Friday 6th September - Cinque Terre

Today was another early start - we needed to be on the 7am bus D, and at the train station for departure at 8:15. Managed fine, but as we missed breakfast, did the McDonalds thing again - these guys would be sacked in Australia, they were so slow it was ridiculous, we gave up waiting for a bacon and egg burger without cheese, I just pulled the bottom half off. We ate while walking down to the bus, and had our tea/coffee standing outside it.

Not a lot to see on the 2 hour bus ride down, but at the 'comfort stop', the police decided to choose our bus to do a random check of documents - 40 minute delay.

If we number the Cinque Terre villages from 1 to 5 from the south to north, then we started at village 2 (Manarola), caught the train to village 3 (Corniglia), there we climbed the 400 steps to the restaurant for lunch. First we had a small plate of mixed local seafood, most of which was good, then main course was a pasta with pesto - not too heavy a lunch, and definitely no wine today. After lunch, we trekked for 1:20 to village 4 (Vernazza) again caught the train to village 5 (Monterossa), then finally back to village 1 (Riomaggiore) by boat.

The villages are beautiful, idyllic. Houses cling to the cliffs, narrow streets wind their way between them. There are steps, steps and more steps. The blue/green of the water sets off the colours of the houses - words can't describe, so the pictures tell the story.

MANAROLA:

Restaurant at CORNIGLIA where we had lunch:

We chose to do the hike between Corniglia and Vernazza. It was listed as a 1.5 hour trek, with steep climbs, rough paths and lots of steps. Our guide suggested the time could be considerably less, depending on fitness. It was also a hot day, and much of the path was in the sun. It was tough, but we both made it in 1:20 - Errol a little easier than me. But we must admit to being a little disappointed - considering the difficulty of the walk, we thought that there would be amazing scenery and photo opportunities that would not be available from the villages, but it was pretty much the same all the way. Views when they could be seen were steep cliffs down to the sea, apart from the first and last small sections when there were views to the villages.

THE HIKE:

VERNAZZA:

MONTEROSSO was definitely our favorite village:

FROM THE BOAT:

RIOMAGGIORE:

From Riomaggiore, we caught a train back to La Spezia where the bus was waiting for us. Two hours bus ride back, arriving at the station in Florence around 8:50 - exhausted.