Recently our travel agenda has changed. Originally, we'd planned to do a month long driving holiday through France and Italy before returning home to Australia for good. Unfortunately, that holiday was planned for September or October 2008. Thanks to Mr Credit Crunch we've spent the months of both September and October working instead of gallivanting around the continent.

We realised that travel plans could only be made tentatively. We decided that there were must-see places that we should probably just go and see rather than wait for that elusive block of vacation time.

First up, Cinque Terre. This was definitely on our must-see list. It's a favourite place of some of our favourite people.


Cinque Terre is a series of five villages lining the Mediterranean coast of Northern Italy. It's an hour south of Genoa and an hour north-west Pisa. The rugged landscape of the region means that the five villages, Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza and Monterosso, are built into the cliffside. It's also famed as a wine producing region. Grapes are grown on terraces which have been cut into the cliffs. (At harvest time in the olden days they used to lower buckets of grapes down the cliffs to rowboats waiting below. Now they use stairclimbers... boring!).

We had an idyllic weekend in Cinque Terre. We stayed in a modern apartment in the small village of Manarola. The apartment was built right on the edge of the cliff. At night, I was lulled to sleep by the sound of the sea; waves crashing on the cliffs. It's a sound from my childhood, a sound from summer holidays at Budgewoi. It was very relaxing.


The apartment also had roof-top terrace with a beautiful ocean view. We ate breakfast on the terrace every morning. A baguette with prosciutto and cheese, a banana and a glass of orange juice. We purchased the supplies from the local deli in very broken Italian. (For example, to order 10 slices of prosciutto - "Prosciutto per favore, dieci" *make slicing motions with hands*. Ashamedly, our broken Italian is sometimes snippets of Spanish or French. Told you it was very broken!).


Oh and did I mention the weather! Apart from the rain on the first day, we had beautiful weather. Three days of sunshine and temperatures in the mid 20s. It's only 11 degrees in London today. As I write this I look out the window at a view of a very grey London. Sometimes I wonder why anyone would live in London.

We booked a 4-day mini-break to Cinque Terre which meant that we could work at a very relaxed pace. Our first day we spent mainly napping because it was raining. On Day 2, we hiked from Manarola to Corniglia and then to Vernazza. The first part was easy, apart from the 300 step climb up to Corniglia. The hike from Cornigilia to Vernazza was more challenging with a steep climb up and then steep climb down. On day 3, we took it easy, catching a train to Monterosso and then a ferry to Riomaggiore. We then walked Lovers Lane from Riogmaggiore back to our village, Manarola. That was a very easy stroll compared to the other Cinque Terre hikes.


What makes Cinque Terre special, is that the best way to see it is to walk the trails. There isn't a road which easily links the five villages. There is a train but it spends most of the journey between the villages inside tunnels. There isn't even a funicular or a cable car. To really enjoy the view you have to make an effort. And the effort makes the view all that more enjoyable. There was nothing better than the view as we hiked down into Vernazza after a two hour trek. Well, except maybe the view of the large scoop of lemon gelato that I awarded myself afterwards.

More photos on Flickr

We stayed at Arpaiu in Manarola. The accommodation was clean and modern. All the rooms had a sea view. The accommodation was recommended by Sue and J. Thanks for the fantastic recommendation guys.