We booked some shore excursions quickly before we left not really taking a lot of notice of the fine print.
Docked in Livorno this morning.
We thought we had said goodbye to Italy and bus trips, but no our first trip was to Cinque Terre and Portovenere which involved three hour return bus trip; one and half hour boat trip and ten minute train trip to see the spectacular Italian Rivieria.
Cinque Terre means five villages and our boat trip took in all five. These little towns are built on severely steep terrain. One of them, the boat does not even stop at. This is a UNESCO world heritage site. It is also known as the Italian Riveria.
The first at Portovenere we had a little walk through and up to church of St Pietro.
View from ferry
The picture below features two tubs that were used to measure the wine for tax purposes. A plug was put in the front wine poured in and the tax paid on the amount. At least it was oxygenated, not sure about the cleanliness.
Wine tax or toilet trough
Lord Byron and a few other English poets lived in this area and used the coastal vista as inspiration for their works. It was also known as the Bay of Poets.
He also was a great swimmer and this plaque reads “This grotto was the inspiration for Lord Byron. It records the immortal poet who as a swimmer defied the waves of the sea between Portovenre to Lerice.”
We then caught a public ferry to Riomaggiore, Corniglia and lastly Monterosso where we had lunch. Beautiful spaghetti with mussels and clams, misto of seafood and a shared walnut tart and wine of course. This is the Noosa of the area and found the worst toilets of the trip. Beach very rocky and you have to pay for a spot on the beach. We are very fortunate in Australia to have such wonderful sandy white and free beaches.
Ken & Louise Dudley 