Blogs from Cinque Terre, Liguria, Italy, Europe - page 4

Palm Sunday dawned sunny and clear again. As we had our coffee we could hear the church bells as the procession began to celebrate this final Sunday before Easter. We stopped at a small place for a quick bite and then headed off to the train station to go to Monterosso. Our original intent and fervent wish had been to hike between the five villages of Cinque Terre - Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza, and Monterosso. The walk takes about 5 hours, not counting for stopping and wandering through each village. This would have been a wonderfully tiring walk but unfortunately due to landslides, the trail is closed from Riomaggiore all the way to Vernazza. We could have opted to walk from Vernazza to Monterosso but decided that if we wanted to spend time in each we ... read more

Today we went on the ferry around the villages. Too hot to walk, we preferred to go by boat. Really beautiful seeing them for the first time coming in from the sea. Walked and walked and walked some more. David even got in a couple of swims. Yesterday we could do very little as there were thunderstorms and rain for most of the day. Tomorrow we have found out, the Italian railways are ON STRIKE!! Hopefully we will get back to Genoa, and work it out from there. Photo's are various ones taken throughout the day. My day started with skyping and seeing everyone, and my wee grandies all together at Gareth and Olivia's. Great day allround.... read more

If you like my blog, please leave a comment in the appropriate section. Thanks. I have to credit Rick Steeves for letting the Cinque Terre capture my imagination, especially the village of Vernazza. Once I saw the picture of this quaint village, I wanted to pack my bags. And that is what we eventually did. As we boarded our Turkish Airlines plane in Istanbul for Genoa, I was not to know that some surprises awaited us. Everyone I had met before who had visited the area, raved about it. We first had to decide where to base ourselves and finally decided on the the town of La Spezia, located south of the Cinque Terre but giving us both train and sea access to the five villages. Once in La Spezia, we headed off to find ... read more

After driving into Asti to drop off Mom and Lynne at the train, we came back to La Terraza and packed the car ready to brave the auto route to Cinque Terre. We have truly enjoyed having a GPS and Suzie took us to the highway this time. You have to get a ticket on entry so that when you get off they know how much to charge you, it's disconcerting. I got to see the sights, the advantage of being the navigator. We left the hills of Piedmont and drove through the flats. Before we knew it,coming around a bend in the road we were back in almost mountains. We went through tunnel after tunnel, some 2 km long, where at each opening I got a glimpse of the Sea. Cinque Terre is a series ... read more

Cinque Terre on the western coast of Italy 8 & 9 October 2013 Cinque Terre is a stretch of coast line on the northern section of the western coast of Italy. It is known for its stunning scenery of the Mediterranean coastline against the cliffs and ancient farmland of 5 villages which provide a lovely experience when wandering around the little streets. There are no cars in the villages and the only way to get to most of the villages is by train or walking up steep steps over headlands. The 2 days we spent walking and training up and down this stretch of coast line was magnificent weather. On the 1st day we spent all afternoon, until 8.00pm exploring Riomaggiore, the furtherest town (caught a train to this village) then caught a train back to ... read more