village and our first stop. We had a walking tour and some free time. Stephen and I chose to enjoy a seafood lunch in one of the many ristorantes. It was a lovely way to spend some time. We enjoyed our prawn pasta and calamari very much. We then clambered back on a ferry in order to make our way to our final stop for the day and the fifth village, Monterosso al Mare. Here we visited the pirates church before partaking in a gelati as it was so very hot again today. We made our way to the train station. The train took us to meet our bus.

Riomaggiore

Manarola

Corniglia

Venazza

Monterosso al Mare

Tonight’s dinner was on the terrace at our hotel with magnificent views towards Santa Margherita and Portofino. We indulged in lobster tagliatelle and it was sensational.