!Manarola!

We arrived in Manarola in the evening and walked up the cobble street with our new and heavy bags - it was well worth the view that met us at the top.  We were well in need of a shower but the hot water system had been left off so we went to dinner dirty - Josh shouted Holly to a yummy dinner overlooking the beatiful cliffs and the Tyrrhenian sea. 

Our adventure through the 5 villages started from Manarola and we walked to Riomaggiore the most southern of the 5 villages.  Each village is set on a point and you can see at least 2 other colourful villages from every one.  Our personal favourites were Manarola and Riomaggiore.  It was great to walk from Corniglia to Vernazza and seeing the olive groves and grape vines. 

On our second day we went to Santa Margherita and Portofino - Portofino was just beautiful - it looked like a movie backdrop!  We didnt stay for long as we couldnt afford the ground we were standing on! - so it was back to San Margherita.  We had been to a great wine bar in Corniglia the day before and the guy was playing some dirty jazz cd - the artist was coming to play the next night - or so he told us - so we made a special effort to stop in corniglia (the next village from ours) - got a lift up the hill only to find that it was closed and that the next train home was 2 hours wait...luckily we are really good at that now!  Bed was a welcome sight in our dingy little student room, when we finally got home.

Cinque Terre was absolutely beautiful, but it is time to wander some more streets - who knows where they will lead us - maybe Rome??