Cinque Terre is a national park in northern Italy based around five towns on the coast, some perched on cliffs, all built up steep hills. Bronwyn and I have heard about this place from quite a number of travellers along the route and we are really glad we listened. The Lonely Planet (which has been our bible through out this trip) hardly mentions the place at all, which thankfully keeps the tourist numbers down a bit.

   We found a cool hostel/hotel called Mar-Mar and I spent the afternoon jumping in and out of the little harbour, snorkeling around and frightening the fish. Bronwyn didn't intend to get wet, but when a freak wave washed across the jetty she was sitting on, she figured it was time for an ice cream and to go dry off elsewhere. I continued splashing about, scrambling up the little rock walls and diving (badly) back into the water. I wouldn't say the water was as clear as the greek islands, and it was rocks at the bottom rather than sand, but it was beautiful. That night we cooked in the hotel and watched the sunset across the ocean. The sun got a lot closer to the horizon this time, but still went behind clouds before hitting the sea. Lots of photos taken of course.

The harbour of Riomaggorie, the water is at least 10ft deep Me diving into the harbour of Riomaggorie

   This morning we took the train to Montorosso, once we figured out the system and that in Italy 'weekdays' includes Saturdays. From there the walk went up pretty steeply and I was back in the alps 100 days ago, my travelling friend didn't seem quite as keen on the up hill parts as I. Each town has its charm, and its tourists. In the second one we went swimming again, and I performed the same embarassing display of diving like a tonne of bricks, but loved every minute of it, even if I left it a little late to dry off and was still dripping in the queue for the train (towns 2 and 3 were cut off due to work on the path). A pleasant afternoon visiting each town and then picking up our bags from Riomaggorie before heading to La Speiza to get our seperate trains.

An old bridge between Montorosso and Vernazza Me diving into the water at Vernazza

Manorola, the 4th village on our walk