Cinque Terre

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(Monday March 15) We left Florence on Sunday and headed by train to the Cinque Terre (the "Five Lands") -- 5 hill towns located on the coast of the Ligurian Sea in Italy. We chose to stay in Monterosso, the northernmost of the 5 towns.



On the way to the Cinque Terre, we took a short detour off the train in Pisa to see the leaning tower. Weird! It really does lean - a lot! I tried to push it down; Scott tried to push it back up (see pictures). Tee hee :-)

The Cinque Terre towns are unbelievably beautiful. The towns are built into the hillside cliffs right on the water. The weather has been perfect; sunny and fairly warm. Although many hotels and restaurants are closed for the off-season (they open in April), we found a hotel in old town Monterosso (the Albergo Pasquale) with a sea view and Internet access. We can hear the waves crashing on the beach from our room :-) The bars and restaurants have been great as usual. The Fast Bar is an "American" bar in Monterosso with concert posters on the wall and Guinness on tap (oddly no American beers on tap...). The Belvedere on the shore in Monterosso has excellent fresh fish - Scott had stuffed anchovies.

We spent most of the day today sitting on the beach in Vernazza (another of the 5 towns) drinking wine and eating foccacia and cheese. We could stay here for months but we're leaving tomorrow for Venice...

Sad note - Affare Tuoi (our favorite Italian game show) was pre-empted tonight for some reason. We rushed back to the room (as we have every night) and it was not on! Hopefully it will be back on tomorrow.

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Comments

[sandrasophie]

AMAZING
We are doing nearly the exact trip following you in one month's time. I am having a great time reading your notes.

[Sandy G]

Cinque Terre la Bella!
Oh, I want to go back to Italia so badly! It's gorgeous! Cinque Terre - the Italian Riviera! Viva l'Italia!

[Jane Petersen]

Cinque Terre
Heading to Tuscany in May . How long did you stay in C T? DId you hike the trails? Boat ? Wondering if one overnight is enough. DId you go t the farthest town first. Any help would be appreciated. Can't wait.

[mrmossy]

Re: Cinque Terre
Hi Jane - We stayed in the CT for 2 nights I believe. Our first stop was Monterosso (the most Northern town). Unfortunately since we were there in March many things were still closed for Winter. Though during the summer months we saw that boat rentals were available. We also spent a beautiful afternoon in Vernazza. We bought a bottle of the local wine from one of the shops and they opened it for us and gave us some cups so we could go enjoy it on the breakwater. We also picked up some pizza and had a nice relaxing afternoon sitting on the breakwater. We didn't visit the other 3 towns since we were told that Monterosso and Vernazza were the two best, perhaps with more time we would have visited. As far as how long to stay - you can definitely see everything with one overnight as there isn't a whole lot to see. But the scenery is absolutely beautiful so if you like lounging in beach towns and just relaxing you could spend more time. Hope that helps.