Category: Italy

Everything we’d read in advance about Cinque Terre described the area in similar terms – spectacular and very, very busy. Given our normal preference to avoid crowds at all costs (making Italy in August an interesting choice), we were excited but a little apprehensive to visit.

We stretched our budget slightly to allow us to stay within one of the five villages so that we could enjoy the relative quiet of the early morning and late evening. After poring over descriptions of the distinguishing characteristics of each village, we decided they all sounded fabulous and made our choice based on booking the only apartment we could find that was well-rated, somewhat affordable and, crucially, available. Riomaggiore it was!

On our first afternoon, we rented a two-person kayak and spent a happy couple of hours bickering paddling along the Ligurian coast.

After a spectacular storm overnight (which kept me awake and that Oli slept through – sound familiar?), we got up early and caught a train along the coast to Monterosso al Mare, the westernmost village of Cinque Terre.

Here, we joined the famous Sentiero Azzurro (blue path) and walked the two open sections from Monterossa to Vernazza and Vernazza to Corniglia. It was just challenging enough, genuinely spectacular and much less busy than we’d feared – we loved every moment.

The first section took us on a rough mule track through steep terraces of vines, with glimpses of the sea on the right and of Monterossa far below us.

The views as we descended steeply into Vernazza were absolutely gorgeous – we took hundreds of photos but sadly none of them quite capture the scene.

In all of the villages, we found the central areas were really busy but the back streets (which were even prettier) were beautifully quiet. Our impression was that as long as you were in the area to actually do something and didn’t just want to spend time posing for insta pics in the villages and on the beach, then you could easily avoid most of the crowds.

We stopped briefly for gelato in Vernazza before climbing up, up and then up some more towards Corniglia. Here we bought some focaccia, fresh tomatoes and cold beers in a small shop and ate them while admiring the view from a terrace overlooking the sea. I know everyone says it, but we’ve been blown away by the quality of produce you can buy from just about anywhere in Italy and we’ve been eating SO well.

At this point, we had visited all but one of the villages and decided to make it a clean sweep, so we caught the train to Manarola and went swimming off the dock, which was glorious (and not strictly allowed, but it seemed to be where the oldies were swimming and round the corner was utter chaos!)

When we arrived back in Riomaggiore, we were ravenous and shared a cone of fried anchovies, king prawns, squid, octopus and mussels (no pics as we absolutely devoured it) and then headed to the rocks to watch a spectacular sunset. There was a slightly tense moment when our wine cork broke but Oli finally managed to open the bottle (to cheers from bystanders) and showered himself in white wine. A happy ending 😉

We returned to Turin on our way to the Cinque Terre and were keen to make the most of the afternoon and evening we had available.

First up was a very warm walk to the Mole Antonelliana – the iconic tower displayed on Italy’s 2-cent coin. After queuing for entry we were told to return in two hours for our slot to ride the lift to the viewing deck. For future reference – it’s definitely worth booking online at busy times!

With time to kill, we took a stroll across the Dora Riparia (river) to reach what was currently a very sleepy neighbourhood. Clearly, our ambition to make the most of our afternoon didn’t quite align with the rest of Turin’s population, who were wisely hiding from the afternoon heat. Still, we found a cafe in a quiet square to enjoy a refreshing local beer to pass the time. Sara enjoyed watching a man on the neighbouring table who was trying to train his pigeon friend to eat politely. It wasn’t going well.

The panoramic lift up the tower passed through the centre of the Museum of Cinema, which was both incredible and stomach-turning in equal measures. Less than a minute later, we’d arrived at the observation deck, which provided a 360 degree panorama over Turin’s rooftops, backed by the Alps on one side.

Next up, I’d managed to convince Sara that the tram was the perfect mode of transport to our next destination – Parco del Valentino. To my delight, a historic orange tram arrived, and we happily rattled along beside the river. In all honesty, I’m not sure the tram was any quicker than walking, but what it lacked in speed it made up in style.

We strolled through the park and finally found where the people of Turin were enjoying the weather – watching some live music next to the river with a bar.

We ended the day by trying the Torino speciality of an apericena – an aperitif accompanied by a colossal tagliere (sharing platter) – at Beerba. This kept us fully occupied for the rest of the evening!

This second visit to Turin was part of our transit to the Cinque Terre – 5 villages perched in a row along the rocky coastline. We’d heard so many good things that our levels of anticipation couldn’t be higher, and my goodness did it deliver.

We loved Aosta straight away – it was a short, easy train ride from Turin, surrounded by mountains and with a beautiful town centre made up of a pretty pedestrian street, squares and lots of Roman ruins.

We started the morning with the life-changing discovery of Crema al Caffè, which is essentially a cross between an iced coffee, a slushy and an ice cream. I assume it’s not really intended for breakfast but it was delicious and I was buzzing with sugar and caffeine within seconds!

After some minor Brysoning over walls, along roads with no pavement and through carparks, we caught the gondola up to Pila (1814m). 

To Bryson (verb): The act of walking to a destination along a route designed primarily for cars. Likely to involve some Parkour techniques.

We’d heard it many times before, but as a skier, visiting alpine resorts in the summer is a disconcerting experience.  The architecture and infrastructure look very familiar, but the landscape as a whole is totally unrecognisable.  We passed over mountainside smallholdings with quaint flower boxes and neat veg patches that I’m sure would have looked very remote when covered in snow. We managed to squeeze in quite a few On the Piste references (“This is roads, Maureen!”).  If you have no idea what I’m talking about, I’d highly recommend an hour spent watching this 1987 classic.  Trust me when I say it gets funnier with each watch (bear with it).

After the gondola, we caught a chairlift up to Chamolé (2309m). In winter, chairlifts can be super chilly and are best attempted with a hip flask (in our humble opinion), but this journey was lovely as we were SO hot! It was only as we neared the top that we realised we had no idea how to disembark a chairlift when not wearing skis. A brief strategy meeting ensued.

We ate our baguettes by a lake, then began the steep climb up to Col de Chamolé (2619m).  It was raining heavily by this time but we were keen to continue, although we did eventually admit defeat when a lightning storm broke right overhead.  I can cope with getting a bit soggy but getting hit by lightning seemed a bit extreme for day 3 of our trip. Instead, we descended to the lake and then further down below the tree line to pass through alpine forests and meadows to reach Pila on foot.  

Once back in town, we peered through a fence to see the impressive remains of the Roman theatre.

On our way back, we bought fresh pasta to cook up our own simple feast in our lovely Airbnb using tomatoes and herbs from our host’s veg garden (dreamy) and tried a bottle of local wine. We spent the evening researching the next part of our trip – we’re already changing our plans so I hope no one has read our planned itinerary post too closely!

Carbon roundup: Oli wants me to note that our carbon tracker has already come unstuck as a result of our journeys on the gondola and chairlift. Currently classified as ‘light rail’!