In 2007 we had a weeks  vacation to visit Italy.   What can you do in 7 days?   We visited Orvieto, Lucca. Vermazza. Santa  Margarheita, Portofino, and an afternoon in Rome. And a couple of towns in the Cinque Terre. 

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Vernazza from the hillside above 

Vernazza was our introduction to the Cinque Terre.  A hillside town with terraced gardens and vineyards.  Our visit was before the flooding, but the town has been restored and the tourists have been back from quite some time. 

A fishing boar was pulled up on to the shore.

This is the piazza for the nail gatherings.  We visited in April and were treated to some very mild temperatures. 

View from our BnB, Gianni Franzi. Not a bad place, but like many BnBs you will climb up some steep steps. The location was a quick walk to the center of town.

 

The colors of the piazza.

Views of town from the seaside. Lots of places to sit and enjoy the views. Vernazza and Cinque are know for their hiking trails. Some can be strenuous, but all are beautiful. 

Here is a link for information on the trails. Make sure to check to see if you need a pass to use the trails. 

http://www.cinqueterre.eu.com/en/footpaths-cinqueterre

 

Local fishing boats by the pier.

Line art, or clothesline art.

Coastal view.

The train station as we headed down towards Riomaggiore, where we learned an expensive lesson on train travel. When you purchase  ticket for the trains, or busses for that matter, you must validate (convalidare) your ticket. We were taking the 5 minute trip to Riomaggiore and had no clue.   As the conductor approached I handed our tickets to him an he new he was going to make a killing with some naive tourists.  It cost us 30 Euros for the mistake. Original tickets were 2 Euros each!  Many train tickets on the high speed system are marked for a time and date and do not need to be validated. It does not hurt to ask.

A view from the pier as we prepared to take the boat for a short tour of the nearby towns.

Vernazza is a must see, but try to avoid peak tourist times. April, and May are good and late September through mid November are less crowded. 

I will continue our trip in the next post.

 

Image below is from http://www.cinqueterre.eu.com/en