Last Days in Cinque Terre

After two busy days exploring the towns of Cinque Terre we decided to spend the day in Vernazza, avoiding the crowds and trains. Before 10am the town was fairly quiet, and it was nice to breakfast at one of the many small cafes. We explored the town and walked up the narrow alleys and stairs to the castle, which has some nice high views of the town and harbor. The stone stairs and constant up and down were hard work, so we rewarded ourselves with fish and chips for lunch and took a rest back in the apartment. Sara had a lovely time swimming off the harbor beach and along the shore which was being enjoyed by many people.

For the evening we hiked up one of the trails and found a great spot to enjoy a picnic dinner while we waited for sunset and the chance to get more sunset shots of the harbor and town from a different angle. The path was pretty rocky and had a lot of stone steps, and we both marveled and how John is now able to walk after being restricted to a wheel chair last year. We walked back to town as it was getting dark and stopped for our evening gelato!

Friday the 14^th we enjoyed another slow start to the day. Sara decided to check out a different swimming spot off the small pebble beach on the other side of town. The water was a bit rough on this side of the coast and she failed to recall her Mum’s advice given as a child to keep away from the rocks! After getting scrapped up a bit, and thinking “This is how tourists are drowned”, she returned to the protected harbor with a scuba mask and had a more sedate time swimming around and watching the many fish under the water.  In the afternoon we returned to Manarola, to follow a perfect afternoon plan designed by John. Swimming for Sara while John took sunset shots, followed by at the restaurant overlooking the harbor and then some night photography of the town as the lights came on. It was a wonderful afternoon, finished off with of course gelato before getting the 10:30pm train back to Vernazza.

Saturday we enjoyed a late lunch and then Sara persuaded John it would be fun to rent a small boat to drive up the coast to see the villages from the sea. The sea was a bit choppy, and the guys looked a bit concerned about allowing the two of us out on our own, however we rowed out of the harbor (no engines allowed inside), and Sara was given some basic instruction and showed she could start the boat and safely handle the outboard engine, so off we went!

Once we got over the apprehension of being on a small boat and worked out the smoothest ways to drive with the waves we spent a lovely few hours going up the coastline to take pictures, a bit tough since the boat was rocking the whole time. We dropped the anchor in a small cove and Sara jumped off the boat for a swim. After a small moment of fear trying to start the engine - think hard pull on a lawn mower but on a rocking boat - we were off again. We started to head to the town of Monterosso, but the sea started to get really rough so we returned to Vernazza.  It was a perfect end to our time in Cinque Terre!

Click here for the photos of our last days in Cinque Terre