Cinque Terre

Cinque Terre  is a location on the Liguria sea, a part of the Italian Riviera, comprised of five fishing villages:  Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore. This area including the five villages, and the surrounding hillsides are all part of the Italian Cinque Terre National Park and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  We spent our time in Monterosso. 

Since the coast in this area is steep with many sharp cliffs the people who live here have adapted by cutting terraces into the hills for gardens, house locations and trails between the villages. One common vacation for this area is to walk the several miles between all the villages. The train service to these towns is very good and additionally there is a “shuttle” train that goes back and forth between villages on a regular schedule. There is also a coastal ferry that sails between the five ports in good weather.  Our train trip from Milan involved two transfers and included 54 tunnels (Yeah, I counted them) about 2.5 hours through Italian country side... beautiful villages with rice fields and row crops.  Every village has at least one church. 

Fishing seems to have been replaced by tourism as the leading business. While there are some fishing boats in the harbor, none of them looked like they were in use.

The beaches are small by comparison to those in the USA but they are well attended in season with visitors from all areas of the world. Sun bathers maximize the body area to be tanned while resting on the sands.

While sitting on the beach waiting for the treasure hunters to return I am struck with the following haiku; recall we did see Les Troyans

Waves against the Italian shore

Crushing rocks into grains of sand

The Greeks are jealous

Lunch under an umbrella on the piazza overlooking the harbor at Monterosso with a slight sea breeze carrying the aroma of the Mediterranean evokes the urge to run away to this place.

Ahime! Il mondo attende

open beaches with sun true Mediterranean pleasure 

good place for breakfast caffe and brioche

the reason espresso and cappuccino taste so good here

Got Cappucino?

early castle, every town has one, with terraced hillside beyond

in 2011 these villages suffered a terrible flood.  the rains collapsed some buildings upstream and clogged the drains which the broke loose and did this to the main street area...see the other  pix for today

when the sun is out time to dry clothes

great beaches for sun bathing and  kids play in water

fishing boats at harbor at end of day

terraced garden and its owner

early castle, each village has one, showing the stair step hillside behind

locals viewing the tourists

this cave provides access to beach areas

harbor entrance

misty entrance into coastal areas from train window

Piazza where we had lunch. 

boats parked at edge of harbor and edge of piazza.  I suspect mainly for tourist pictures, but maybe not.

some streets are not really streets but merely paths between buildings

small shop on the main street

these stairs lead to hotel rooms.  these rooms are just a bed and bath. exquisitely small.

maybe a better view of terraces.  some grow veggies while others have grape vines for wine.

over view of village

treasures found on beach at Cinque Terre.  sea glass and magic rocks. 

seasonal umbrellas in Piazza

view from end of breakwater

one of my favorite photos

the reconstruction fromteh flood damage goes on and this wall is a part of the efforts.  It is about 18" thick with minimal concrete.  I think the slogan here is "one wall? one builder!"