Now we are in Livorno, which is the port city closest to Pisa and Florence. As we are going to be visiting both of these cities after we leave the ship in Rome, we decided to take a HAL trip to Cinque Terre where we will see the historic villages on the rugged Italian Riviera coastline. So first we boarded a bus and traveled north from the Tuscany region, for 90 minutes, to the Liguia region and to La Spezia where we boarded a boat to take us to the first village, Riomaggiore. Cinque Terre is a string of centuries-old seaside villages. In each of the 5 towns, colorful houses and vineyards cling to steep terraces and harbours are filled with fishing boats and trattorias turn out seafood specialties along using the Liguria region’s famous sauce, pesto. There is a cliffside hiking trail that links the villages and offers sweeping sea vistas along with a local train service. After Riomaggiore, we again got onto the boat and travelled for about an hour past the next 3 villages, with one of them up high, finally arriving at Monterrosso al Mare, the 5th and final village, where Andrew had a spot of wine and we had lunch prior to some shopping time and returning to La Spezia via train and then onto the bus back to the ship. It was a 9 1/2 hour day and I was really looking forward to the next day – at sea!
Coming into LivornoThe welcome sign at the dockAnd the fog rolled in – a very rare occurance!The Moby ships with cartoon characters!View of La SpiezaView of La Spieza and a gangplank…La Spieza some moreCosta Cruises are in portView of La Spieza from waterPictures of estates along wayPictures of estates along wayBeautiful colours!RiomaggioreSouth RiomaggioreCastle at RiomaggioreView from harbour after landingHotel in RiomaggioreOld marble stoneEntrance to Main StreetCarving on back of archMain streetDetails above doorSpaghetti curtains!Escape to the harbour!Small piazza off “Main Street”More street towards the castleThe castle in bright sunlight!The oacean blueThe ocean greenPhotographer at work….Photographer in search of a subject!Castle from main piazzaDecorative area hiding public washroomsHarbourfront in RiomaggioreHarbourfront in RiomaggioreAnd another view!Leaving RiomaggioreView of hotel in RiomaggioreFishermen with an antenna?More fishing!Abandonded buildings along the wayAt peace on the water…White marble in cliffs that is minedAnd the red marble cliffs…Monastery Manarola village up highThe train tracks down low and trail up high connecting the villagesTerraced view of Corniglia villageBridge on left and Vernazza villageVernazza up closeSouth side of Vernazza with train stationLeaving VernazzaVernazza from the north – other side of peninsulaNow off the boat at Monterrosso al Mare villageMain street of Monterrosso al MareWhich turned into apartments being built!Small plot? Lets garden!Interesting shop…Narrow alleyway with stairs!Unique paint jobs on buildings!The “zebra” churchWalking to train – a whole new section of the village!Still Monterrosso al Mare…Full train from Monterrosso to La Spizia for the busWaiting the 1 stop we had to goAnother cruise ship in town too!
