Cinque Terre - Part 2

Our second night on the campsite in Levanto was memorable as a massive electrical storm passed overhead lasting 3 hours. Now we have all seen lightning, sheet and fork but I've never witnessed a full electrical storm where there is non-stop lightning and the sky is literally lit up continuously with lightning cracking and banging and the level of water falling from the sky was immense, so much so it snapped the awning arm clean off the van. The next morning we awoke to bright sunshine and a campsite that now looked like something from a refugee camp. Tents collapsed, people sleeping in cars and the toilet block, well the less said the better.

We decided to get the train from Levanto to the last village Riomaggiore and spend a few hours in each of the five villages and then walk the coast path from Corniglia to Vernazza. The remaining paths were shut due to previous rain fall and land slides.

Riomaggiore: Small fishing village at the end of the Cinque Terre

Manarola:

  

 Corniglia: the only village on a hill top and not right on the sea.

 The walk was challenging, hot  and quite busy from Corniglia to Vernazza but the views made up for the discomfort.

 The view back to Corniglia and then Manarola

Vernazza:

The old tower of Vernazza stands on the headland.

 The done thing here is to buy your bottle of beer and sit on a bench or the beach in the sun and people watch, way cheaper than the bars.

 View back into Vernazza

 Vernazza station, all five villages are linked by a train line, more tunnel than sea views but a great way to visit all five villages in one day.

  Levanto had a few waves on the days we were there and this seemed to be the favored form of transporting your surf ski.