Cinque Terre - Beyond the crowds....

I loved the Cinque Terre. But going at the height of the tourist season. Hmmmmm?

Our trip was arranged through the travel agency used by the students of the Universita` di Stranieri di Perugia. The tour was a full day trip. At 5:30 am, we all met near the university to board a private coach for the four hour ride to La Spezia, our departure point for the spectacular boat voyage to Venazza, the town considered to be the most beautiful of all in Cinque Terre.

La Spezia is not exactly the quaint size of the five towns that comprise the Cinque Terre, but it's interesting in its own rite. With a large harbour for both pleasure and commercial craft, some would consider it a bit ugly, but being from Seattle I enjoyed all aspects of the harbour from the navy ships to container vessels. The harbour is configured in a large U- shape and surrounded by incredible views of the sea and nearby mountains.

The day we visited was clear with only a few clouds in the sky and the weather was getting warmer by the moment. The boat was full and was a melting pot of different nationalties and languages. There were the Italians, Irish,
Germans, Australians, plus Holland America's large group of (unfortunately, embarrassingly, ugly) Americans.

The boat ride was so relaxing that when an Irish couple bumped into me and knocked my camera to the ground I did not freak out, even though my $300 dollar Nikon lense was broken beyond repair. Thankfully, I had two other lenses so after a moment of panic I just changed lenses and the camera performed just fine.

Our first drop-off point for our passenger ferry was the town of Portovenre, a picturesque town at the boot of land around from La Spezia that leads to Cinque Terre. Immediately after this stop, the tour boat rounded a sharp point with a castle
atop it, and we opened onto the Adriatic with jagged mountains that jutted into the sea. The sudden view made the entire boat gasp, literally! In fact, I found it to be a quite amusing moment.

This is the rugged portion of the Italian Riviera and the views of those jagged mountains and steep hillsides, many dotted with small houses on terrifying slopes, are quite spectacular.

We passed the towns of Manarola and Corniglia without disembarking and after about 45 minutes we arrived at our first stop - Vernazza (the fourth of the five towns in Cinque Terre), and it was a bit of a shock.


The small town was bursting at the seams with TOO MANY TOURISTS. There was no way to get a feel for the charm of Vernazza as one could only see the outward beauty of the place. With only an hour on shore, we really had no time to enjoy much; just a glass of wine and seafood antipasti. The food was incredibly expensive, and sadly, very mediocre, but the alcove setting was thoroughly delightful and we were all still smiling from ear to ear.


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Waiting for the boat to head to Monterosso, the crowds of tourists at the boat landing was a bit overwhelming. But the ride to the next stop was so picturesque that once on board I fell back into that relaxed state.

Monterossa is a quaint town and larger than the others. A bit more chic because it is the only town of the five that has sandy beaches. In true Italian style one could pull up a piece of sand or rent a space to lay under those signature Italian Riviera striped umbrellas for shade.

We headed into this charming town for a bite to eat,  searching for a restaurant with Italians as opposed to tourists. At the end of a quaint side street we found an attractive trattoria. I should have realized this was not going to be the best place when the waiter kept bugging us to order. I finally had to say..."Stai calmo, Stai tranquillo". Yet that did not seem to stop him from coming back to the table over and over again before we had made a decision.

I tried a Ligurian pasta with a fish sauce. The pasta was overcooked and it had little flavor, but my friends thankfully had better luck with fish and pasta dishes.

My savior from total disappointment was a cute shop filled with only local products from wines to honey, soaps to artisanal pastas. Upon entering the door, a woman immediately offered me a shot of limoncello; how could I refuse.

It was not the best limoncello I've experienced, but when I asked her about a local herbed liquor (made from lemon verbena) I saw on the shelf I was offered a taste and it was incredible! I bought a bottle plus some lemon curd made in town from the same lemons trees you could see just above us on the hill. My dear friend Bettina bought some honey that she later said was the best she has ever had. The wonderful local products and the kindness of the proprietor ensured that I left with a large smile on my face.

We walked off our lunch and went to the beach to relax before boarding our boat to head back to La Spezia. The beauty of the coastline was unbelievable and we had a magic moment when a pod of dolphins began swimming along side the boat. The captain slowed for us to watch them and thankfully the passenger ferry did not capsize, even though everyone raced to the starboard side to view the amazing mammals.

En route back we stopped in Portovenere. It was another one-hour stop, but by that time we had been in the sun and excessive heat for hours and decided to go no further than the first cafe. We sat outside at canopied tables and enjoyed some Campari and the golden light of late afternoon.

The boat ride back to La Spezia was fairly short and soon enough we were on the bus headed back to Perugia. The four-hour return trip found most of us sleeping and we arrived back at the university at 11:30 pm, 18 hours after our departure. We were exhausted, but satisfied with our taste of the Cinque Terre.

Though I do recommend you visit these special towns, I beg of you not to go during the height of tourist season. It brought a sad ugliness to one of the most beautiful places I have been fortunate enough to see in my lifetime. Make sure you try to find the best food you can and spend a night. Even with too many tourists, I can guarantee the Cinque Terre is a place where one is LIVINGLIFESBEST!

 As you can see from the following photos this is not a place that words or photos can quite convey with justice.