Cinque Terre: or the “five lands” is made of five villages in Italy just near La Spezia. The villages of Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore.
Cars cannot reach these towns from the outside, so the villages are not like anything you would experience in a more built up area, it is common for people to go hiking between the villages to visit them all and there also is a train.
On our excursion we took our own little boat and visited a few out of the five cities and we sailed past all but one of the villages I believe.
We opted to go on this excursion instead of into Florence because the day we were in port the museums were all closed and since we had already been to Florence before we opted to explore somewhere new. This is one of my top five places I’ve ever visited and I would love to spend a few weeks here enjoying the beautiful landscapes and the cities carved into the terraces.
Our tour guides took our DCL group from village to village by boat and in the villages we disembarked the boat for we were given a general idea of where to go and what there was to see and we had a bit of an overview of the history of the village and then were given free time to roam around the village and explore a bit for ourselves. I was taking senior photos for my sister since she was graduating high school that next year and what more picturesque place to take photos than in Europe, so we stopped in some picture perfect areas first while my parents went to go try some local cuisine.
Cinque Terre wine and sandwich
The first town we visited (I cannot remember the order in which we visited the villages but they are all so beautiful I’m not sure it matters), we saw a little cafe with some locals eating in it so we dove into the tiny little place to sample their local food. The make a special kind of wine from the terrace grapes in Cinque Terre so we tried the wine there (we completely forgot that you can bring alcohol on board otherwise we would have bought a bottle or two). This was the cafe that our tour guide stopped in to get a snack so we figured there must be good food there, and there was!
Not pictured is the FANTASTIC pizza we got in Cinque Terre as well. Fair warning, pizza will never be the same to you after you try REAL Italian pizza…
A menu on the side of one of the cafes in the Cinque Terre
Don’t forget to try the gelato, again, so many foods you love in America will be forever diminished once you taste the “real” thing in Italy, but it is SO worth it.
Lots of our fellow cruisers just went shopping, there were quite a few little market like areas and pretty much everyone was sampling the food and grabbing a souvenir or two!
The Cinque Terre is quite possibly one of the best places to experience the culture while you are on the cruise. Even though you are still on a whirlwind tour of the villages, you have time to walk down the side streets and stroll into the local cafes, just like you would do if you were a local or had a few days to visit. There is plenty of time to poke into shops, sample the food in a few different places, or sit down and have a proper meal.
The beautiful patterns and vibrant colors of the Cinque Terre make it a photographer’s playground.
Around every corner is a quaint little home, a bike propped up with flowers growing out of a basket in the front. Everything that comes to mind when you think of a little Italian seaside village. You can walk into the local church to get a break from the hot sun, taste some of the delicious meats and cheeses, stroll down the side streets and just look up and marvel at the beauty of the town.
The beautiful, packed into a tiny little village, buildings that just filled you with awe every time you looked up. I couldn’t stop being amazed at how cool this place was the entire time I was there.
I’m an avid photographer and I was just stunned by the beauty of it all and I thought it couldn’t get much better than this (until I got to Greece, and then I was stunned all over again at the beauty of some of these little seaside villages).
A view of one of the villages from our little boat, we slowed down to allow us to take some fantastic images of the town.
An ancient building graces the tip of the peninsula that this village sits on, and is made of stone. Makes for a great photo opportunity. I’d love to get off and visit this village someday as well.
I spent this entire day just basking in the glory of these seaside villages and marveling at how beautiful they were and thinking about when I could manage to get back and visit this wonderful place. I knew that just a few hours here was not going to cut it here, I was taking mental note of where it was I would like to book a hotel for in the coming years.
All in all, if you’ve seen Florence, or perhaps just want to see something a bit off the beaten path, this is the place for you! Plenty of opportunity to sample Italian cuisine, stroll around and soak in the culture, step away from the tourist spots and just relax and enjoy the sea breeze and soak in the warm Mediterranean sun.
Here is the link to the shore excursion! I plan on trying to visit this wonderful place soon, if my schedule allows!
*all photography is copyright Julianna Zieno Photography and can be purchased*
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