The following photo gallery highlights our visit to the Cinque Terre (Five Towns) stretch of coastline on the Italian Riviera. The five small fishing towns that give the coastline its name are, from north to south; Monterosso, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola and Riomaggiore. Until recently, the towns were only accessible by mule track, rail or boat, and still have very little automobile traffic. We stayed in Riomaggiore, and hiked up the coast through Manarola to Corniglia on one of our days there.
On another day, we took a train, then a bus to spend a day in Porto Venere, which lies about 5 miles south of Riomaggiore. We visited the Doria Castle which is nestled on top of the cliffs overlooking the Adriatic Sea on one side, and the fishing village of Porto Venere on the other. We also visited the Church of San Pietro, which was built in 1277 and sits on the southernmost point of the Porto Venere peninsula. Here’s a gallery of photos highlighting our visit there …
Cinque Terre was one of my favorite places when I visited Italy!! Took the train and got off at every stop and just walked around each little town. Loved it!!!
Those towns are such a beautiful place to stroll about! So difficult to get to by car that there’s almost none on the roads!