The Cinqueterre

The cinqueterre is a series of five towns just south of the rivierra that are connected by footpath, train or boat only. they are a protected marine area and national park and they are spectacular. "think mediteranean kauii"! we stayed in the town of Fontona, near Levanto the city just north of the five towns.

after the heat of rome, we cooled off at our nearby riviera style beach. but, the next day...

found us doing the thing we came to do! we hoppedp on a train to the town farthest south and hiked along lover's lane to town number 2 :manarolla. upon arriving in manarola i found a note taped to the wall that explained the town was celebrating their feast day..... with a waterfight!! i love this place! we located the town swimmin hole! it was surrounded by the most beautiful people on the planet. we played merpeople for a while and then went into town for lunch! the water fight commenced! this is far better than dinner theatre! grown men and women with large buckets of water dousing unsuspecting tourists and in the know revelers. you could tell the shop across the street and the restaurant we were in had enjoyed this war for generations! after our meal we were thrown out into the streets to fend for ourselves.....it was quite refreshing so we walked to the next town corniglia, and the next.... vernaza. there was a swimming area which was well needed for the hike to vernaza is greuling.....and we took the easy route! the day was coming to an end and we had seen the 5th town (monterosso)from the road so we dragged ourselves onto the train to levanto and trudged our way home. so amazing to now have had so many "homes" in such beautiful and interesting places, but really that's how it felt! we had neighbors:

and home cooked meals, and pets!