I visited Cinque Terre on a day trip by train from Genoa. It's an infrequent local train, that takes almost two hours. The train is frequented by a group of beggars, all sharing the same written plea for money in Italian and English to feed the (same?) wife & 2 children. The closer you get to Cinque Terre, the less you see of the coastline as the train passes several long tunnels. Glimpses of the countryside showed palm, orange, and lemon trees, all under long-awaited rays of sunshine.

I got off at Vernazza, my goal for the day and reportedly the prettiest of the Cinque Terre villages. Most of the train carriages are still inside the tunnel when it stops - that shows how small the usable land area is against the cliffs. Only a handful of other tourists got off, how different from summer when this village is overrun by them. Locals now have the streets to themselves and greet each other elaborately.

The famous hiking path, that connects all 5 villages along the coast, unfortunately, is closed during the winter. I had to make do with climbs up to various viewpoints - as this is what the fuss is all about, the tremendous views over the colourful houses of the village, the wild sea, the steep cliffs and the agricultural terraces. There's not much (probably nothing) to see in the village itself. So I ended up at a harbour restaurant, where I ate a very fine lunch of Trofie al pesto and mussels.