Cinque Terre

The Cinque Terre would have to be the most beautiful place in the world (according to me at least). We arrived in Riomaggiore on a winding road that led steeply down to the small coastal village, then rocked up to a place letting apartments and scored ourselves a generous 2 bedroom apartment that had a balcony that overlooked the end of the main street and the waterfront. We quickly settled in and made ourselves at home, and spent the following days visiting the other four towns that make up the Cinque Terre. Riomaggiore would have to have been my favourite, followed by Vernazza and Manarola. Corniglia was much smaller and was perched up on the hillside looking down to the coast. To get to the town from the coastal walk we had to climb something crazy like 400 steps up the side of the hill, but the views were really worth it. Monterosso del Mar was the last town we visited, but was much more touristy due to the fact that it has the best 'beach' out of all of the towns (still doesn't live up to good old Piha or Muriwai though), so we were happy to get back to Riomaggiore.
After a few nights there we had to lug our backpacks and suitcases back up to our car again, this time heading to Tuscany for a few days lounging in the Tuscan sun :) Leigh and Bridget were still happy to put up with us so we crammed in to the Clio again and took off to Siena to organise accomodation.