Hello again! We have just spent the past few days on the Cinque Terre coast and it has been amazing! Along the way we also made a stop in Pisa, and now we are on our way to Venice. This should just be a short post to fill in the gaps between Florence and Venice.
Pisa
We had decided that on our way to Cinque Terre we should make a stop at Pisa since the train was going through there anyway! One of the joys of the Eurail pass is that we can just jump off the train at any time and get on another one by adding it to the app. It’s really handy for little stops like this!
It was only about an hour on the train from Florence and we were there. We spent way too long getting Maccas for a quick lunch and then trying to find the luggage storage place. Google Maps had it out on the street somewhere when in reality it was in the train station. Once our bags were stored, we began our walk in the sun to the Leaning Tower of Pisa!
The streets of Pisa were much like those of Florence, but with wider roads. We walked towards the river and just before the bridge there was a little church called Santa Maria della Spina. It looks pretty amazing on the outside and is situated right on the edge of the river. It is built with alternating black and white marble as a lot of churches in this area seem to be. The inside is mostly plain with some replica statues and art installations.
We carried on toward the Leaning Tower and when we got there it was packed with people doing the classic pose of trying to hold the tower up. We got our own photo of the same thing and then continued around to have a look at the church. We didn’t go inside the church, but you can see inside from the doors. It looked pretty amazing and it’s arguably a better building that the tower itself. It seems the tower wanted some attention so fell over a little bit.
We spent a bit of time relaxing in the shade before heading back to the train station. On the way, Miriam grabbed a few more poses in front of the tower for good measure.
We got to the train station just in time for the next train to Riomaggiore and off we went!
Cinque Terre
In case you weren’t aware, (I wasn’t) Cinque Terre means ‘Five Lands’ and it refers to the five towns along the coastline in this part of the north west coast of Italy. The towns are Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza, and Monterosso. We were staying in Riomaggiore.
On the train to get there, we had to change at La Spezia. We got off our train and the one we needed to catch was in 20 minutes. I checked the departures board and saw that we were leaving from the same platform that we had just arrived on. The train we had got off sat there for a while with the doors open so I thought I would check the screens on board. The screens had changed to say that it was the train we were meant to catch! So back on the same train we went!
Day One
We arrived in Riomaggiore in the mid afternoon. We got off the train and walked through the two minute tunnel to find that our apartment was right on the main street! Pretty ideal, really. We got ourselves sorted and went to check the place out.
We walked down to the beach because it was extremely hot. Thankfully it wasn’t very far! When walking along to the beach, we could look back at the view of the town which was amazing! All of these old buildings painted in so many different colours built up along the cliff face. We found our way over to the beach which was extremely crowded and we had a quick swim. The water was pretty murky – probably because of how crowded it was. We walked back to the marina and Miriam had a swim there as well.
In the evening we found a little bar to have some dinner. The food wasn’t great, but it served the purpose. There wasn’t a lot of choice for food in this little town so we just went with what was reasonably priced.
Day Two
On Saturday we had our big day planned with all of the five towns. It was hot, and it was the weekend so it was busy! We tried to get out there before the crowds, but our first train had a couple of tour groups on it already.
You can buy a train pass called the Cinque Terre pass which gives you unlimited travel up and down the coast for a day. There are also loads of hiking tracks but you need good shoes for them to let you on them. Our Birkenstocks weren’t going to cut it! Plus with only one day we wanted to make sure we could see as much as possible!
Remembering that we were already staying in Riomaggiore, our first stop for the day was Manarola.
Manarola
Manarola is one of the most picturesque towns along the coast. The houses all sit on the edge of the cliff much like Riomaggiore and you get a great view of them along the coastal walk. We went for a walk and Miriam had her first swim of the day.
On our way back to the train we grabbed some focaccia to top up the croissants we had for breakfast earlier! It was just plain focaccia topped with olive oil and it was delicious!
Corniglia
The second stop was Corniglia which is a town at the top of the cliff rather than in the valleys between them. As part of our day pass we could use the bus shuttle service up the hill which we were extremely grateful of considering the heat and the steep staircase to get to the town from the train station!
We walked around the town and took some photos of the view before heading to a gelato shop. Miriam had a basil & lemon flavoured gelato which was interesting. I didn’t love it, but I would compare it to the refreshing taste of mint ice cream. Only it tastes like basil. I stuck to what I know and had salted caramel and dark chocolate.
We decided that we should experience the steps because of the amazing view from them so took them down. We didn’t envy those who were walking up past us!
Vernazza
Our next stop was Vernazza. This was another nice little town where you could easily walk down to the water front. Both of us had a swim and enjoyed sitting on the rocks in the sun.
It was now lunch time so we found a little seafood shop that does a variety of seafood in a paper cone. It was really yum with so much food! We sat by the marina and ate it.
Monterosso
The final town was Monterosso. This town is known for having a nice beach compared to the rocks that you have to climb down at the other towns. Seeing what had been described as a “nice beach” made me miss NZ beaches! The beach was all stones and 90% of it was private where you had to pay to enter and sit on a beach chair. We found a small spot on the ‘public’ part of the beach and lay our towels down. You couldn’t sit there for very long on the hot stones before you had to get in the water! There were warning signs for jellyfish, but everyone seemed to be in the water anyway. I jumped in for a quick cool down.
We lasted maybe 20 minutes sitting on the beach before we decided to head back on the train! We were exhausted from the heat and the walking around the place so we went back to our apartment for a rest.
Riomaggiore
In the evening we experienced what Riomaggiore is famous for – sunsets. I got a pizza and Miriam got a pasta and we went and sat on the rocks to watch sunset with a whole lot of other people!
It was a really nice way to finish the day. Except for the rat that we would see pop up among the rocks every now and again! Clearly it knew when all the people were there with their food!
We got lots of photos of the sunset and reflected on one of our best days on our trip so far. A day with sunshine, views, swimming and lots of smiles! We felt refreshed and ready to take on more of Italy!
Bye for now! 👋🏻
