Cinque Terre

Cinque Terre means “five lands” and it is made up of the five cliff side villages of Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza and Monterosso al Mare. They are connected by hiking paths of various difficulties. Unfortunately, there was very little information available on the Internet about the accessibility of the trails between these small towns with regard to children or people with disabilities. For example, we did not know if we could navigate these trails with our toddler. According to what I had read the answer was “not likely.” As such we had decided prior to leaving the US not to bring our toddler back pack along since we would not be doing these trails. Fortunately for us we decided in Florence that we would go to Cinque Terre and at best just hang out in the towns if the trails were not navigable.

The first town you come to if you are traveling south to north is Riomaggiore (via La Spezia by train). The trail from Riomaggiore to Manarola is all paved – it is even wheelchair accessible! Sadly none of the websites or books I read pointed out this great fact. There is an elevator at the bottom of the trail that takes those who need it to the top where they can access the entire cliff side view to the town of Manarola. Also, very toddler friendly – although I did keep a death-grip on my child. This trail is literally on the cliff side – jump over the rail and you will be in the ocean… after a shortfall and bouncing off some rocks perhaps. Once in Manarola we took the upper trail, a very narrow rocky dirt trail through the private vineyards, which was quite manageable for a toddler to walk. I am therefore unaware how accessible the Manarola-Corniglia cliff side trail is for those in wheelchairs. The walk to the second city, Manarola, was roughly 15 minutes for us and the leg to Corniglia maybe 45 minutes. As I mentioned we decided not to bring our toddler backpack so we ended up carrying our son most of the trail including the 360+ stairs to the town of Corniglia. We switched up between carrying him on our shoulders and on my hip with a makeshift sling I made out of my scarf (did I mention he is about 30 lbs?). I don’t think we ever complained about his weight or the inconvenience – it was too beautiful.

I cannot describe even now how glorious our time in the beautiful Cinque Terre was. We could have hiked the entire day just because we were “high” on the view. Alas, it was lunch time and our little angel was promised some beach time. After an amazing lunch of spaghetti and margarita pizza (my favorite) in Corniglia we took the train to Monterossa al Mare. It was more beautiful than the pictures described, and after being in Viareggio, it was like paradise. We spent the next two hours frolicking in the crystal clear blue waters (ice cold waters) of Monterosso before heading back to Riomaggiore.

During our time in Riomaggiore we learned the trail was closed from Vernazza to Monterosso due to landslides. For those who do not know this is considered the most difficult leg of the trail. Unfortunately we did not get to do the Corniglia-Vernazza leg, but had read it was similar to what we had already done. We hope to go to this region again someday and this time we will bring the baby backpack!

I almost forgot to mention are playgrounds in every one of these villages...however, they take somewhat of a backseat to the playground that is the region.

Viareggio

One travel book said Viareggio Italy was “seedy but worth a look.” I can say it is not worth the look. The beach was dirty. Dirty as in trash in the water washing up on the beach and trash lying all over the streets. There was graffiti everywhere, but not just that, it really wasn’t family friendly. The beach was open to public access for walking only – if you wanted to stop and sit you had to rent an umbrella and chair for ten euros for two hours. The travel book talked about walking along the boardwalk, but you really cannot see the ocean except for a few “peeks” here and there between the buildings that rent the umbrellas and/or restaurants.

The only saving grace was The Palace Hotel. The concierge upgraded our room to a very nice suite since the air conditioning was only available in the suites (it was rather warm that day). And what a suite! It had a beautiful veranda that overlooked the beach (you couldn’t tell from where we were how dirty it was) and was connected to the cappuccino bar.

Lucca of Italy

About one and a half hour by train east (I think it is east) of Florence is the most quintessential medieval town of Lucca. Perfect for the noise-averted toddler and husband. Lucca is surrounded by a huge wall (also called rampart) that the locals and tourists walk, bike, run and kiss on. We walked on the wall, biked on the wall, and walked all about the town (we may have kissed once or twice but briefly because our son does not like for his dad to kiss me too long). We loved Lucca mostly because we are a very active family. We love biking, walking, hiking and the like, so anywhere we can do these things without worrying about getting hit by a car makes us happy. There are many factors that make Lucca child friendly besides not getting hit by a car when walking such as the towers. Yes, lots of tall towers that toddlers and their dads love to climb (side note: these towers are open to all ages whereas Pisa is only open to age 8 and older). I wanted to climb to the top of one of the towers and I really tried. I repeated a mantra over and over in my head ‘its only fear holding you back, ignore the fear’, but I got the “tummy funny (my 3 year old’s word for sick stomach)” feeling maybe 15 stairs and a narrow opening away from the top and had to plaster myself to the wall as I inched my way back down. I wasn’t always this terrified of heights. I used to be a avid rider of all those scary high rides at the state fair. I don’t know what happened….even now when I get on a plane I tell myself we are going to die in a crash so I am prepared (maybe it is reverse psychology because if I don’t say that to myself then we will crash…or maybe I am just a control freak and not afraid of heights just afraid of falling..during, which of course, I would have no control). My husband and son made it to the top of the tower with the walnut trees and found the view to be very rewarding. Besides the towers there were at least four playgrounds in Lucca that were easily found if you are walking or biking along the wall as well as a large carousel in one of the Palazzos. I found this town to be very child friendly. Even the husband found it to be to his liking.

Our accommodations in Lucca were impeccable -- A Palazzo Busdraghi, Residenza d'Epoca. It was a former palace and the current owner was incredibly accommodating and kind as well as all of the staff.