Woo, hoo … we get to sit at the front of the bus today!
We said arrivederci to Firenze this morning and headed off on our bus passing the Apennine mountains (they call them the backbone of Italy) towards the western coast and Cinque Terre.
We learned the “Cinque Terre means five lands, or small villages that make up the Cinque Terra region – Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza and Monterosso. We get to visit two of them.
We started out at the second village of Manarola. Like many mountain town the weather can be unpredictable and we arrived to a rainy day. But that’s okay, we met a interesting man who showed us around the village and told us about how the villages started out in ancient times as fishing villages built ou the cliff side, where they were more protected from invaders (like pirates). They built terraces on the very steep hillsides and farmed there (you can see a bit in that in the picture). What a rugged way of life!
After visiting that place for awhile we went for a boat ride along the coast, getting glimpses of the other villages along the way. At the end of the ride we docked at the last, and most northern village of Monterossa. The rain stopped so we could walk through the town, enjoy browsing around the colourful shops and houses, and have a yummy lunch to warm us up.
When it was time to continue on our journey we took a train through the mountain tunnels to meet our bus again. Then we e travelled as far as Rapallo for the night. We hear it is called the Italian Riviera here, and has warm beaches. Too bad we can’t stay longer.
Well Behaved Kids Travel 