Cinque Terre, Italy

This was the second year that we've spent Easter with Kylie and Anthony, and this year the destination was the Cinque Terre, in Italy. What we found when we got over there was that a lot of Aussies and Americans had heard of it, but pretty much nobody in England has – it seems to be a secret shared amongst travellers but not amongst the English (from what we hear, though, in summertime the Italians are out in force).

The Cinque Terre is a group of five (cinque) villages (terre) strung along the coastline about 90 minutes south of Genoa in Italy (near the front and top of the boot, for those who are more visual). There is a lovely walk between them, as well as a train line that joins them up so it is possible to start at one end, walk through, and then catch the train back – it certainly isn't car-friendly.

We arrived into Genoa about lunchtime on the Friday and lost no time in getting onto a train heading southwards, stopping at Monterossa, the northernmost village and our home base. Our hotel (Hotel Pasquale) was built into the cliff and overlooked the beach and the start of the trail.

The view from our hotel

A local shopfront - I don't think that the cat was for sale

The weather was fantastic, so we headed straight out to take advantage of it. The first two walks, to Vernazza and Corniglia are the hardest, steepest and longest, but also the most scenic and least developed, with lots of places where you feel like you're walking through someone's backyard 'olive patch' or 'grape patch' – farm or vineyard would be too grand a term, but the local olive oil and wine is fantastic so small really is beautiful.

Some local scenery on the walk

Vernazza from a great height - there was quite a bit of climbing involved

Above Vernazza

The town of Corniglia, perched up on a hill

We set a pretty good clip (except for regular photo stops) and each of the legs took about 75 minutes – certainly long enough that we felt ready for dinner by the time we had finished the second leg at the village of Corniglia, especially since it is the only one perched at the top of a hill so there is much more uphill than down on that leg. Our hotel had recommended a restaurant back in Vernazza, the second village (counting our home base as number one), and rather than retrace our steps we just jumped back on the train (it really is a great setup).

Unfinished business - the next town...

Saturday dawned, and fueled by the great breakfast at Hotel Pasquale, we were ready to knock off the remaining legs. It was actually something of an anti-climax – the villages were still great, but the walks were relatively short and easy, and before we knew it we were in Riomaggiore, the final village.

The cliff track between Manarola and Riomaggiore

Anthony's Italian friends at work had recommended a couple of other towns in the vicinity – Portofino and Portovenere, and so for Saturday afternoon we decided to see where the wealthy play in the Italian Riviera at Portofino. After a few mishaps with our trains (including sitting at the end of the line, too engrossed in a game of 500 to notice how long we'd been stopped at the station) we made it to Santa Margherita, the jumping-off point for Portofino and a really pretty town in its own right. From there we caught a bus around to Portofino (the ferry wasn't running) and were glad that we'd not brought a car – there wasn't enough room on the road for the oncoming traffic and the bus, and how we didn't wreck some very nice cars I still don't know.

Portofino itself was very pretty but surprisingly small and, although there were only a few (albeit huge) yachts tied up when we arrived, we could see how you could make yourself very comfortable there for the summer. Dinner was at Miky, a Michelin-starred but very reasonably-priced fish restaurant back in Monterosso – Anthony's salt-baked fish was a particular highlight.

Portofino - not one of those shops was not an expensive designer brand

Looking down over Portafino

After the trek out to Portafino proved to be such a challenge, we made sure we were much better organised for the trip down to Portovenere, south of the Cinque Terre. La Spezia, the jumping-off town, was much less interesting, but Portovenere was one of the highlights of the trip – it clings to the coastline behind a high town wall, guarded over by a castle, and like all towns where space is a premium, has grown narrow alleyways and taller buildings without a strong plan. It was great to explore, and taste some of the local produce including the pesto, which is a speciality (it was about here that we decided to check in some suitcases instead of taking carry-on, and stock up on local produce to take home with us).

The town of Portovenere

Kylie and Sarah just outside the walls at Portovenere

We were really sad to be leaving on the Monday – especially since after two greyish days on Saturday and Sunday the sun was finally coming out...but hopefully one day we'll be back.