Cinque Terre, Liguria, Italy

We caught a train to La Spezia and checked into a room near the train station. The Italian trains have been easy to master after the first one. The ticket machines have several languages so that makes it easy to buy tickets at the station. In most places it is cheaper to buy at a machine and you pay an extra fee if you use the cashier but here in Italy it is the same price at either. If we know where we are going and when, we can find this information on line, we don't have to queue for tickets.

From La Spezia it was a short train trip to start the Unesco listed walk through Cinque Terre or Five Villages National Park. During the previous week there had been lots of rain so only the 'Lovers' Lane' section of the coastal walk was open and for this there was a 3 euro charge!

We headed off into the olive and grapevine terraces to walk some of the higher less walked trails. It was a beautiful day with lots of sun and blue fluffy-clouded skies. The terraced hills were built centuries ago.

Riomaggiore with its colourful tall houses built into the hill.


Manarola with its silver nativity scene on the hill.



Corniglia with its 300 plus steps to the train station.



Vernazza with its old stone fort and brand new harbour.



Monterrosso with its arched walkways and little plazas.



Lil managed the walk even with her ribs still healing and so after such hard work we enjoyed a chilled limoncello!