Is the name given to 5 villages perched over the Mediterranean on
the rugged Northern Italian coastline. They are
accessible by boat or train and today we went with the boat option.
Despite our best reconnaissance efforts yesterday, things didn’t quite go according to plan. For starters, we arrived at the car park early, but I’d say about 3000 people had already beaten us to it. We were expecting the car park to be deserted, not full, and we were lucky to get a park (not quite a legal one – I’m not sure how parking fines are issued in Italy – fingers crossed nothing turns up in the mail).
Despite our best reconnaissance efforts yesterday, things didn’t quite go according to plan. For starters, we arrived at the car park early, but I’d say about 3000 people had already beaten us to it. We were expecting the car park to be deserted, not full, and we were lucky to get a park (not quite a legal one – I’m not sure how parking fines are issued in Italy – fingers crossed nothing turns up in the mail).
Then we didn’t have the right change for
the ticket machine, then the ferry company wouldn’t accept cards and the nearby
bank was having a few conniptions.
Despite these trifles we made Lerici for the 9:30am ferry and were off.
Heading across the bay, past Portovenere and then north towards the villages of Cinque Terre - Riomaggiore, Montarola, Corniglia, Vernazza and Monterosso.
First port of call was Portovenere for a
quick change of boat…..
The ferry was hop on hop off with a timetable that allowed you to explore the villages going up or down the coastline. Unfortunately whichever direction you chose, the ferries had a bit of a siesta between 12 and 3pm and it meant either a long stay in a village or a switch to the train.
We skipped Monterosso and made Vernazza our first stop. The kids and Steve had a swim and I wandered around taking a few photos.
Our next stop coincided with the lunchtime break and after a quick walk around we all spent oodles of time in the water.
We had goggles and the water was crystal clear and full of fishies. Emmy was beside herself with excitement watching the fish swimming around.
It was slippery getting in and out of the water and I went A over T in front of a sizeable Italian audience. They would have known I was an inexperienced foreigner because not only did I attempt to get in the water without using the handrail, but I was also blanched and wearing an immense pair of swimmers J.
What a day we had exploring the villages of Cinque Terre, but boy oh boy were we knackered by the time we got home.
We skipped Monterosso and made Vernazza our first stop. The kids and Steve had a swim and I wandered around taking a few photos.
Our next stop coincided with the lunchtime break and after a quick walk around we all spent oodles of time in the water.
We had goggles and the water was crystal clear and full of fishies. Emmy was beside herself with excitement watching the fish swimming around.
It was slippery getting in and out of the water and I went A over T in front of a sizeable Italian audience. They would have known I was an inexperienced foreigner because not only did I attempt to get in the water without using the handrail, but I was also blanched and wearing an immense pair of swimmers J.
 |
| We waited for ages for the skinny kid in the yellow bikini to jump - she chickened out. Above right is where I went for my splat, except oodles more people were there for my performance. |
What a day we had exploring the villages of Cinque Terre, but boy oh boy were we knackered by the time we got home.
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