Day 2 – Genova to the Cinque Terre

Today was the day…….we were off to the Cinque Terre – yeha!  As we were staying right at the Port we were just a few minutes away from our boat that was due to sail at 9am.  We got there, picked up our tickets and were ready to board.  Lachlan was up the front with his ticket and was one of the first one heading straight up the stairs to the top to pick the seat he wanted – and to save three others……good on ya Lachlan!

Great seats and in no time at all we were off.  It cost us 18 Euros each for the one way trip from Genova to Monterosso.  It was actually a specialised return trip of the Cinque Terre and so  we stopped at a few ports on the way to Cinque Terre including a well known port of Portofino (which lots of NZ Italian restaurants are named after) we then went to the bottom village, Riomaggiore and then cruised up past all the villages of Manarola, Corniglia, before we stopped at Vernazza for one hour and then Monterosso.  This was where we hopped off, however it then continued on after 21/2 hours back to Genova.  

Here are some pics of our journey - beautiful coastline, great coloured housing and amazing waters - 

The rock formations around the coast amazing - apparently caused by earthquakes

A monastery in the middle of nowhere

Getting ready to dock in Vernazza - 

The boys by our boat in Vernazza 

While in Vernazza we had a great lunch right on the waterfront – great views and great food! I had the most amazing bruschetta – the pesto over here is just amazing! Pizza and pasta here in Italy is just sooooo divine!   

By the time we finished lunch we hopped back on the boat and cruised to Monterosso – here we explored a little and the kids had a quick swim and then we were off to catch our train to go and check out our apartment……wahoo!

We have arrived in Monterosso -

So we sussed the train – and we headed to Riomaggiore – and what an amazing village! It is beautiful and we quickly found our apartment.  The villages are small and so cute! And very hilly……..our apartment is very cool, two bedrooms and a great kitchen/lounge area up some really steeps steps…………………

Once we settled in, we headed out to explore and most importantly find the beach.  Headed to the beach – first off we found the boat ramp area and Connor and I were in – wasn’t the best spot, but we were there and it was glorious!  Karl and Loki then found another spot that they were keen to swim at so Connor and I hopped out and we headed to their spot – the beach was stoney but beautiful!  We then hopped in and the water was rough and the stones were slippery.  Not really the right beach for us…….anyway we had a swim



 We then headed back up to the village to grab some dinner and check out the cold beers we had chilling in the fridge.  

This is so exciting - the Cinque Terre is living up to all my expectations........................................