Cinque Terre with Alan

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A day at the Cinque Terre started early with the 8am train from Montecatini Terme to Monterosso al Mare (the most northerly of the 5 towns) which is a 2 1/2 hour train ride. The Cinque Terre is a rugged coastline on the Italian Riviera composed of five beautiful hillside villages.

We started looking around Monterosso al Mare, which is the largest of the five towns and has the only sandy beach in the area. Is a lovely town made up of a newer area and the old town and is relative flat. After a short explore of this village we then hoping a regional train to Vernazza.

Vernazza is a tradition fishing village with colourful houses surrounding the small harbour where small fishing boats are anchored. This is a very picturesque village but loads of visitors over summer periods.

We then travelled to Corniglia but due to this village been up on top of a cliff 100 meters above sea level and so many people trying to get the 20 seat shuttle bus we decide to move on to Manarola the next village and find a place for lunch and rest.

Manarola is a village with another small harbour with a boat ramp for launching the villages small fishing boats. The harbour is again surrounded with multicoloured houses facing the sea and tiny piazza. Was a wonderful place for lunch and people watching. Perfect place to also watch people jumping off the cliffs and sunbathing.

Due to the heat and crowds we decided to call it a day and get a train home a hour earlier was still a long day as we after back to our town about 5pm, so was a quiet night with roast chicken from the supermarket.

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