The Cinque Terra & 1.5 days in Tuscany

1st mate no 2 and I headed off on the 200 miles or so motorway journey to Levanto on the mediterranean coast between Genoa and La Spezia, just outside the CT national park for the first 4 nights of this stay. My guest has contributed her own account which, as it is positive :), and summarises the week’s happenings really well, I have added as a separate post.

Our campsites, Pian di Picche, at Levanto, and Agricampeggio LaValle outside Lucca, were good finds and it was good to have pre-booked them all.

After our cycle to swim in the sea on the 1st day, we bought a 2-day train ticket to be able to hop on/off at the 5 villages, and also La Spezia.  We did one walk in the heat between Corniglia and Vernazza. The paths are along the very beautiful coastline with steep ups and downs particularly into and out of the villages. I’d had enough after this first stretch of walking and navigating the increasing crowds, so was happy to be able to hop on the train and return to Levanto. The trains running every 30 mins provide a great escape when necessary.

My guest, being used to getting up very early, chose to do a second day’s walking catching the 7:05 train, where I opted for my usual lazier start, taking the bike on the train for a visit to La Spezia. I thought this was a lovely place to visit, was amazed at the size of the cruise

ships in the harbour, and spent a good 2 hours sitting and reading at various parts of the sea-front/harbour/marina.

Our next stop was 2 nights at Lucca, so we were able to have a couple of hours visit in the very hot sun to Pisa, parking in a supermarket car park and cycling into the old town.  Despite the images of this being so well known, the beauty of the tower, other buildings and setting were more striking in real life.

As for Lucca, this was a town I had really wanted to visit and it didn’t disappoint. Certainly less crowds, so no competition for cafe spots. The city walls are a wide continuous boulevard and after exploring the narrow streeets and lovely squares we were able to cycle all the way round the old town and then back along the river to the campsite.

The pool was a luxury to come back to after the heat reaching mid 30s.