Cinque Terre--Five Lands

We had been to Cinque Terre about 8 years ago but only for a day trip.  It is designated a "National Park" and a UNESCO World Heritage Site made up of five twelfth century villages. This time we spent 2 nights.
We left Pisa and headed for Riomaggiore.
Our landlord met us at the carpark to help us with our bags and show us the way to the apartment.  We knew it was built on a hillside and the car had to be parked at the top, but wow- wee, it was a very long way down.
We made our way through the tunnel by the train station, up the steps, down the incline and finally up the stairs and inside the apartment!

The building was built in 1260, but it was nicely updated with all the modern conveniences, i.e. running water, toilets and the like.

Our room is on the second floor of the three story white building, next to the grey building, next to the yellow building, next to the red building.

Rick and Joy are on the third floor.

We settled in for the evening getting ready for our next full day.
Friday morning we grabbed a light breakfast and headed to the train station securing tickets for our trip to Monterossa.  It's the farthest of the five villages and we worked our way back by ferry.  Each little village is nestled tightly into a ravine in the side of the mountain.
We arrived in Monterossa ready to explore, shop and check things out.

We are always amazed by the terraced hillsides.  Every inch of land is used.

Our time was limited as we have 3 other villages to visit.
We took the ferry to the next village, Vernazza.

This was our place for lunch.  We found a cute outdoor restaurant for a nice lunch.

Rick filled his water bottle at the local spring faucet.

As the ferry approached they didn't have an employee on the dock to tie off the bow line so the deck man hollered at Tom to catch the line and attach it to the dock.

Back on the boat to Manarola bypassing Corniglia because it has no port--so not accessible by ferry boat. We just observed it from the sea.

On to Manarola.

There were lots of  people taking advantage of the beach at Manarola.

We thought this might be a good place for a gelato treat.

The last ferry stop for us was back home at Riomaggiore.  This village is the largest and has the most to do and see.  I even found a little sea glass down by the rocky beach.

I waited for a long time to get the perfect sunset picture and I think I got it!

They also have excellent restaurants.  We found dau Lila Restaurante-very delicious!

The local wine was the best and the waiter was attentive and helpful.

 

We were even treated to a little dinner music.

We enjoyed this wonderful evening, but we have an early departure time, so all good things...