Whenever we visit a place, we make sure we touch its coastline (if its there). Now Italy has such a long coastline that it was impossible to visit all its beaches. Since we were short of time we tried to cover as much as possible, quickly. Though it was the longest trip of our lives till date (14 days) but still short as per other international travellers or for exploring Italy fully. Italy has a nice number of islands like Sardinia, Capri etc with picturesque beaches. So inserting a beach destination without compromising on the other spots was our target.
The Amalfi Coast of Italy is a very touristy destination. I have seen it numerous times on Television. Moreover, my favourite show Dolce Vita by David Rocco had one entire season shot in the Amalfi Coast. However I preferred to choose Cinque Terre instead of Amalfi. It took a lot of convincing to make my husband agree to it but I believe it was worth in the end!
Cinque Terre is a group of five villages on the hills along the Ligurian Sea. Cinque means five. Now each of the village being absolutely quaint and pretty, it was very difficult to decide in which one to stay. So my travel planner (read Hubs) chose the common point of Cinque Terre, La Spezia. But along with the Five Terre, there are two more very beautiful towns just like the other five villages: Levanto and PortoVenere. The culture there is absolutely similar to those of the five sisters. Porto Venere is the farthest tip in the chain followed by Levanto, Monterosso, Vernazza, Corniglia, Riomaggiore and Manarola ..in that order. The Cinque Terre Express connects all these towns from La Spezia.
Levanto is itself a very beautiful town, as I stated earlier. On the second and last day of our trip, we left early to explore it before heading off to Cinque Terre. I was initially sceptical of losing a couple of precious hours. We walked to the tiny town from the station and it was the best decision ever. Would have surely missed it. The Ligurian Sea with the coloured town in background and a really wide beach.
Did I mention that I had one of the best gelatos there? A yummy gelato after a swim! Heaven! Ciao!!
Shorts: Zara
Sunnies: Forever 21
Crop Top: DIY by Mom
Purse: Jabong.com
Bracelet: Kazo