Cinque Terre and leaning tower Pisa

HUGE DAY! We are exhausted. We set out afterbreakfast to drive towards the coast where we planned to catch the train along to the "cinque terre" - five villages built along the coastal cliffs. It is a national park area - recognised as world heritage for it's historical and natural significance. The villages and farms were all built by peasant farmers over many years and it is truly amazing where they have built these houses.
Fortunately things did not quite go according to plan (GPS is not good at finding train stations,no car parks when we did find it) so we ended up walking 3/5 of the "cinque terre". These towns are built on cliffs so you can imagine how many steps and hills were involved! It is well worth it - the views were spectacular. There is a walking path all the way along the coast line (cliffs!) between each of the five villages. So we started at Riomaggiore and walked to two more villages. (Three out of the five villages =3 /5) Along the way is the "del amore" where lovers put their name on a padlock and then throw the key into the sea. Very sweet. (You may have seen it on Getaway recently?)
The kids were very impressive today - my legs are worn out and they have done it all without complaints. They were fed gelato and chocolates along the way though!
And as if that was not enough...on the way home we took a stop by the Leaning Tower of Pisa. While it is touristy - it is still impressive. Cameron was even keen to climb it after all the walking we had already done!! Thank goodness it was closed for the day!
Back for a late dinner - our last evening in Tuscany. We have loved it here and Chris and I are already talking about how much we would like to return to this area one day.