16 May - Cinque Terre

The Cinque Terre (The Five Lands) are five old fishing villages that cling to the cliffs along the west coast of Italy, in the region of Liguria north of Tuscany.  The five villages and the area around are part of a national park and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  They are a popular tourist destination and we have had them on our ‘to see’ list for a while.

Because of their location the villages are best visited by walking or by sea.  We belatedly found out that you can also take a train from the nearby town of La Spezia, although most of your time between villages is spent in tunnels.  We headed off there today by train with Roger and Ali and a loose plan to take a ferry north along the coast (walking would take too long) and to get off at a couple of the villages before heading back to La Spezia and the train to Lucca. 

Planning a trip by ferry to visit the villages and spend time in at least two is like one of those logistics training tasks you get on management courses: there are only three departure times from La Spezia but leaving too late shortens your options; only some departing ferries at each village go to the next village along; yet you want to see all the villages so you need to get the timings right; you could however end up with a plan to visit all the villages but find you reach the one furthest north (Monterosso) too late to catch the last ferry back to La Spezia; and you also need to factor in the arrival and departure times in any one place such that you can spend time there and still not fall foul of the other constraints.  Fortunately it was all made simpler once we realised we could get a train back from Monterosso to La Spezia and so we headed off on the train from Lucca to La Spezia and down to the harbour to grab our day ticket for the ferry.

The villages are definitely beautiful:  tiny and colourful and clinging to the cliffs of small coves they sit above a blue sea along the rugged Ligurian coastline.  Their few streets are narrow and bright and there is a maze of small medieval passageways to explore between some of the houses.  They are delightful.

But……

….on the the ferry you are crammed like the sardines the fisherman of the villages may have once caught.  The passengers jostle around to get the best views and cameras and phones and selfie sticks are waved aloft to try and avoid the sea of bodies.  When you arrive each village is crowded with people converging on it by boat and by foot and by train, made worse by any number of groups twenty or thirty strong following their flag holding leaders.  The few narrow streets are thronged and the bars and shops and restaurants take full advantage.  People come and go in waves, in time with the ferries arriving and departing, yet the crowds never seem to diminish and the queues to get back on the ferries (and on the train at the end of the day) are like the worst rush hour crowds back home.  It is also amazing how seemingly old and frail men and women suddenly become spritely enough to barge you out of the way when the gang plank is lowered.   

It would be nice to go back and walk between the villages out of season in order to see them for the charming places we are sure they must be when not crowded but we question whether 'out of season' exists where Cinque Terre are concerned. 

Before the queue built up.....