All along the Watchtower

We woke up in Livorno, Italy, ready to explore Cinque Terre. Now, I need to admit that I have been pronouncing the name of these five villages together hopelessly incorrectly. It apparently is 'chinka tare-a', not 'sink tare' as I had been calling it. Mind you, I have studied French not Italian, so it reads like my way. Haha.

Early morning found us already breakfasted and boarding a bus.

The route to the villages took us within sight of the leaning tower of Pisa. Unfortunately no kitsch photos of either of us holding up the tower, though.

I have come to the conclusion that there was so much interest in the Cinque Terre, the Cruise Line decided to put on another tour. We had to do a slight diversion into La Spezia to pick up a local guide as the one we had from Livorno was from Florence. The Royal Caribbean cruise tours are very expensive so we generally we happy to make our own way around, but is it was quite a way to get to the 5 villages on the hills, we decided to go with one of the ship'so tours to ensure we got back to the ship in time.

The port of La Spezia, however, is really quite stunning, as we discovered as we finally made our way up the mountain range.

After a bit of twisting and turning on the bus, we found ourselves walking down to our first village, Maranola. Due to time constraints and ready access, the tour would take us to 3 of the 5 villages only.

Aside from the multiple bus-loads of tourists all arriving at that same moment, it really is spectacular.

Apparently pirates used to be a major problem along this coast, so each village had to have ways of alerting and protecting their people. Lots of bell towers and watch towers.

Many of the townspeople grow their own wine grapes and citrus right in their courtyards.

The villages are really quite tiny, with a total population around 2000 people in total.

We kept finding cute little corners.

After a bit of group time as we made our way through the terraced village, we were given a short time to explore on our own. Sequoia and I decided to sample some of the local produce in the form of some bruschetta and local Cinque Terre wine.

I must say that the wine is absolutely delicious and I am very sad I do not have any to bring back with me. I am ok with this as I most definitely will be back. I would love to spend a few nights at one of BnBs scattered throughout the villages - preferably one that the cruise ships do not visit! Just saying.

After our little repast, we made our way down to the ferry dock, where we were now transported to our next village, Vernazza.

Farewell, Maranola!

Vernazza was just teeming with visitors. Another gorgeous little town, which really needs to be seen without the crowds, of which Sequoia and I were of course part of.

In Vernazza, we had a bit of a wander and then enjoyed some more wine.

Sequoia always makes friend wherever we go:

Our little hidey-hole: free wifi and wine...sold!

Soon it was time to ferry over to our final village, which also happened to be the largest, Monterosso.

This part of the tour included a wine tasting and some local snacks. Anyway, I could have told them already the wine was good. Lol.

We asked for a lunch recommendation from our guide, Francesca, who said that the restaurant we first passed as we came up from the dock was very good.

Francesca, our guide (in the glasses):

Our guide was very friendly and knowledgable but really did struggle with the microphone to all the earpieces that our group were wearing. We let the other guide know that Francesca was speaking loudly into a lapel pin that she was holding up to her lips, which was not only deafening on the lowest volume but also terribly distorted, but it didn't get any better.

When we made our way back to the suggested restaurant, we discovered it was completely full. However, we somehow managed to snag a much desired table as our fellow  cruisers watched on in sheer persistence and that there was only 2 of us.

The smugness, however, did wear off fairly quickly. The pasta dishes Sequoia and I ordered were pretty ordinary. I will say though that the area's specialty is seafood, which neither of us eat, but although the fresh pasta was quite delicious, the sauces were bland. My bolognaise sauce is much better, we both agreed.

Well, not to worry. The wine was superb and we ordered some dessert. This is what came out:

I'm sorry, but I wasn't expecting my sorbet to come out as a drink. That's not a dessert! But apparently it is in this part of the world. Although, I will admit that we did see this same 'dessert' on the drinks menu later on in the trip.

It was now time to start heading back to the ship, so we made our way to the local train station, and eventually back to the bus for the long ride back.

We did love Cinque Terre, but a cruise ship tour did not do it even remote justice. As I said, I look forward to visiting again independently.

Once back on the cruise ship, we were treated to a spectacular sunset, with the much-feted blood moon in ascension,

and another delicious meal.

An early night was in order, but we did catch most of the evening cabaret show I the Mascarade Theatre. They really do have some talented people in board.

We also had got into the practice of taking a dip in the hot tubs on deck in the evening. Not a bad way to end a lovely but busy day.