Cinque Terre
After a crack-of-dawn start, a fast trip to Heathrow and a trouble-free, if delayed, flight to Pisa, we were soon meeting up with Neil, one of our Holiday Fellowship guides for our week, and in the bus heading through the Carrara marble quarries to Bonnasola, our base.
The Cinque Terre consists of five villages perched precariously on the steep hillside between mountains and water in the Gulf of Genoa. Not so long ago they were accessible only on foot or by sea; now corkscrew narrow roads lead down the hillsides but the main transport system is the railway, which runs from Genoa to La Spezia, mostly in tunnels carved through the limestone, an invaluable aid to the explorer, although still surprisingly packed out with tourists.
Bonnasola sits just to the north and off the main tourist track, with the feel of a traditional Italian beach resort, so an ideal base. Once checked in we met our second guide, Viv, and the four Australians, two Americans and one Brit, who fortunately did not seem too disconcerted at joining up with an established group.
The Cinque Terre consists of five villages perched precariously on the steep hillside between mountains and water in the Gulf of Genoa. Not so long ago they were accessible only on foot or by sea; now corkscrew narrow roads lead down the hillsides but the main transport system is the railway, which runs from Genoa to La Spezia, mostly in tunnels carved through the limestone, an invaluable aid to the explorer, although still surprisingly packed out with tourists.
Bonnasola sits just to the north and off the main tourist track, with the feel of a traditional Italian beach resort, so an ideal base. Once checked in we met our second guide, Viv, and the four Australians, two Americans and one Brit, who fortunately did not seem too disconcerted at joining up with an established group.
Clockwise from top left: The beach at Bonassola. CArd player in the main street. Portovenere where Byron reputedly swam the straits. Riomaggiore from above. Neil (back to camera) give us a pre-walk briefing. Heading up the mule track from Levanto.
