This past weekend we took advantage of a clear weekend to take the kids out of school for a couple of days and head to Cinque Terre before the summer crowds descended.
First stop was Lucca. We’ve been spending time improving Audrey’s bike-riding skills so we decided to risk renting bikes and ride around the city walls. After about ten minutes of settling in she was totally self-sufficient.
We had been to Lucca with Hayley in 2007 and it hadn’t changed at all (I wish I could say the same for us).
After a loop of the city walls we headed into town for lunch before the rest of our drive.
Polly even managed to find Miyazaki-themed bubble tea.
Then it was back to the car for the rest of the drive. The first glimpses of the coast were pretty spectacular.
As was the view from our apartment overlooking Riomaggiore.
We dropped our bags and headed down into town to explore.
We managed to grab a spot at a bar overlooking the water and watched the sunset as it set over the town.
The next day I headed out early to get a coffee (with two companions temped by the promise of pastries).
As the sun came up we could see it was going to be another stunning day.
We had planned to tackle the hiking trail to the next town, but it was closed for maintenance so we got the train instead. We still got to enjoy a spectacular view.
We got off in Manarola, which was just as picturesque as Riomaggiore.
After walking around (and getting gelato) we headed back to the train to the next town - Corniglia.
Corniglia sits on a hilltop up 382 stairs.
But it was worth the climb.
We grabbed lunch, made it back down the stairs and caught the train to Vernazza.
The kids even managed a dip in the (cold!) water.
After that we were exhausted so we headed back to the apartment.
The next day we walked around to explore the ‘beach’ in Riomaggiore.
After experiencing the pebbles at Riomaggiore, we decided to get the ferry to the sandy beach at Monterosso.
We spent a couple of hours on the sand, then grabbed gelato and headed back to Riomaggiore on the ferry.
We arrived in time for another stunning sunset.
The next day we packed up and headed home (managing to stop by a few chocolate shops on the way, of course).