The Cinque Terre and Lucca

The Cinque Terre ("5 lands" in Italian) is a UNESCO World Heritage site along the Italian Riviera, about an hour north of Pisa and an hour or so south of Genova.  We arrived in Levanto, a small town just north of the Cinque Terre, on a rainy Sunday night, and prayed for better weather for the following day.  When we awoke the next morning, we were thrilled to see blue skies all around, sunshine, and 50+ degree temperatures...it was the perfect day to explore the Cinque Terre.

The best way to travel between the Cinque Terre towns is either by train (each is about a 4 - 8 minute ride from each other) or via the walking paths that take you along the cliffs and coastline.  (In the summer, there are ferries also.)  We had planned to take the train to the opposite end (to the town called Riomaggiore) and walk all the way back during the day (a total walk of about 5 hours).  Unfortunately, when we arrived in Riomaggiore, we found out that, because of all the rain over the past few days, there had been some mudslides in spots along the paths so some of them were closed.  We did get to walk between a few of the towns though, and the views were spectacular.  We took the train to see the others.  (An all-day family train pass was about 12 Euros).  It was definitely nice being here outside the normal, busy, tourist season.  During our 2-hour walk between Vernazza and Corniglia, we saw only about 8 - 10 other people the entire way.  In the summer, I'm sure that path is packed with hot and sweaty people.

Ellie did a little Ellie on the Scene about the Cinque Terre too:

This is the town of Manorola, the second town from the south.

Hey! I snuck into a picture!  Here's Mark and me with a view of Manorola behind us.

Walking down the main street in Vernazza.  This town had the biggest "center", although it was still very small. 

Vernazza's marina, church, and square

The kids found a "spinny thing" at a little playground and had some fun...it went really fast!

A typical little alleyway in Vernazza

A view down the coastline

A view of Vernazza from the path that goes to Corniglia

Ellie, with Corniglia in the background

We had a picnic lunch of bread, cheese, and prosciutto in a nice spot along the coast

A beautiful spot with olive trees all around along the walk from Vernazza to Corniglia. 

Ellie's pizzeria!

Monterosso's beach

The kids running along the beach on the Mediterranean coast at sundown...very nice.

The day after our fun-filled day of hiking along the Cinque Terre, we headed back to Siena with a quick stop in Lucca to break up the drive.  Most people haven't heard of Lucca, but we really liked it.   Its history goes way back - it was a Roman settlement 2000 years ago - and its most unique feature, its intact medieval wall, is a descendant of the first Roman walls that have protected this city ever since.  In fact, Lucca's walls were so effective, no one even bothered to try to invade the city during the entire Medieval period, leaving it independent, peaceful, and happy.

Today, the old city of Lucca is still completely surrounded by a huge, fortress-like wall that's been turned into a park with a 2.5 mile walking/biking path along the top (this is a REALLY thick wall!).  It's a great city to bike around and through (since it's nice and flat, unlike Siena)...so we rented bikes and rode around for a couple of hours.  Very relaxing!

Here we are riding along the top of the wall.