Susannah got up early on our last day to go for run along the walls in Lucca – turns out the bicycles are far less prevalent in the early morning but many locals are out on foot.  What a comfortable city this is – we all felt so welcome here!

Sadly, the rest of the day was dedicated to travel – train, bus, bus, plane, bus, plane, bus, car to be exact – but that gave us lots of time to think about our many memories from this Italian adventure.  We even caught one last glimpse of the leaning tower in Pisa from the air.

A big thank you – “grazie mille”, as we’ve learned to say – to David Charnes of Charnes Tours for handling the lodging and luggage transfer logistics in the Cinque Terre region and for providing wonderfully detailed route maps for our daily hikes.  Our vacation would not have been the same without you!  

Lucca is our kind of city.  Beautiful walkable, bikeable — did we mention that it has a complete set of city walls?  And the towers — it really is a city of towers, many of them campanile attached to churches but others built for civic or private purposes.  In the evening they rang all the bells in the city for about fifteen minutes, and as one walks about the streets the joyful ringing seems to shift around every corner as the echoes change.  But we get ahead of ourselves…

Our nominal “B&B”, while perfectly delightful and with top-notch hospitality, has actually stopped providing the second “B”, instead directing guests to a cafe two short blocks away.  So we went there and were served an Italian breakfast, complete with cappuccino (our first of the trip, but you can’t leave Italy without trying some, right?)

  
Breakfast finished, we were eager to climb our first of the fabled towers.  The Guinigi family was a leading clan in the Middle Ages and built a number of palaces in Gothic brick.  One includes a soaring tower with a small grove of oak trees at the top -literally, right out of the top of the tower! It is easy to imagine generations of city nobility enjoying this beautiful intimate garden high in the air, with views in all directions.

   
   
Bicycles are everywhere in Lucca, but they have some special options for tourists.  What better way to promote family unity than a bicycle built for four?  Well, technically it’s a quadcycyle, but whatever you call it, it was loads of fun!  We made a full circuit of the walls, with everyone taking a turn steering.

  
Lunch included a local specialty recommended by our host, called “cecina” and made from chickpea flour.  We spent some time exploring Lucca’s many shops before climbing our second tower of the day, home of the city’s clock.  The clock mechanism still keeps time, and the staircase to the top winds around the hanging weights.  The enormous bells at the top did not sound during our visit, but the sound must be tremendous when they do.

   
   
Our tower tickets also included entry to the botanic garden so we went there for a short visit.  They have some grand old trees, including an enormous Lebanon cedar.  After this we split for a while, Nick to explore the city fortifications and the rest for more bike riding (on singles this time).  Lucca residents really take advantage of their walls – it felt as though half the city was out enjoying a stroll, jog, or bike ride in the early evening light.  

 
We dined al fresco again at a cozy, non- pretentious restaurant where we tried a full Italian meal: antipasto, prima platti, and secondi platti (no coffee).  Not sure how the Italians do it – sooo much food!!  Good thing we still had done walking to do…

  
At dinner we heard some sort of commotion and were surprised to see a parade of drummers and others in medieval dress passing by.  We later discovered that the city was holding a festival of sorts, including a contest of crossbow marksmanship in front of the Duomo.  Apparently, Siena has its horse races and Lucca had its crossbows.

  
We milked as much of the day as we could – our last official vacation day before traveling home – eating our last gelato after 11 PM, and collapsed into bed just before midnight, exhausted but delighted with our memorable day in Lucca.

Our destination today was Lucca, a small city just north of Pisa known for its Renaissance-era walls around the historic part of the city.  But, rather than go directly there, we first took a ferry back along the Cinque Terre coast and then caught the train to Lucca.  The boat ride afforded us final views of Porto Venere and, more importantly, the Cinque Terre cliffs along which we had walked.  We enjoyed seeing our hiking paths from the water and picking out places we had stopped for picnics or particularly scenic views.  The Cinque Terre towns look different from out in the water as well – there’s nothing like hiking into/out of them by foot!

   
    
 The return boat trip also enabled one last al fresco lunch in Monterosso and the chance to pick up a few final Cinque Terre souvenirs.

   
Then we said goodbye to the Cinque Terre region and hopped on the train to Lucca.  We had our ups and downs with the Italian train system (some connections work very well, others not at all!) but eventually got to Lucca.  Turns out that the city comes alive at night – after dinner in the garden of a restaurant where Ben had the local meat tortelli specialty, we wandered about the city (on the lookout for bicycles and the occasional car at every turn) and soaked up the charming atmosphere, scouted places to visit tomorrow, and caught some music from a local multi-day festival with big name acts from the 70s and 80s (Neil Young, Lionel Ritchie, Van Morrison, Earth Wind and Fire…). And, we went to the oldest and most famous gelato store in Lucca (est. 1927) and delighted in their large selection of flavors.  (Nick even had to try some, after holding out through most of the trip.)  We’re excited to explore Lucca fully tomorrow!

Today’s main activity was the fourth and final hike of the trip – a circumnavigation of Palmaria Island.    Turns out, it takes (us) three tries to get on the ferry that crosses the narrow strait to the island (first was too full, second left too early) but we did finally make it and embarked on our hike. This island is apparently very popular with the (largely) Italian tourists here, but they use it for beach activities so we had the hiking trails nearly all to ourselves.

   
 
From various points on the island, we had views across the Gulf of La Spezia, over to the island of Tino, and – most strikingly – back along the Cinque Terre coastline reminding us where we had previously hiked.  The island hiking itself was much less strenuous than on the mainland because the highest elevation was only 186 meters, but there was still a rocky descent to keep us on our toes.

   
   
Hot and sweaty from the hike, the natural course of action was to swim. Fortunately, there is a local swimming area by the stone breakwater across the street from our hotel, so after taking the return ferry (first try!) we had a dip in the gulf.

  
Before dinner we visited the San Pietro church situated on the rocky promontory at the tip of Porto Venere.  It, too, afforded fantastic views of the city, the gulf, and the Cinque Terre cliffs.  At dinner, we sampled local seafood – see the grilled fish that is truly just out of the ocean – then wandered around the harbor of Porto Venere, checking out the numerous yachts and vibrant nightlife.

Manarola and Riomaggiore were once connected by a famous footpath known as the Via Dell’Amore, which hugged the coastline right by the sea, cantilevering out from the cliffs between the two towns. Unfortunately in 2011, a landslide took out a portion of the path, and it remains closed today, though there are promises that it will reopen next year.  

As it happens, the Cinque Terre are served by what is, in effect, a rural subway system with trains leaving both directions on half-hour intervals.  (It’s even mostly underground, due to the frequent tunnels.) So we opted to take the train rather than make the several hour journey inland and uphill to cover the 1km distance.

We didn’t stay long in Riomaggiore, just enough to see the harbor and purchase supplies (gelato being one of the necessaries, of course), and then we were on our way to Porto Venere.  

   
   
This was our longest single hike yet – 8.7 miles, 750 m ascent – and began (like they all do!) with an extended uphill climb.  That culminated at a small church with big views where we had a picnic lunch. 

   
 
The remainder of the hike followed the ridgeline of the peninsula of which Porto Venere lies at the tip.  With views of the open sea to our right and La Spezia and the Bay of Poets to our left,  we passed campgrounds, fitness stations, remains of old windmills, and working marble quarries, in addition to several small towns  before arriving at our destination.  The views were fantastic, particularly the limestone cliffs at the peninsula’s tip.

   
    
 
We were greeted in Porto Venere by the imposing walls of a medieval fortress followed by the welcome sight of the Hotel Paradiso (and its friendly staff) and gracious sea view. We capitalized on the sea view with dinner at the hotel restaurant, and then walked along the harbor to take in the evening scene and the fancy yachts!

Our itinerary called for no travel today, which the kids made the most of by sleeping in as late as they could.  (Suffice it to say, they missed the hotel breakfast service by over an hour – good thing parents were willing to bring up a tray!). Meanwhile, N+S explored the pathways around town, visited the train station (accessible only by a tunnel), and captured some of the scenery.

   
 
Because this was our day off, we were determined not to hike, so we took the local tiny bus up the hill to the hamlet of Groppo, home of the Cinque Terre Cooperative Vineyard and tasting room.  We tasted multiple wines and were treated to a behind-the-scenes tour of the processing and bottling floor.  After walking through vineyards every day, it was nice to see where the products end up.

   
 
Late afternoon was classic summer – gelato and crepes plus a swim in the Mediterranean.  Although the enormous jellyfish floating nearby gave us some pause, once we got in the water none came close.  Post-swimming, we continued to soak up the views – Manarola looks like it is glowing with the sun shining on it across the water.

… and a birthday!  Ben has celebrated his birthday in many different cities, but never so many in a single day.  Today’s destination was Manarola, the fourth of five villages that constitute the Cinque Terre.  That meant that our journey, which started in Monterosso, took us through Vernazza and Corniglia along the way.  Each of the three legs of hiking was 2-2.5 hours, with pretty strenuous ups and downs (300-400 m of elevation change in both directions per leg) – we’re really proud of our kids!  The upside of all this ascending and descending was the fabulous scenic views revealed around nearly every turn in the path.  Photos can’t do it justice, but we’ve tried…

Birthday cakes as we know them were not readily available at the local bakeries, but the hotel owner whipped up an amazing substitute on short notice that was presented during breakfast.  Shout out to the Albergo Marina in Monterosso for this lovely start to the birthday.  Thus fortified, we hit the trail (along with scores of others) for the first leg to Vernazza.

Vernazza too was packed with tourists but we discovered a secret passage under the rock leading to the locals beach where the kids had a chance to splash and collect rocks.  Meanwhile, Susannah explored the tower on the hill, capturing a few more views from above.  By this point our water bottles were already empty (it’s really hot in the Mediterranean in  July!) but Nick cleverly stumbled upon the public water fountain in the middle of town so we could refill them all.

  
Corniglia is different from the other four, because it is perched on top of a rocky promontory rather than nestled in a valley close to the water.  It’s a bit more isolated because the ferry doesn’t stop here and the railway station is 400 stair steps down.  We appreciated the relative quiet as the kids ate gelato #2 in the square.  The main street ends in a terrace with commanding views up and down the coast.

   
    
 
We weren’t sure whether the third leg of the trip would be by train or on foot, but everyone rallied for the hike.  The “low” trail between Corniglia and Manarola was washed out in 2011 and is still under repair so we took the high road, as it were, passing through the village of Volastra on the way.  (Funny story – somehow in this town of perhaps 20 buildings we managed to lose our way and go in a complete circle before we regained our bearings.)

The last part of this trail coming into Manarola was our favorite of the day with the sun shining low over the Mediterranean and the trail making its way down a ridgeline overlooking the sea. Above we had passed through terraced vineyards as far as the eye could sea.   The work needed to make and maintain this terracing is truly impressive – hard to believe wine can actually be affordable.

We’ll say more about Manarola tomorrow after we’ve had a chance to explore, but what we can see from our seaside window is utterly charming.

The route from Levanto to Monterosso is not technically part of the Cinque Terre, but it is a good warmup for it.  Plus, from the ruined lighthouse at Punto Mesco we were treated to a view of the whole coastline that we will be following.

We began our hike in mid-morning, hoping to arrive around lunchtime, but it ended up being a very late lunch indeed. No less delicious though: simple pasta at the hotel, with choice of pesto or red sauce, seasoned by hunger.  Mmm!

   
  
Monterosso is a charming town, split in half by a tunnel.  We’re staying in the older section with medieval street layout and a subterranean drainage system.  It clearly caters to tourists, with a wide assortment of shops and restaurants.

   
 The day ended with a few special treats that our local tour arranger had set up for us. The first, just for N+S, was a tasting of local wines supplemented with Italian-flag bruschetta and pistachio biscotti.  Mmm again!

  
Afterwards, we were all treated to a personalized demonstration on traditional pesto-making, followed by a private, home-cooked meal in the elegant dining room of an otherwise closed hotel restaurant.  We had delicious lasagna (with and without pesto), local fish with capers, green salad, and strawberry semifreddo.  Mmm, mmm, mmm!  Did we mention we were plied with sparkling wine, white wine, dessert wine, and homemade limoncello?  Time for an early bed!

We continued our streak of al fresco dining at breakfast, in the charming garden of the Oasi Hotel.  Judging by the selection of unbrellas here, it must rain sometimes, but the weather has been gorgeous so far and the forecast is clear for the rest of our trip.

  
The coastline is very rugged here, but someone has taken the time to carve out not one but two rail lines that follow the Mediterranean shore.  The larger one is still in use (in fact, we arrived on it yesterday) but a portion of the smaller one has been converted to a pedestrian/bicycle trail heading 4km up the coast from Levanto to Framura via Bonassola.  Of course, we had to rent bicycles to explore.

What a treat!  The route passes mostly through tunnels, punctuated by brilliant views of the sea through arches and brick arcades.  As a bonus, the temperature underground is cool and pleasant.  We liked it so much, we biked the roundtrip twice!

   
    
   
We lunched at a foccaceria in Bonassola (after the pre-lunch gelato, of course) where Ben had a sad focaccia moment, having ordered one with anchovies thinking they were some kind of sausage!  Luckily, they had more pesto ones to fill the void.

   
 
After spending the mid-afternoon relaxing back at the hotel, we ventured out once more in search of a small bathing cove we had noted on our morning ride.  The water was cool and refreshing, the locals were jumping off of rocks, and the cove held a special treat – a sea cave with a narrow channel you could just swim through (not pictured for fear of drowning the camera).

  
For dinner we ended up at a not-so- fabulous restaurant following a meandering walk through town looking for a different restaurant that may not have even existed.  Hoping for better tomorrow…

We began the day with breakfast in the garden of our hotel but left Pisa shortly thereafter on a direct train to Levanto.  This medieval port city just north of the Cinque Terre was part of the trading empire ruled by Genoa.

   
 
Before exploring the town, we discovered a local grocery store up the street from our hotel and had a lovely al fresco lunch on the patio outside our rooms.  Turns out the wine really is cheaper than water here; we enjoyed a decent bottle of vino rosso that cost under 2 Euros – no kidding!  The Oasi hotel is charming and our kids decided to stay for the afternoon while Nick and Susannah explored the local streets on foot.
   
   
We all joined together in the evening (what the Italians would call afternoon) for a local history tour by a very enthusiastic and knowledgeable guide.   It seems that Levanto was actually two villages in the old days separated by the small creek that formed the local harbor.  There was quite a bit of local rivalry, with the Genovese paying for a fancy new church on one side and the local feudal lords favoring the other.  The fierceness of the “marry local” sentiment is reflected today in the saying “wives and oxen from your own village”.  These days the harbor has long ago filled in from natural siltation and the boundary between the two towns is now just a car park in front of the Loggia. In some of the older buildings you can see how much the ground level has risen by the nearly buried columns on either side of the arched openings, which you now have to stoop to enter.

   
   
Dinner was pizza (of course), preceded (again!?) by gelato and sorbetto.  We seem to have a thing about eating dessert first here in Italy, and for eating outside.