25th-28th September 2009:
The Cinque Terre, Liguria

	Another long weekend and we returned to the 5 Terre - a natural park on the Ligurian coast, where we had a great visit a couple of years ago. This time we stayed in one of the five small, car-free villages on the coast, so as to explore them to their full. The sun shone and we had a wonderful 4 days.
	Vernazza - the village where we stayed.
	A bottle of wine and a sunset!
	An early morning swim to wash away the cobwebs - not bad for the end of September!
	We spent a day exploring the coast by passenger ferry...
	...seeing the 5 Terre at their most picturesque, from the sea...
	...and arriving in Porto Venere, a slightly larger but similarly picturesque town further along the coast.
	"Byron's Pool", one of many places where Byron swam and thus had something named after him. Rachel has swum there as well now, but they haven't changed the name yet.
	The following day we explored on foot, climbing up above the town to a sanctuary...
	...with spectacular views along the coast...
	...and a well earned picnic lunch.
	A short train ride to one end of the 5 Terre and we explored Riomaggiore. Space is at a premium and the boats are kept in the main street.
	The path leading to the next of the villages is called the Via dell'Amore...
	but being full of tourists its not actually particularly romantic anymore.
	We found somewhere far more romantic by climbing up (a lot) through the olive groves...
	...and up into the vines which cover the terraces higher up.
	We opened a bottle of wine and had a well earned rest.
	Without doubt the most beautiful moment of the trip, and possibly of all our time in Italy.
	We sat amonst the vines, watching the sun go down on the Mediterranean and wondered why we were moving back the UK!
	Vernazza's church has a view which would surely distract you from the sermon.
	Looking down on Vernazza from its castle.
	Another walk and a great view back to Vernazza.
	Our final lunch before catching the train back to Turin.
	Anchiovies!