Cinque Terre & Portovenere, Barely

We recently took a trip to and through Italy.  Totally unplanned.  We just simply got in the car one day and proceeded to sort of drive by the seat of our pants.  It turned out to be a fantastic idea.  We toured Alpine skylines and Mediterranean coastlines, lake regions and wine regions; venturing as far west as Cinque Terre and as far south as Tuscany.  We left a cold Munich and returned to an even colder one, but in between we got up close and personal with an Italian spring that sometimes felt like summer.  By the time we turned homeward, our skin was a shade or two darker, the apple trees along the highway had blossomed, and I had amassed 1041 photos.  Yowza.  Since I haven’t had time to sort through them all yet, I’ll start with the easiest, most relaxed part of the trip:  Cinque Terre.

These are five quaint, cliff-hanging villages in the Liguria region of Northern Italy.  Unlike Florence, which is full of sights that demand to be seen, there wasn’t much to do in Cinque Terre this time of year.  Or so we chose to believe.  The truth is, the towns themselves—with their brightly painted, narrow buildings—are kind of the whole point.  We stayed in Portovenere, which, okay, technically isn’t one of the five villages, but it’s thisclose and nearly identical.  (Plus, it was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site right along with Cinque Terre, so it almost counts.)

The true Cinque Terre villages are Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore, and via boat cruise, we got at least a glimpse of each.  I think they’re just about the most charming towns I’ve ever seen.  The stacked buildings remind me of a swarm of pretty little children who’ve rushed down the mountain to jump into the sea.  Stopped short by the cliff’s steep edge, they’ve doubling up on themselves in a messy-sweet array.

Halfway through the cruise, I noticed that the entire mountainside was crawling with more than just grapevines and tiered crops.  There were loads of people hoofing their way between the villages along some pretty intense terrain.  As we disembarked at Monterosso al Mare, my husband informed me that he had heard of these popular hiking trails.  He said it would have taken us eight hours to get to this same spot by foot, rather than 30 minutes by way of sparkling turquoise sea.  We pretended like we wished we had taken this route instead.  Then, to display our athleticism, we hurried into the village to resume our cycle of sunning, napping, cappuccinos, pizza, and Aperol spritzes.

This continued for about a day and a half.  Did I mention that this was the relaxing bit of the vacation?

Up next:  Florence, Pisa, Il Chianti…and whole lotta photos.