Livorno/Cinque Terre

Today we head to Livorno/Cinque Terre and will spend the day near Tuscany. More to come later. Actually we are arriving at the port of Livorno and will be traveling for about an hour to get to Cinque Terre. Some photos of things we don't see every day in Southern Alberta.

Livorno/Cinque Terre

Another longer day of touring. Because we docked at the port of Livorno we had to travel to get to our touring sites. So it was about an hour and a half trip through Tuscany until we arrived at the unesco world heritage site known as Cinque Terra which refers to 5 towns along the coast that are part of the national park. It is one of the most gorgeous places I've ever seen.
Like Rome the pictures are great but it's not the same experience as actually being there so I hope you all take the opportunity to go there some day.
One of the things that struck me was the way that they grew grapes along the mountainside. Such narrow bands cut into the steep hill. We could see the rough steps the farmers built so they could get to the terraces each day. Another thing I noticed was how efficiently they used whatever space they had in their towns. Of course the laundry hanging on the line seems to be a permanent feature here in Italy.
We loved seeing the residents visiting in the square while the little boys and girls kicked a soccer ball around. Much the same as Canadian kids play street hockey year round.
After today we say goodbye to Italy for now as our next stop is Monte Carlo on Monaco.
This was our trip to get a taste of where we might want to next and so far we haven't crossed any of these off our list.