Italy continues

 After a fab time in Milan and the marathon done we headed to Cinque Terre.....via a short detour to a shopping outlet mall Jo had found about a half hour out of the city!  Needless to say I spent most of my time sitting in a cafe.....We caught the train to Cinque Terre.  Quick wikipedia intro for those that don't know any thing about this area:

The Cinque Terre is a rugged portion of coast on the Italian Riviera. It is in the Liguria region of Italy, to the west of the city of La Spezia. "The Five Lands" is composed of five villages: Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore. The coastline, the five villages, and the surrounding hillsides are all part of the Cinque Terre National Park and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The Villages are linked by a train system

View from my room

First night we had a little picnic in the room

Had to improvise on the glassware - yeah, Rose's idea, worked a charm

The obligatory church shot - Rose not delighted by the constant bell ringing

Couple of ways to get between the villages - this the "low" road, all quite civilized......more later

This was a cool idea.  This is a paddle boat you can hire.  There is a little sun deck behind, you can paddle out into the water, anchor down and slide into the water till your hearts content.  Great way to keep kids occupied while you sun on the deck I think.

Example of being on the "high" road.  Round corners to be confronted with more spectacular views.  The whole place is breath taking.

Another view of  Manarola

Rose and Jo looking the part, maybe 2hrs into our five hour day.

Last year there were big landslides (some of the actual tracks are still closed).  We came across this  as we were about to go into one of the villages.  On the left, out of shot, is the other part of the house.  It was kind of surreal.

As we journeyed back to our village we popped in and out of others.  This the most spectacular  food stop!

This gives you a sense of how high we were at times...........Still away to go before we reach the village.

You walk through working vineyards clinging to the side of the hill.  Can only imagine how old these vines are.

I think this was our first day, behind is a beautiful view of the ocean

Highlight had to be dinner at Billy's!  Crammed into a tiny space they brought us the fresh caught fish on a tray so we could choose which one we wanted.  Funniest moment, at the end of the meal 6 bottles various types arrived on the table where we proceeded to help ourselves to each one - a little tasting session then served ourselves one or two of our choice - Lemoncello being my favourite!  You couldn't do it in NZ - folk would drink the entire bottle.  No idea how they charged us either, nobody appeared to be keeping track.