Levanto and Cinque-Terre

We were both very interested in staying on the Mediteranean for as long as possible, so from Nice we moved down the coast to a small town called Levanto. The town is just north of a region called Cinque Terre, a group of five coastal fishing villages that are quite isolated and mostly accessible by boat or on foot. They are located in a very hilly, steep coastal region and over the centuries the inhabitants have built terraces all along the coast to allow agriculture that would otherwise be impossible. There is no camping in the five villages, so we camped at Levanto.

Levanto itself was a wonderful town. Very good beaches, pretty scenery around the town and very friendly locals. See pictures below.




The day after we arrived we did the famous hike between all of the villages, starting in Riomaggiore and ending in Monterrosso. For centuries, this narrow, winding, rocky trail was the only was (overland) to communicate between the villages - today, this level, paved, smooth path is the only way to get from one town to the next without spilling your gelato. Actually, it was only the first two legs of the trip (to Manola and Corniglia) that were quite easy. The trail really gets interesting from Corniglia to Monterrosso, as it winds up and down the side of a cliff face, through fields of olive trees etc. Very lovely, and the number of tourists decreased significantly since the hiking was a lot tougher.

To get from Levanto to Riomaggiore, we took a ferry - one of the nice things about this is that you get to see some of the villages from the water. Some pictures below: