Aussie Family in France: Italian Coast

After an early start and rather happy to escape the busy Rome, we took the train north bound for La Spezia - gateway to the Italian Liguarian Coast. A change of trains via the Cinque Terre towns and onto Sestri Levante where our Air bnb host Paul also picked us up and took us to a lovely villa where we were staying for the next few nights. It was a huge house & brand new ( with a few key things missing ) but had lovely views overlooking the coast. As we did not have a car, Paul was to be our taxi over the next few days.

First day was spent in Sestri Levante, a lovely and not so touristy town on the waterfront. The village was buzzing on the Sunday morning as there was some religious ceremony happening - mum was happy as it meant she went to mass - kind off anyway! The weather was stunning and after a lovely seafood lunch & local wine on the beach ( perfect as it meant Chloe could play in the sand/water ) we took the afternoon ferry to Portofino and another small & stunning island nearby ( forgot the name ). The coast & villages were absolutely gorgeous and whilst Portofino was very touristy it was worth visiting and had the best gelati we had tasted in Italy. A very pleasant day.

The next day was Cinque Terre National Park which was a 40 min train trip away. Cinque Terre means 5 towns in Italian and is famous for the hiking between each of the villages. With 2 kids & prams, the hiking part was not an option and as we found out was not actually possible due to majority of the walks closed to to dangerous tracks. Train and ferry it was to 3 of the villages we decided to visit - Monterosso, Manarola & Riomaggorie. They were all quite unique, picturesque, not so pram friendly ( or mum and dad friendly - very steep )! I was a little disappointed with some of the locals attitudes - talk about rude. Apparently it is so touristy & popular they don't need to be friendly....so we were told. Monterosso was the last village and the nicest which we spent on the beach followed by a seafood dinner. Another stunning day and nice end to the Italian part of our road trip