Day 10: Cinque Terre

We were up very early this morning for a 2.5hour drive to La Spezia where we would get on a train to visit the towns of Cinque Terre. The kids slept most of the way.

We parked the car and the kids were very amused by the sign for the toilets.

We bought our train tickets and had to wait an hour and a half for the next train. By then the platform was full of people and we only just managed to squeeze onto the train, at least it was only a short 8 minute trop to the stop we were getting of at. We arrived in the first town and the train stopped but our carriage was still inside the tunnel, thankfully someone else on our carriage knew what to do as many people stood slightly confused and pushed through the people to open the doors. The train was longer than the platform so if in the back carriages you need to exit and walk along a small walkway through the tunnel to the platform.

Riomaggiore, this small town is built into the hillside

We had a quick walk around the town and then headed back to train station to get the train to the next station. When the train arrived there were a ridiculous number of people both on the train and on the platform wanting to get on. The train doors were trying to close and people kept forcing them open to try and get both on and off the train. I decided it was way to much maddness and grabbed the kids to step back away. The train ended up completely packed to the doors and one lady was opening doors and trying to squeeze more people on but it was impossible. We then had to wait another 40 minutes for the next train and in that time decided to skip the next two towns and go straight to the 4th of the 5 towns. 

Vernazza

We then walked the 3km very steep track up and down over the mountains to the next town. It was a hard walk and it was the middle of the day so was very hot but we all made it and the views were spectacular

Finall we had a glimpse of our destination....

We made it to the 5th town Monterosso, a beautiful beach, the water looked so inviting after our long hot walk, it was a new experience wading into the water at the beach on top of pebbles, not as soft as the sand we have at the beach in Australia!

We were all so hot and exhausted that we decided to skip the two towns we had not yet visited and headed back to our car for the long drive back. Then it was in the pool for another swim to finish of the day.