With no sleeping in we were off early to the train station. We were able to reserve our seats on the train in first class to Cinque Terra. On finding our seats in the carriage we were surprised to find a mother and daughter in them. With my best Italian translation I managed to convey to them that we had reserved seats and that they were sitting in them. Fortunately they were nice enough and gave us our seats by the window. The trip with one train transfer lasted 41/2 hrs and we finally arrived at Manorolo at about 1430 hrs. What a stunning view we were greeted with, the cliffs covered in little houses cascading into the sea. We had a short walk thru the tunnel that runs beside the train tracks and down a little street that was no wider than a driveway. We found our little hotel that was right on the little marina, hence the name ‘Marina Piccola’. We checked into our room that looked onto the marina, where there are fishing boats and people swimming, and rested for an hour. The heat was searing and we were so tired from the previous few days and changing trains we had to have a small break.

Late afternoon we decided to go for the 1km walk along the Via dell’Amore (Lovers’ Lane) from where we were staying at Manorolo to Riomaggiore. The views of the vines and olive trees on top of the cliffs overlooking the sea were breathtaking. We spent an hour in Riomaggiore looking at the small town whose houses were hanging over the cliffs. We walked to their local ‘beach’, not quite like we have in Australia – instead the sand has been replaced with rocks and pebbles. Even so, there were many people sunbaking on the hard ground. On our way back to Manorolo, we stopped on the pathway at a bar that was overhanging the ocean crashing underneath onto the rocks. The view was spectacular and we enjoyed a beer and glass of wine there. They even gave us some nibbles, and we ended up staying there for nearly an hour taking in the scenery. We were even lucky enough to get one of the drinks free as they charged us only $6 instead of $16. We made our way back to our little boutique hotel and had another little rest before dinner.

For dinner we decided to go to the little restaurant that is owned by the hotel and is right on the Marina. We kept seeing plates of mussels go past us, so we thought we had better have some as well. They were marinated in white wine and were delightful. We continued with the seafood theme and I had the seafood marinara and Matt had Penne with curried scampi. We washed the meal down with a rich bottle of Shiraz. Even though we were full, Matt ordered dessert. It was a sponge cake that had been drenched in a local liqueur. It was very nice but very potent! We finished the night off with a stroll around the cliff top overlooking the town, with the village lights shinning over the marina and onto the water.