Cinque Terre, Italy.

Possibly the most perfect holiday ever.
Not only did i have mum with me, who i haven't seen for 6 months, but we went to one of the most idyllic places i've ever been. the Cinque Terre, or 'The five villages', are historic little villages along the coast of northern Italy linked by about 5 hours of walking track (or 20 minutes of train track!)
A lot of it reminded me of the coast of Tassie, but with a lot more hospitable temperatures!


we flew into Pisa, so we had our first Italian wine and cuisine experience here.


the obligatory tower shot, can't believe this is the third time i've found myself in front of it... it's really not worth the effort of taking my camera out for. The smells and ambiance of Pisa leave a lot to be desired, especially when the rest of it is so bella!


Much better. This is Riomaggiore, the town we stayed in.


The view from our camera (room) we stayed in. Via Columbo.


We walked up these narrow stairways that are in all the villages to the top of the hills, looking back down on the coastal villages.










we spent a good while trying to find our way to this bar that was on the corner of the cliff tops. (triangular rooftop on far left).


it was well worth it when we finally found it. This was our regular late-afternoon/early-evening wine drinking possie where we could watch the sunset and drink local 'Colli di Luni' white wine.






The marina at Piazza san Guacomo (just for you Shaun!). This was where we found our favourite trattoria that cooked up the fish-of-the-day and fresh pastas. The waiter was especially nice and very patient with my progressive italian!


we began each morning wish a fresh fig from the little fruit shop near the station!


Monterosso, the fifth village. Probably the biggest and most touristy. I went for a dip here... it was as warm as a cold bath!


we sampled some Schiatcchetra, the sweet dessert wine that the Cinque Terre is famous for. It was beautiful, although i was some what puzzled by the fact they served it to us in plastic Heineken cups!


these were the sorts of heights we had to climb to get to the next village, Vernazza!


The view on our descent to Vernazza


views from Manarola: these are the sort of hillsides they grow their crops on!


To get to Corniglia you had to climb 365 steps! one for each day of the year!


we were rewarded upon our arrival by locals serving us parmegano, bread and wine!


weird little findings in weird little villages!