Cinque Terre

So much blogging, so little time!  Right after the most epic Florence wedding ever, Riki and I headed to Cinque Terre for a few days of relaxation before heading back to the concrete city of Le Havre.  As coincidence would have it, that's exactly where Paul and Bridget headed as well.  Despite our best efforts, we managed to avoid each other.  

I'm sure you've seen pictures of it before, whether you knew where it was or not.  I had no idea that a place like this existed in Italy, but that only shows my ignorance.  It's a collection of five little medieval fishing villages (hence the Cinque) along the Italian Riviera, and until the last century it was completely cut off from the rest of the world.  The place is only accessible by train or boat, and cars where banned more than a decade ago.  It is a paradise.    

Until the masses discovered it a few decades ago, Cinque Terre was a poor and remote place. And even despite the mass tourist influx every summer, there is still no museum or tourist attraction in sight!  It is an entirely authentic Italian experience.  The five villages are known for their fishing, wine, hiking, and pesto.  Yes, Cinque Terre is the home of pesto.  We had some, and it was absolutely delicious.  It's amazing...even with how small the world has become, it's still totally possible to tell the freshness of something.   

It is also known for its hiking, with long winding trails connecting the small towns all along the rugged coast.  We were not in the mood to explore such rugged terrain, but on another trip we most definitely will.  We strolled the villages and just relaxed, which was something we were really looking forward to after an entire month of hectic traveling.  The water was still REALLY cold, so we did less swimming than we hoped for, but it was still early in the season and we luckily managed to avoid the crowds. So, enjoy the photos of one of the most colorful places in Italy, which is saying something.  

[Side note on the photography: For those who care, all of the photos (besides the last 4) were taken with my Fuji X100, pound for pound my favorite camera ever.  It's my go everywhere camera.  It's still slow as hell, but the image quality cannot be disputed!  Enjoy!]

Can you spot the crab?

The town of Riomaggiore, our home base.