Back to the sea...in the Cinque Terre

We left Venice and three trains later we ended up on the other side of Italy, on the coast of the Ligurian Sea in an area called the Cinque Terre, the " Five Lands". This place is a small section of the Italian Rivera that consists of five villages that have no road connection,only by train. It is also connected by hiking trails and many people come to hike from village to village.

 

The train tracks run through tunnels along the coast.

 

We are staying in one of the smaller village called Manarola in a very cute little studio and here are the views out of our window...

The first day we arrived people were swimming off the rocks below.Since then the sea has been too rough.

The place has a great terrace where we spend time checking the Internet and taking in the views of which there are many.

 

The steps going up to the house, there are steps everywhere as this place is built on a very steep hill.

Since Manarola is so small there is not a lot of accommodation and most of it is in private homes so we are in a little neighbourhood and here are some of our neighbours...

These ladies sit out and knit everyday, beautiful sweaters. We found out through very little language and a few charades that one of them has a daughter in Montreal who is expecting a new baby girl.

This guy around the corner spends his days stripping and redoing doors and shutters and most every time we go along there are two or three neighbours sitting on the bench having a chat with him.

Since the town is located on the water most all the restaurants serve fish...

This is a typical menu and this was my choice....

Stuffed mussels

Fishing season must be over because they have their boats parked in the streets.

 

There are no houses on a flat surface as they are all on a hillside.

Some of the houses high up in the vineyards as this area produces a lot of white wine.

There is a small town square where the little kids hang out.

We decided to hike some of the trails so one day we took the train to the last village and hiked back.

 

The day was cloudy but we fiqured we would go anyway. This was the beach at the start of the hike.

We made our way around the fortress and then we started to go up.

The path was rough...

But the views were amazing...

 

 

There were many steps and hills to climb...

 

 

We passed lots of vineyards...

 

The views got wider the higher we climbed...

 

Don decided to go ahead as usual, I didn't see him again for a long time as I walk much slower than him.

Stopping for a rest, the first town we left is receding in the distance.

But the next one, Vernazza is coming into view...

 

But the path down is very difficult...

 

But we made it, stopped for lunch and took some pictures before heading to the next village...

 

 

 

Vernazza has a port which makes it one of the richest villages in the area.

This was the view looking back as we hiked out of Vernazza and on to the next village.

It was stunning as the clouds started to roll in.

Here is a bit of a higher view looking back.

Then the rain came and our hiking became more treacherous as the trail became muddy and slippery. More about that in the next post as my picture limit is up for this post.

 

 

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