Continuing on from yesterday’s blog, we arrive at Vernazza, one of the smaller villages. It is by now mid afternoon and this small village, again centred around the harbour is very busy, as people continue to arrive – the trains continue well into the evening….

We quickly pass the crowds and head straight down to the harbour, where there is a nice little beach, too busy for us to linger….

A nice walk along the harbour wall, affords great views of this pretty village….

And we do manage to find a way through under a natural archway to a relatively secluded spot of beach (and I mean spot) for us to sit, catch our breath and cool down for a bit….

Going back to late morning, when we ended up at Montarosso, the closest village to Levanto, here we probably spent the most time, as unlike the other villages Montarosso is spread over a larger stretch of coastline with some pretty descent beaches and a combination of time and space meant that the crowds were much more dispersed….

Here we enjoyed a leisurely stroll along the sea front, firstly to Spiaggia di Gigante….

The beach was named after the (mostly) concrete statue of a Giant was sculpted as a feature to the adjoining Villa in 1910, ravaged by the sea and 2 World Wars the Giant was restored in 2021 and creates quite a feature….

Heading back along the promenade, looking down onto Fegina beach….

The far end of Fegina Beach is overlooked by a fortress of some kind (now a restaurant)….

And beyond the much quieter Spiaggia di Monterosso….

A very different experience to the other villages and nowhere near as isolated but a fine beach or two is always good in my experience.

An absolutely amazing day, a long one and both Tilly and I are shattered but enriched!

Thoughts of the day:

• How amazing that these villages were only linked to civilisation with the building of the railway line in the late 1800’s but much more amazing and laudable is the fact that since then they haven’t been ruined by glassy new builds!

Today’s stats:

• Miles walked – 8
• Train – £2.33
• Cinque Terre entrance – £19.01
• Food – £6.42
• O/N – £22