Our last stage! With a little bad taste in our mouths from the bottles, we got here. This is, after Riomaggiore, thelargest village en probably the most commercial, but it was a pleasant closure of the day. With a stroll at the boulevard, a super tasty mini calzone as snack, we tried to find the aquarium. Nothing to see, we probably chose a wrong direction. Did not matter, we sat down to order a nice pint and wine. It was a little bit expensive, but we were given some nice snacks without extra costs. Superbe! We had a little chat with a Danish copple, who were amused by my T-shirt (therapy? the band). Completely satisfied we got back at the campsite and get stuffed with antipasti and lots of wine. Salute!!

This Friday, the villa traveled to the coast for some R+R at Cinque Terre, five picturesque towns that are linked via hiking trails up mountains, through vineyards and along the coast. Apparently, this little piece of heaven was relatively unknown until rather recently and has since been overrun by tourists which has contributed to the environmental decline of the trails (and, most likely, the exorbitant rates to rent a chair on the beach, but more on that later . . . ).

We began our hike at Monterosso, which, I must admit, I didn't see much of beyond the beach . . . The toughest hike and reputably most beautiful is between Monterosso and Vernazza. We embarked on the nearly 2 hour hike to Vernazza, completely unaware of the beating our bodies would take . . . actually, after the initial climb, nearly vertical, I'm guessing (educatedly) 130 meters, the rest of the hike wasn't too difficult, and it was certainly well worth it--both for the exercise and the beautiful views of the Mediterrean Sea!

Thankfully, we didn't have to share the narrow path with too many tourists, although there were quite a few older people (Baby Boomers?? The lens of my thesis is clouding my perception of older people . . .) who were either in superb shape or didn't know what they were in for on the hike! There was also one curious couple with the woman leading the way and the man carrying the sleeping baby, hanging over the edge of one of those combo backpack/stroller-type baby carriers . . . Seems strange to bring a baby on such a rigorous hike on a hot day, but, hey,  to each his own . . .

We finally reached Vernazza, hot, sweaty and hungry!

---NOW, skip to the Vernazza entry to read about our time there, THEN come back here to read about our time back in Monterosso---

Back in Monterosso, we headed straight for the beach . . . we had heard the beaches were private and charged for admission, thaough we definately weren't prepared for the 8 euro umbrella and sunbed charge per person! But, the beach was so beautiful and our bodies so tired, we parted with our 8 euro each and found our space on the beach for the next 2.5 hours where we soaked up the sun and swam in the Mediterrean . . . a perfect way to begin the weekend . . .