| 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.
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| Vernazza - the village where we stayed.
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| A bottle of wine and a sunset!
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| An early morning swim to wash away the cobwebs - not bad for the end of September!
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| We spent a day exploring the coast by passenger ferry...
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| ...seeing the 5 Terre at their most picturesque, from the sea...
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| ...and arriving in Porto Venere, a slightly larger but similarly picturesque town further along the coast.
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| "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.
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| The following day we explored on foot, climbing up above the town to a sanctuary...
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| ...with spectacular views along the coast...
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| ...and a well earned picnic lunch.
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| 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.
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| The path leading to the next of the villages is called the Via dell'Amore...
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| but being full of tourists its not actually particularly romantic anymore.
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| We found somewhere far more romantic by climbing up (a lot) through the olive groves...
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| ...and up into the vines which cover the terraces higher up.
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| We opened a bottle of wine and had a well earned rest.
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| Without doubt the most beautiful moment of the trip, and possibly of all our time in Italy.
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| We sat amonst the vines, watching the sun go down on the Mediterranean and wondered why we were moving back the UK!
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| Vernazza's church has a view which would surely distract you from the sermon.
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| Looking down on Vernazza from its castle.
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| Another walk and a great view back to Vernazza.
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| Our final lunch before catching the train back to Turin.
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| Anchiovies!
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