Cinque Terre

A spectacular view along the Cinque Terre coast.  We hiked along the top of the ridge with the five famous villages well below.  Starting at sea level, it was a steep ascent to the top.

The west coast of Italy provides numerous eye-candy coasts.  The mountainous peninsula between the Gulfo di La Spezia and the Ligurian Sea known as Cinque Terre of hiking fame is one of them.  Again, we considered renting a car or taking public transport, but decided instead to hike the high ridge trail, accessible from our anchorage, and cruise the coast in Milly.  It turned out to be a good decision.  From the looks of it the famous walk from village to village is in the company of many on a manicured path.  Milly gave us a view of the incredible terraced, almost vertical slopes of vines, the farms and the villages.  Unlike the Amalfi Coast which gloats enormous villas and wealth, Cinque Terre is more modest.  Unfortunately erosion from waves, wind and weather has forced the closure of one village to village coast walks.

That is not snow!  It is the marble quarries of Carrarra which Michelangelo favoured. 

We anchored at the lovely village of Portovenere at the tip of the peninsula.  It was a colourful, bustling centre with homemade Genoese pesto to enjoy.

Lord Byron's swimming hole and cave was favoured by many and overlooked by the castle.

On our ascent up the trail, the growth atop the small tower gave a pretty good account of the strength of the wind, reminiscent of Ontario pines.

The striped church at the very edge of the village, perched on rock at the end of the peninsula, looked dour compared to pastel tall houses in town.

The view of the tall, unevenly skinny pastel houses of town from Milly as we left anchorage.

These were not the ostentatious villas of the Amalfi but more humble farm houses.  Inaccessible just a few years ago except by foot.

The incredible terracing on what is essentially cliff means that life must have been a very tough toil.

One of the five towns, Riomaggiore, I think.

And another...

The towns are now connected by road and rail which mar the coast from the sea.  However, ease of transport have allowed the communities more choice of livelihood beyond fishing including a multitude of tourism services - a mixed blessing.  I imagine life returns to prior century existence when "the season" ends.

And another of the very sweet villages.

Our anchorage in Levanto, about half way along the coast and just north of the official Cinque Terre.  We were entertained by Italians enjoying their watersports around us.  The umbrellas of the aleppo pines have become a favourite, especially in the early evening light.

A home on the beach in joyous holiday colours.  They were having a great time.

Next anchorage at the base of the peninsula was Santa Margherita, an elegant city.  Maybe I could live there.

View from Milly's stern...

and from the port side....

and from starboard.  Always a view.  Even off the bow, out to sea and along the coast we had just cruised was not too bad.

All in all, I preferred Cinque Terre to Amalfi but really glad we got to cruise both so we had the privilege of being able to compare!

August 29 to September 1, 2019.