Cinque Terre – Contiki Mediterranean Quest Tour
We bid farewell to beautiful Nice, and hopped on the bus to drive through some of the most beautiful sea side landscapes, to Cinque Terre, Italy. Cinque Terre is not one single village – it is a series of small sea side villages built along the Italian Riviera. Each village has its own vibe and character, and together, they make up Cinque Terre (literally translated as “five lands”).
We arrived at the first stop, Levanto, and our tour manager gave us a hop-on-hop-off train ticket to help us easily move from one village to the next, but we had other plans. We really wanted to experience the beauty between the villages of Cinque Terre, so we opted to forgo the train ticket between Monterosso and Vernazza, and complete the hike between these villages instead. The weather wasn’t ideal for hikers, so some friends had to turn back – but we were determined to carry on, so off we went with our friend Abbey to explore Cinque Terre’s rugged terrain on foot. Our hike was well worth the bit of mud we got on our shoes, and the beauty of the views were beyond what our iPhones could capture.
Once we reached Vernazza, we realized that due to time constraints, this would be our only hike of the day, so we had a leisurely time taking the train to the remainder of the beautiful villages. Our last stop, La Spezia, is where we would be spending the night before heading to Florence in the morning.
Beautiful photos! So happy to see you wearing your Blue Jays shirt, Dermot! Go Jays Go!!!
Go Jays! We bumped into a few Canadians during our hike that liked my shirt – one man even had a Bautista jersey on!