I don't think I'll ever get used to crowds of people swarming around, as they were in the villages of the famed Cinque Terre coastal region in Liguria, Italy. I think that I spent too long in the wide open spaces of Caithness in the north of Scotland. It was mid October so, really, it was a lot less awful than it must be during the summer months. Being born in Hong Kong I should be used to crowds of people. But it really wasn't that bad when I was little, when Hong Kong was a completely different city. Back to the Cinque Terre and if you go there be prepared to share your space with a huge number of other people, which can at times become claustrophobic (and I am no claustrophobe).


Coming down to the waterfront and fishing boats at Riomaggiore


View of Riomaggiore from a rocky promontory


Riomaggiore has a hidden little beach accessed by walking along a small path carved into the cliffs

Cinque Terre really is a geographical and cultural wonder that should be visited at least once in one's life. I didn't manage to cover it all, but I stayed one night in Riomaggiore, the last of the five villages (if heading southeast), and two nights in Monterosso, the first of the villages if approaching from the Genoa end. I found Monterosso slightly more manageable in terms of the people milling about aspect because there was more space and a wide beach. Often parts of the same township (village?) are separated by a huge mountainous outcrop of rock through which a tunnel has been bored and which you can walk through. Cars have been banned in Cinque Terre for quite a number of years now, thank heavens.


Coastline view from the walk to Manarola


Interior of the church in the upper part of Manarola village


Main street in Manarola, looking downhill towards the waterfront

Everything is expensive in Cinque Terre, bordering on the stupid prices practiced in places like Switzerland. I can get a decent hotel in Switzerland for around €100, whereas in Cinque Terre prices ranged from €200-500 for a boxy room. Restaurants are similarly priced to those in Switzerland, which is quite a shock when you realise how cheap the rest of normal Italy is, and there are no bargains with any midday Menu del Giorno in the restaurants. The train, which is very handy (everything is just a few minutes walk from the stations), is also expensive at €5 a ride no matter which village you go to. These are tickets fixed to the train you have booked, there is no flexibility or possibility of taking a later or earlier train. A day ticket giving unlimited travel between the Cinque Terre villages is a whopping €18.


Another coastal shot, just outside Manarola


The railway line runs parallel to the coast through a series of tunnels


Genoese minestrone soup, which was quite unlike any minestrone soup that I have had before

For the first night I stayed in the Hotel Zorza in Riomaggiore which, in terms of the rooms and cleanliness, was perfectly acceptable and quite charming if you are into old buildings. But the bar area downstairs, which doubled up as the check-in desk, resembled some bizarre bordello with the weird people milling around down there. Needless to say, it's been pulled from the listings at Lonely Planet. The remaining nights of the stay were spent in the annexe of the Hotel Spiaggia in Monterosso which I would gladly return to. The window terrace actually afforded a fair view of the beach and it was possible to breakfast there. Before leaving Riomaggiore, I hiked to the neighbouring village of Manarola, which involved quite a climb up to the top of the high ground along the coast, and a sharp descent back down to the village. The famous coastal path along the cliffs is closed due to damage sustained during extreme storms some years ago. The hike afforded amazing views along the coast, but there were an awful lot of ill equipped people in flip flops clambering around up there.


The beach at Monterosso, the only stretch of proper beach in the Cinque Terre


The beach at Monterosso from another angle