Manarola, Italy

​Manarola, Cinque Terre   —   October 22, 2021

      

   One of our favorite destinations in Italy; probably in the world, is Cinque Terre. We easily gravitate to the little fishing village of Manarola because of its small size and pictures scenery. The rugged coastline is beautiful and tends to draw us in. 

   During the day, tourists who are sightseeing all five towns of this rugged National Park, begin coming here on the train; first trainload is about 10:00 am. By 5:00 most of them are in other places and Manarola is quiet again. 

   Once again we rented a second level two bedroom apartment. Steve and Rhonda stayed in a room in the hotel up the street. Everyone decided to take the train to the nearby town of Vernazza to shop. I stayed behind and spent my time taking pictures and enjoying the quiet. 

   Our landlady started out like a bear yesterday but managed to appear to calm down after we arrived.  Later, Artan said he handed her 25 euros to pay her girls to unlock our door. The next day we squared away with her; signed papers, showed her our documents and paid for our condo. Everyone was happy I guess. 

   We enjoyed our two full days and  3 nights here. We spent our time being lazy and soaking in the essence of this little fishing village, Mountain View’s, hillside cafes and all the sights, sounds and smells. It was an enjoyable experience. 

   We would leave dark and early Saturday morning. Artan would pick us up in the parking lot. It would be a hard walk up the long hillside streets dragging our luggage.  Fortunately, Artan had made arrangements with a local driver with a tiny pickup to haul our luggage for us. It saved us a lot of work!  It did cost us about $80. Everyone walked the mile up the street in the dark except me. I rode in the pickup. Well, someone had to. I don’t mind doin my share of the chores.

   After transferring our luggage into the Mercedes and waiting on the pickup to return (he went back to give Nancy a ride), we drove away with visions of coffee and donuts in our heads.   Goodbye Manarola!

Mike Thomas