Longing for a sea breeze in the present heat, we took a boat ride yesterday on a hop on/off ferry from La Spezia along the Cinque Terre coast.
We first went past Portovenere, dubbed the ‘sixth terre’.
The houses look like brightly-covered books, kept upright by the grey bookends on either side.Ask you come round the headland, there is a good view of the Church of San Pietro.
After Portovenere, we passed several tiny settlements, some of which can only be accessed by hundreds of steps from the nearest road. Many of the houses might only be used in summer, but imagine returning home after a supermarket shop!
The first stop was Riomaggiore, I think the prettiest of the ‘Terre’ from the sea.The next village was Manarola. You can just see the figure of a man standing on the tiny quay.
Above Manarola is the hamlet of Volastra, which we had a hot climb to the other day, on our way to the next village, Corniglia.You can sea Volastra on the map.We sailed right past Corniglia, as there is no quay.Vernazza Monterosso was the last stop on the outward leg, and the first time we got off the boat after La Spezia. It was the only one of the ‘Terre’ we had not visited before.Monterosso is the largest of the five settlements, and like a proper seaside town. I thought I wouldn’t like it for this reason, but it was charming. This is the new part with brightly-coloured umbrellas on the private beaches.The old part has a harbour.The oleander-lined promenade in the new part of Monterosso
After lunch, a walk round Monterosso and an ice-cream we were ready to get back on the boat. It was a good job we had decided not to stop at any places on the way back as instead of following the timetable, the boat proceeded straight to Portovenere without stopping once. We then all had to get off and wait for the next boat to La Spezia. No explanation.
My husband, Mark, and I have just sold our house and are taking a year out to have an adventure before we settle down to retirement. We decided on a journey through Italy as it has the perfect combination of good weather, interesting history, great wine and wonderful ice-cream! As we will be starting our journey in January, we are beginning in the very south of the country.
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Tortoise Travel 