Lerici stands at the easternmost end of the Ligurian coast. The town was mostly closed when we visited, apart from the dodgem cars and fairground attractions with blaring music in the main square which didn’t enhance our experience of the ‘Gulf of the Poets’. I bet it wasn’t like this when Shelley and Byron arrived.
The ‘Cinque Terre’ are 5 tiny fishing villages built on impossibly rocky outcrops. They are so picturesque that they are now completely overwhelmed by tourists in the summer. We visited at a good time as it wasn’t too busy, but we both felt that these villages now have an artificial air to them – more theme park than ‘real’ Italy. As you can see, they are most spectacular when viewed from the narrow energy-sapping road which snakes around this part of the coast (most people aren’t silly enough to drive, as we did, and go by boat or train instead).
 Corniglia |  Riomaggiore |  Manarola |
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