Today was our one full day in Cinque Terre, in the second of the five towns as you come from the south, Manarola. Reputedly one of the most picturesque. As we didn’t go to the other towns, I’ll go along with the idea that it is the best.

We slept in for a lazy start to the day. Eventually we got ourselves motivated to head out, mostly as we were in search of breakfast and coffee. We found a charming little cafe to get some eggs and toast and of course, our coffee and milk.

Recharged we decided to walk up the steep main, and far as I could tell, only road. It was actually built over a stream, which we could still hear and in spots, see. We went to look out from the main plaza where the local church and bell tower are. We’ve been waking to the bells each morning. Beautiful views over looking the town and harbor.

We found a path that led us around on the side of the hill/mountain into which the town is built. The entire thing is terraced with row upon row of grape vines. Silas’s comment about that was ” Where the grapes grow, the wine flows”. How appropriate!

We continued along the hillside path until we rounded the other side and we could see the next Cinque Terre town, Corniglia. Normally one could walk along that path to Corniglia, however, recently there was a landslide which blocks the way.

We turned around to come back to Manarola thinking to stop to buy some fresh take out pasta for dinner. We found a very small shop with a totally charming woman, happy to describe all that she had, as I wished to know which were vegetarian. Making our selection of pasta with a few sweet treats, we continued through town. We stopped for Silas to get his daily ration of gelato, as he told us “Less talking, more gelato”. There you go!

Next we actually popped into a few souvenir shops where we selected a some t-shirts. Had to have at least one to replenish my sad, rather raggedy collection at home.

We then opted to come back to the apartment to have some wine and afternoon snacks including our first Lemoncello and enjoy the view from there. We ended up eating some of the pasta as well. Somehow since we arrived on Friday the crowds have really grown. And this is a small town. It was nice to get a break from all the people. Plus, we had heard and read about a special place here that seems to be THE place to go, Nessun Dorma. The only thing they serve are drinks and brochette, but they are along a ridge on the side of the hill with a great view. Only thing is, it’s crazy to get in. We actually had to download their app and request a virtual place in the queue. We did that about noon, when they began giving places at 11:30. By then we were already #268 in line for today! So we had to just keep checking the app to see our # get closer to us getting a time to go in. While we waited we walked around another portion of the town , through the crowds everywhere. Finally it was our turn to get in! Such a marketing deal. But we did enjoy our selections, with Silas happy they had a few dessert choices as well, so he and Gulgun enjoyed a very messy focaccia topped with Nutella and strawberries.

By then we hoofed it back to the apartment to get cleaned up, repacked and ready for our next destination tomorrow: Bologna. But of course I sit down at the end of each day to record the day’s events as a personal diary for me and hopefully for you, dear readers, to follow along on the adventure. Tonight was special though, as Silas sat next to me to write in his own journal.