After an ok night's sleep we headed over to a local cafe for our breakfast. The hotel has a deal where we get coupons for buffet style. Not much selection but nobody left hungry. Then it was off to the ferry to ride up around Portovenere and view each of the 5 towns. Ergo the Cinque Terre.
Our boat (or a sister ship as we were on ours when I shot this):
Portovenere is a very beautiful town. Amazing fort to view as we cruised by:
Part of the fort has a church, right on the edge.
Anchored out were a few very nice megayachts. Twizzle isn't my style but she sure is beautiful!
First port was Riomaggiore. Very picturesque. We had planned to eat dinner there but ended up enjoying ourselves too much and never did actually stop.
We went all the way to the end to Monterosso. And as soon as we disembarked we headed to Fegina (new town). Saving the north and Centro (old town) to the south for later. They are separated by a rocky promontory, through which runs a pedestrian and car tunnel. It was an easy walk but we did need to stop for gelato as Eric had noted we'd been here 3 days no gelato yet. Apparently this was sacrilege so we needed to fix that.
At the far west end of the beach, find Il Giante, a statue holding up the wall. Supposed to be Neptune and sure could be, but he's a little beat up. He's on the left of the photo below:
Close up:
It was time for a dip so we did. First swim in the Med for the boys and certainly nice and warm! 50 euro for access and 4 chairs is a bit steep but that did give us access to change rooms. Worth it.
After a very nice swim it was time for a quick lunch. It was 3pm after all. Then back to exploring.We walked back toward old town and to Garibaldi Square to find the Church of St John the Baptist and the Oratory of the Dead. Weird but very pretty. Crazy flood in 2011 that they are still recovering from.
Eric found a street artist who does water colours of the area. A signed print is his souvenir.
Time to hop on the train as it is now close to 5pm and head over to Manarola. Manarola is the 2nd smallest of the towns, and possibly the oldest. Very pretty as are they all.
Up the hill for a beer and some frozen yoghurt. Found a nice cat who was half blind but liked our petting. No scratches or bites. But it did spur an interesting conversation about rabies vaccines over dinner. Only a Public Health Nurse could review what was needed if we were bitten. Just know you shouldn't get bit or scratched. Not pretty.
Some nice views from the top including lemon trees.
Back down the hill to the water front. To get the shot. The one that is on all the postcards.
At that point we were all ready for a shower and some quiet time before a late dinner. Back on the train to La Spezia and back to Bella Napoli for some more amazing pizza.
Tomorrow is a drive day to Pisa to see the famous leaning tower and end up in Florence.