The beautiful Cinque Terre...

Cinque Terre means the five lands. It is an area on the coast that consists of five fishing villages. Oh, this is a gorgeous area that is top on my list to return to with Rick.

You are not able to drive cars between the cities, you can ride the train or walk. The trails between the villages range from easy to very difficult. This trip we just did the easy ones, but next time I would like to take a few days to walk all the paths.

Our friends, Donald & Merle Davis visited Italy last Christmas. I think they stayed here for nearly a week, walking between all the villages (the hotels will transport your bags for you to the next village). I would love to spend a few days here with Rick.



One of the paths, between the villages is called the "Via Dell' Amore" which means the Path of Love. If this isn't the most romantic place in the world, I don't know what is. Oh, how I missed Rick on this part of the trip!

There is a path that is just lined with graffiti.

From the tunnels to the plants, the graffiti is everywhere you look.

It's actually grafitti that you don't mind though, it's what gives the place some character.

They are mostly love notes (from what I can tell). There is a little bench that Cinque Terre is famous for. It looks over the sea. Next to it are thousands of padlocks. Couples write their names on a padlock, attach it to the guard rail, and throw the key into the sea...symbolizing their love forever. Isn't that so romantic?

And here is a picture of me...alone in the 'love chair'.


The pathway is quite interesting at times, as it wraps around the cliffs.




I was the only one who ever wanted to climb the stairs down the cliffs to the sea. Oh, how I wanted to throw on my swimsuit and just lay there for hours and hours. Some day...

We rode the train through the mountains to get to most of the villages.



Here are some of my favorite pictures from this beautiful place...

The beautiful Portofino...

A few of us were able to go to the little fishing town called Portofino Sunday evening. It is considered part of the Italian Riviera and it is really beautiful.

On arrival, we suddenly felt very self-conscious of how we were dressed. This is a very ritzy town with lots of very expensive yachts and boats.

There were a lot of yachts that pulled up while we were walking around. They were all from England and must have been friends. The crew would run around like crazy after they docked, making the place look nice; putting fresh flowers on the tables, fluffing the pillows, etc. It was fun to just sit there and watch.

It kind of makes you want a yacht...which reminds me, my birthday is coming up Rick, just an idea if you need one (and we all know you do!).

One interesting thing about these buildings here, they are all painted...meaning that everything, except the windows and sometimes the shutters, are painted. What looks like moldings, bricks on the corners, etc. are all painted on. If you click on some of these pictures for a closer look, you will see what I mean.

Here is a picture of me...gawking at the gorgeous people and yachts. I'm sure this is what I looked like the entire time. Like the skirt? $24.99 at that cheap outlet in Provo. Eat your heart out rich girls.

We also took a walk up a hill to a lighthouse. It was a gorgeous little walk, along a nice cobblestone path. We were on the hill right as the sun set.

We ran across this garden during our walk. We took a picture of it, just for mom. I know it doesn't look like much, but it is up on this high hill, overlooking the ocean. It has one great view, especially for a garden. My mom loves to garden so I thought of her here. I would actually do my weeding if mine had a view like this. (Although, I do have a pretty spectacular view from my yard and it still doesn't help...weeds still abound.)

This building is actually as it is...it is not painted to look like this. Jenny Miller, I know you like this one, but a better one is coming up soon!

We took a million pictures here, as you can see why. It has taken me so long trying to narrow them down to only a few, so I finally decided to just post all the pretty ones...and there are lots!