It is a series of five small fishing villages that have such narrow streets and old world style that cars are not permitted to pass. All travel happens by foot, train, or boat.
It was a trip we tried to make 100 times and just one thing after another stopped us and made it feel more elusive. We also felt the pressure of the fact that the rumor had begun that if you didn't make it early enough in the season you could be banned from going at all.
The five fishing villages have been overwhelmed with the amount of visitors that have had the the local government has thought about capping the number of people that can visit in any given year.
It might have something to do with Rick Steves reviews ( you can see his video by clicking the link below)
https://www.ricksteves.com/watch-read-listen/video/tv-show/season-8/italys-riviera-cinque-terre
We arrived for a late afternoon on the beach that was near the military base we stayed at.
This is how Strode's do beach day
The next day we took the train into the cinque terra and it was exhausting.
(Not really, but you would think by looking at these two)
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| Charming |
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| Beautiful |
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| We spied this quaint little porch breakfast and thought we should join them |
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| Paige's favorite part is always the water |
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| Always a stray animal to visit in Italy |
Quaint alleys and little shops, no cars, but lots of tourist
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| Lasagna with nothing but sauce and noodles and pesto lasagna in the back |
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| This area is famous for their focaccia bread and we visit a few shops that only sold Focaccia in lots of flavors. They were delicious! |
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| We took the train between towns for the most part, but enjoyed a boat ride back to the first town from the last town. |
If there is something Paige loves as much as water, it is rocks! We drove up to the mountains and visited a wind cave that has a small crack on one side of the mountain and a mouth to enter on the other and there fore it has wind that rushes through it.
The formations were out of this world amazing and the light and water made them sparkle and shine!
After the hike through the cave we stumbled into a small restaurant near by that had homemade jellies and jams (onion jam is great) Homemade brined olives that were out of this world and some pretty tasty homemade bread as well.
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| The surroundings and the soft breeze made for a beautiful lunch. The type you would expect when you visit the mountains in the tuscan region! |
We stopped at the Devils bridge on our way down the mountain. It is s funny bridge, strange in shape and the legend says the builder realized he might have bitten off more than he could chew in taking on this task.
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| Beautiful views from the bridge |
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| What the end of the bridge looks like |
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| A view of how steep it is |
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| can't take a decent picture.... |
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| That is Paige snorkeling |
Our last stop was at a rocky beach that has clear water and while the rest of us sat in the sun, Paige swam around in the snorkel mask and looked at fish!
It was a beautiful vacation with many great sights and a fun drive since we are usually flying places.
I would recommend Cinque terra, maybe when its a little farther off season. There were a lot of people. I also think it would be great for hikers (which we are not)
There were nice views and an old village feel!
I enjoyed it!
