A visit to the Cinque Terre.

Tuesday, June 18, 2024

La Spezia Cruise Terminal, Liguria, Italy

Last night we had our first formal meal on board, an excellent dinner served by immaculately dressed waiting staff in an elegant dining room with three sides of floor to ceiling windows enabling us to watch the passing scenery as we sailed down to La Spezia.

Our cabin is very comfortable and has an unusually large bathroom for a cruise ship. We also have a large balcony, and as we’re on the second top floor of this huge vessel, we get a grandstand view of all around us.

I was excited about today’s excursion to explore the Cinque Terre. It's a UNESCO World heritage Site and I've always been interested to visit. From La Spezia we travelled by bus for 30 minutes to Portovenere, also a a UNESCO Heritage Listed site. This mediaeval fishing village is actually just outside the Cinque Terre region but is often cited as the area’s sixth town. And we can understand why. It’s got plenty of Mediterranean character and fascinating history and historical sites to match.

Portovenere sits in the Bay of Poets which gets its name because the area was so loved by English poets.

UNESCO listed Portovenere.

Lord Byron often stayed here and he used to swim across the bay to visit his fellow poet Shelley. Hence the name given to Lord Byron's Grotto.

We then joined a ferry for a cruise up the coast past the actual five Cinque Terre villages. I was surprised at the rugged country and distance between each village. Hiking from village to village is advertised as a popular adventure holiday. I’m sure it would be very interesting, but also looks extremely challenging.

Our ferry trip ended at Monterosso, the fifth of the Cinque Terre villages. It’s attractively filled with colourful houses, gently snaking streets and lanes, and has mountainous backdrops at every turn. The weather was heating up, so we relaxed in the shade of grapevines in a traditional Italian restaurant tucked away in one of the lane ways.

From Monterosso we caught a train back to La Spezia. The train travels all the way along the coast mainly in tunnels carved out of the steep terrain but pops out into the open in time for a good view of some of the other Cinque Terre villages on the return trip. We were pleased to get back and relax with a cool drink beside the ship's pool while we reflected on how much we enjoyed today's seven hour excursion.