We had a brilliant time in Cinque Terre, hiking the coastal paths and exploring the quaint hamlets with their pastel coloured houses hanging off cliffs and ravines. Riomaggiore is one of the most dramatically beautiful fishing villages in the Cinque Terre, the famous mountainous coastal region, where the five towns can only be accessed by rail, boat and coastal paths hewn into the steep rocky cliffs. Riomaggiore has a small beach and wharf on the shoreline and a main street that threads its way up the hill through a packed triangular formation of tiered colourful houses, apartments, restaurants and shops.

On one of our hikes we were tired and desperately thirsty and came across a restaurant located high above the Mediterranean Sea. As we wandered through the open air restaurant, we were bemused by the “still life” of wine bottles, baskets of grapes and tomatoes on a restaurant ledge that had been artistically arranged by an enterprising waiter. It was a memorable stopover overlooking the quaint village of Vernazza, one of the five villages on the walking trail along the rugged coast of the Cinque Terre National Park.