The Via dell'Amore is the best part of the Cinque Terre that we saw, especially all the locks. We'll have to bring a lock and visit by ourselves next time.
The iper near where we were staying.
It has the best gelato. Probably 50 or more of the most fantastic gelato. Yummy!
On the train heading to the Cinque Terre.
Mitzi playing in the sand/rocks.
It was quite pretty, but overall I was a little disappointed in the Cinque Terre. I liked Portofino more.
It would have been a little more romantic with just the 2 of us.
Brad, typically trying to put a scowl on things.
This is where I'd really like to go explore.
7-1-10 Thursday
Even though we had a pretty full day yesterday going to Portofino, we went back past Portofino today to go to the Cinque Terre. We didn’t get a chance to go to the Cinque Terre last time we were in Italy, but I had heard a lot about it and was very eager to see if it lived up to its reputation. The Cinque Terre translated means the Five Lands. It’s a remote area on the Italian coast that was left untouched for years due to it’s remoteness. Only in the last 30-50 years has it even been very easy to get to since they’ve now run a railroad track to it. It consists of 5 primary villages with a number of hiking trails and the whole thing has been declared a national park and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We found a place to park in Monterossa al Mare and took the train to Riomaggiore. We got a gelato and hiked down to a very pebbly beach. The kids though had fun exploring in the water. We then hiked the “Via dell’ Amore” or “Walk of Love”. It’s only about a 15-20 minute hike from Romaggiore to Manarolo. The whole thing would have a very different feel if it had just been me and Kindra. As it was, it wasn’t quite so romantic sweating and trying to carry Mitzi, keep Brad from pestering Ian, etc. I think my view of the Cinque Terre would have been significantly different with just the 2 of us. I was pretty let down and disappointed as it was. I liked Portofino significantly more. Maybe if we had actually stayed a night it might have been different. One thing that was very cool though was on the Via dell’Amore was people bring locks, write their names on them, then attach them to the fences and poles along the Via dell’Amore to “lock in their love” together. Some of them were obviously very old, some were extremely large, and at one point there is a seat that looks like a couple kissing, and there are hundreds of locks around it. There are probably thousands of locks on the Via dell’Amore and the views were pretty spectacular at times. As we were driving away from the Cinque Terre you could see several of these little groupings of probably 10-30 houses with a little church. I thought that’s what I’d really like to go explore. Maybe next time.
Even though we had a pretty full day yesterday going to Portofino, we went back past Portofino today to go to the Cinque Terre. We didn’t get a chance to go to the Cinque Terre last time we were in Italy, but I had heard a lot about it and was very eager to see if it lived up to its reputation. The Cinque Terre translated means the Five Lands. It’s a remote area on the Italian coast that was left untouched for years due to it’s remoteness. Only in the last 30-50 years has it even been very easy to get to since they’ve now run a railroad track to it. It consists of 5 primary villages with a number of hiking trails and the whole thing has been declared a national park and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We found a place to park in Monterossa al Mare and took the train to Riomaggiore. We got a gelato and hiked down to a very pebbly beach. The kids though had fun exploring in the water. We then hiked the “Via dell’ Amore” or “Walk of Love”. It’s only about a 15-20 minute hike from Romaggiore to Manarolo. The whole thing would have a very different feel if it had just been me and Kindra. As it was, it wasn’t quite so romantic sweating and trying to carry Mitzi, keep Brad from pestering Ian, etc. I think my view of the Cinque Terre would have been significantly different with just the 2 of us. I was pretty let down and disappointed as it was. I liked Portofino significantly more. Maybe if we had actually stayed a night it might have been different. One thing that was very cool though was on the Via dell’Amore was people bring locks, write their names on them, then attach them to the fences and poles along the Via dell’Amore to “lock in their love” together. Some of them were obviously very old, some were extremely large, and at one point there is a seat that looks like a couple kissing, and there are hundreds of locks around it. There are probably thousands of locks on the Via dell’Amore and the views were pretty spectacular at times. As we were driving away from the Cinque Terre you could see several of these little groupings of probably 10-30 houses with a little church. I thought that’s what I’d really like to go explore. Maybe next time.
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