Cinque Terre - A Must See

Manarola

   Our last stop of the cruise was in Livorno.  We had been to

Boat Launch

the Tuscany region a number of times and decided on this trip to visit Cinque Terre - a world historic site.  The location in along the coast just south of Portfolio.  Actually it is not in the Tuscany region.  A 2 hour bus ride was needed to get us to La Spezia, from which you travel to the coast.  The 5 Terre had been hit by flooding a few months ago and they are still trying to recover.  Tourism has been down but you could not tell that from the almost 300 people from our ship.  Of course there were many other visitors there.  We could not imagine what it would be like in the summer time!

Wandering

   Our first stop was Manarola, actually the second of the 5

Via dell'Amore

towns.  It is perched on a rock outcrop.  As we walked down from where the bus left us you could see the many colourful buildings that dot the cliffs. From there we strolled the romantic Via dell'Amore.  It is part of a walkway between all the towns but some of the paths are now closed because of the flooding.  As we headed to Riomaggiore,  we enjoyed the sheer cliff foot path of this designated National Park and UNESCO area.  You can not begin to appreciate these small towns and the beauty of their location.  After spending some time in Riomaggione, we boarded the ferry and cruised to

Vernazza for a short stop.  They are working on restoring this town but the mud from the flooding has kept many of the shops empty. From there another short boat ride found us in the last town.  We had seen Corniglia another town from the sea but did not stop there!

Flood Damage

          Monterossa is the last and biggest of the Cinque Terre towns.  It was here that we really had some "free time" for lunch.  We found a nice Italian (what else) cafe overlooking the ocean.  2 other couples joined us ( our table partners from the ship).  We had just a delightful time eating Italian food, drinking wine and beer and people watching.  After some wandering through the town, we took the train to the next town where our bus was waiting.
           On our way back to the ship our Australian guide filled us in on some of the other interesting points along the way, including a brief distant look at the Leaning Tower of Pisa.   A long but rewarding day.  Judy has already declared that "we are going back there!"