Land of a Thousand Tunnels

Cancel the smallest Lidl car park we thought we had found in France, it’s actually in Italy! I won’t bore you with the finer details but it was on our route yet still took us an hour to divert, the photos will explain it quicker.

Back on the twistiest, most tunnel infested motorway (by name only) you have ever been on. I’m sure the views of the coastline would have been lovely but we were rarely out in the open. The drive along the Ligurian coast from Santo Stefano al Mare to Monterosso al Mare (the most northerly village of the Cinque Terre) was ‘testing’, but we made it by early afternoon.

From Unesco:

Cinque Terre is a string of centuries-old seaside villages on the rugged Italian Riviera coastline. In each of the 5 towns, colourful houses and vineyards cling to steep terraces, harbours are filled with fishing boats and trattorias turn out seafood specialties along with the Liguria region’s famous sauce, pesto. The Sentiero Azzurro cliffside hiking trail links the villages and offers sweeping sea vistas.

Here is a separate link:

http://www.cinqueterre.eu.com/en/

Supply and demand is the name of the game around here, the Cinque Terre is in massive demand and therefore prices for any kind of accommodation (or spare land to park) is a tad on the high side. We plumped for the best ‘sosta’ in the area, it does come with everything including wifi, that’s why you’re reading this, but it is by the road and just the size of 2 tennis courts. It comes at a mere 25 euros yes, that’s per night, but a lovely view and the owners offer a free taxi service to town and back, as we found out after walking the 2 miles and 1,000’ altitude each way.

En route to Lidl

Lidl, Imperia- what you see is what you get,
there is no more parking than what you can see.

Monterosso from 2 miles, and 1,000' away