|
 Cinque
Terre consist of five villages, Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza,
and Monterosso.
We
first stopped at Riomaggiore, a very picturesque village with a very
steep main street leading up from the harbor edge into the hills. Brightly-colored
fishing boats lined
the lower portion of the street. Colorful houses look very beautiful
from afar, up close we saw the paint peeling off the walls. Old World
charm.
The
Via del Amore (Road of Love),a long walkway carved into the sheer
cliff face, starts in Riomaggiore and continues to each of the other
four villages. There was a 3-euro toll for Hiking on the Via del Amore
requires a 3-euro toll (2002). We opted to take the train to Manarola,
which was much cheaper .95 euro.
Houses perched on top of a large promontory made Manarola the most picturesque
village of all with a few cafes and gift shops.
The
tiny ferry dock cut out of solid rock jutted into the sea. The wind
whipped up the waves, making it a bit precarious to stand on the dock.
From
Manarola, we took the ferryboat towards Corniglia, which was not one
of the regular stops. We only saw it from offshore. The only way to
get to it is by train or the walkway.
 The
ferryboat docked at Vernazza, which had a rather large square by the
harbor. I stopped at an Internet cafe to catch up on my email.
We didn't make
it to the fifth village, Monterosso, the largest and most commercial
of the five villages that has a nice beach. It was getting late. So,
for us it was Le Tre Terre instead of Le Cinque Terre.
|
