Today we took another day trip from Florence. We had a free day with nothing scheduled (however did i let that happen?) and Betty-Lou suggested that we visit Cinque Terre. She had raised this as an option months ago, but i thought it seemed too far to visit in a day from Florence and we had heard that a couple of the town had been destroyed in mudslides…or earthquakes. Anyway we made the trek and are pleased to report that the towns are restored and it is possible to see it all in one (long) day.
Cinque Terra is, not surprisingly, five small towns clinging to the rocks above the sea on the west coast of Italy. The first town is about an hour an a half from Florence (via Pisa and La Spezia). The five towns are joined by a train but also by a ridiculously picturesque walking trail that winds along the cliffs. To walk the whole thing would take several hours (and one stretch of the path is closed due to the slides), so we mostly took the train between the towns, but along the part that we did walk it was lovely. The water was a perfect Mediterranean blue and the views were breathtaking.
The towns were similar to each other in that they were all beautiful. Tiny clusters of colorful buildings seemingly piled on top of each other, on top of cliffs, heading down to the sea. Each town had at least one tiny church and the hills above were covered by grapevines and fruit trees. As we walked up to one of the towns we ate some purple grapes from one of the vines. They were magnificent. Betty-Lou wants me to say that the grapes ‘even tasted purple’. I will simply say that they were delicious. Each town had narrow, hilly streets lined with touristy shops and inviting eateries, and atmospheric sea ports where small, colorful boats bobbed in the surf and locals and tourists alike swam in the sea.
It was all pretty great. It was very busy with tourists – being Italy, and Sunday, and such a great destination, but the crowds did not detract from the atmosphere. We spent several hours visiting the five villages and snacking our way through them.
