Le Cinque Terre

So a combination of cocktails and the clocks going forward an hour meant that getting up for a 7:25am train to the Cinque Terre was not quite as easy as anticipated, but we all made it and managed to stay awake for the entire three and a half hour journey. We got the train into Monterosso, the biggest of the five villages, and went for a wander and a coffee before heading back along the beach to see Il Gigante - a massive sculpture carved into the cliff. Then we took the train on to Vernazza, known to be the most beautiful and most widely photographed of the five (and thus unsurprisingly of the many photos I took that day, I've chosen one of Vernzza). And it is absolutely stunning, the houses are all built into the side of the hill and the colours are amazing. We had lunch in the sun on the rocks by the tiny port, looking back at the village with the sea behind us. Not a bad way to spend the afternoon! After lunch we climbed up to the tower where you get a fantastic view of the village as a whole. As we had some time before our train back to Milan, we thought we may as well go on to one for village even if just to buy a gelato. So we went on to Corniglia, only to find that the village itself is at the top of 365 stairs. But anything in pursuit of a gelato. And it was totally worth it, there's a very pretty church at the top of the hill as well. Unfortunately we didn't have much time to explore before having to rush back down the hill to catch our train. Unsurprisingly we weren't quite as awake on the way back! Nearly four hours on the train seems a lot longer after a long day...