Cinque Terra, Monaco and the French Riviera

Cinque Terre is one of those places that just makes you glad to be alive. It is amazingly beautiful, but also fascinating. Why would people make the incredible effort to build fishing villages on the side of a cliff? It is hard to imagine a time when this would be worth the effort. On the other hand, maybe there was always an allure to living along this slice of the Italian Riviera. Either way, this was one of my favorite destinations anywhere in the world. I can't complain about the development to support tourists, either. As we hiked between the 5 towns, we stopped in one town for coffee, the next town for pizza, then wine, the ice cream...

We spent a few days in Cinque Terre and a couple more days on the French side. The landscape seems the same, but if you get off the train on the Italian side, you get pasta, pesto, and loquacious people. If you get off the train on the French side, you get pastries and coffee. Tough call!
(By the way, this is Jess. Dark Cloud doesn't write this kind of flowery nonsense.)

See pictures at the link below.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/59007731@N00/sets/72157594357816495/detail/