La Spezia

We moved on from the rest stop and our next landmark would be the port of La Spezia.

I continued my gazing out of the window.  It's maybe 8 a.m and the sky is cloudy so we may get a little rain shower this morning.

A distant hilltop town

The end of the Autostrada

We won't be stopping in the city. It's just the gateway to the coastal road to Cinque Terre.

I'm confined in my seat but continue taking pictures as I may never be here again

We are not in the city for long and we soon climb up a narrow road to the heights above

The grey ships in the harbor are Italian warships as this is a major naval base

There's a white Costa Cruise Lines ship in the distance

If the trees are blurry that means the bus is moving, although slowly

Bottom right you can see the winding road we have just come up on

We are heading for the town of Manarola one of the 5 towns of Cinque Terre (5 Lands).
Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia and Riomaggiore are the other 4. Today we only have time to visit two of the 5.

Another anonymous hillside village flashes by. I wish I had a map to get my bearings and identify them. We are heading West from La Spezia.

Vineyards appear. We are in Liguria and winemaking is part of the local economy.

We must be getting close as the sea is on our left

And there below (wayyyy below) is Manorola!

Tour buses are too big to go into the town so we park outside and will walk from here. It's all downhill but steeply so.

There is parking for cars on a level down below us. We will be some taking stairs to begin our descent.

Next....the Long March