Today we are in the Port of Livorno and have scheduled a HAL line excursion.
We were up early as our meeting time for this tour is 7:15 am. Many tours to different locations today. We are on the Cinque Terre and Portovenere tour. This is a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Our departure time was 7:30 am. A bus ride to Portovenere started the tour. About a 2 hour ride from the ship.
Over the centuries, people have built terraces along the cliffs of this area and formed little villages. These villages are connected by paths and trains. The trains travel through many tunnels carved out through the mountain. Roads are very few and it is difficult to get to these villages by car. Portovenere was as far as the bus could take us. The best views of the villages will be from the ferry. At the final village, we will take a train to an area where the bus will be able to meet us.
Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza and Monterosso are the five villages and we will view them in that order. We will stop only at Monterosso to have lunch and board the train.
A guide joined us at Portovenere and we all have headsets to listen to him give a history of the area and point out interesting things as we take the ferry out. The area is listed in documents dating back to the 11th century. The villages were created in the cliffs as a means of protection. They are easy to defend and difficult to see from passing ships. Villagers farmed olive trees and grapes for wine. Some of the vineyards are still used today and local wine is available.
The trail connecting the villages is closed because of dangerous conditions. As the villagers left the terraces, the drainage system was no longer maintained and the terraces began to experience landslides. This area is now a National Park and is being protected from further erosion. It is a very popular tourist attraction and there are loads of people at each of the ferry stops. Many are lining the beaches and swimming in the sea.
We had lunch and sampled some of the local wine. It was hot and there were loads of tourists. We walked around Monterosso for a bit and then boarded the train. It was only a five minute ride to the first stop. We exited and met our bus outside the station. 2 hours back to the ship. An exhausting but very interesting day.
We had dinner in the Lido and then caught the 7 pm show on the mainstage. The Holland America dancers performed a show tributing different musical instruments and musical styles. We saw this show back on our Greece trip. Different performers made it fresh.