Cinque Terre (Ahhh!)

We take the train from Florence.  Not surprisingly, the train station is thick with fairly aggressive gypsies.  Maybe we shouldn't have enlightened the girls about them because it freaks them out quite a bit.  In the end, we feel it's part of learning about the world and the many cultures and people in it.  The Yin has to have a Yang or it all doesn't work.  They get almost 100% Yin in Barrington, so it's really great to expand their minds.  We board the train with all our wallets & purses ;)   It takes about 3 hours to get to Monterosso and we switch trains three times.  It all goes well and we catch a few naps along the way.

We arrive in Monterosso and we are told it had rained all day.  Thankfully, the weather has moved out by the time we arrive and it is dry the rest of the day.   We roll our bags across town to find our  apartment.

We get pretty excited the second we lay eyes on the beaches.  Four of the five towns making up the Cinque Terre have active harbors and are very much fishing villages.

Cinque Terre means, "Five Lands."  This stretch of the rugged, northern Italian Riveria is made up of five towns: Monterosso, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarolo & Riomaggiore, each with their own personality and ambiance.  These villages cling to the dramatic, rocky cliffs and spill down to the sea.  Breathtaking!  You can't drive a car to these villages or from town to town but there's a train that runs regularly (sort of) to travel among them.  

There's no commercial development and it's thoroughly charming.  We are staying in Monterosso for a week.

The girls immediately put their toes in the water when we see the beach.

We, too, will be stretched out on a towel very soon….

We find our apartment & are greeted by another set of gracious and welcoming hosts.   This is our front yard.  We have a nice little outdoor table and beautiful flowering plants.  Our apartment is in the center of town, with shops and cafes nearby, but enough down a side street to be quiet in the mornings & nights.

The best plant in the yard is the huge lemon tree, full of enormous lemons!

   Our hosts encourage us to pick however many we want and to use the ladder, if needed!  Bonanza!!!

The girls immediately work on a plan to make fresh squeezed lemonade.

We go through the tunnel to check out the main beach area.  

Wow!  This is a beautiful place!

It's too late in the day to get our swimsuits on, so we stroll & hunt for a spot for dinner.  We find it -  On the left, hanging over the beach with the blue & white umbrellas :)

Monterosso, to be continued….