Manarola

It's a cool morning under grey skies but that is ideal for the long walk down from the bus parking lot.
I am happy to be off the bus and not staring at Italy through glass anymore.

We have climbed down some stone stairs to the car parking level and have a long walk towards the town.

We stay to the back of our tour group. We have a guide but are not wearing headsets so she will wait until we can all group together before telling us what we are seeing.

With each step more of Manarola is revealed and I love what I am seeing! This is the oldest of the 5 towns and dates from 1338.

There's a church which we will be taking a look into after a brief rest on one of the benches

I'd love to climb every little stairway I see but there is no time and I can't get separated from our group

Inside the church and the peace and calm it provides

Back into the daylight and continuing our downward path

The vineyards rise steeply from the town

Everything is beauty in my eye. What's up those stairs? I'll never know....

Possibility of rain?

A water wheel. The town's name derives from the Latin for water wheel with a few variations thrown in over the centuries.

Our group of tourists take up the width of the whole street. The locals who live here must be tired of the hordes of strangers who flood their tiny streets. True that hotels and restaurants and shops benefit from the lure of their pretty towns. There's a price to pay for popularity-tranquility.

Smoothies!

I am loving each step I take

A pedestrian tunnel to the train station. The trains runs from la Spezia

Looking back up the street we have just walked down

So much character on these balconies!

We are having a lunch later in the day in another town on the coast and these fishing boats are already making my mouth water at the prospect of some fresh fish. Right now I would settle for a nice double espresso.

A water fountain

A map showing the five towns

So colorful. This is one of the most beautiful towns we have ever set foot in and my feet are happy to be treading its narrow streets. As the owner of those feet "I endorse this message" (American political jargon).

Yet another tempting staircase!

We are right down by the sea at this point and our guide gathers us all together to tell us we have about an hour to kill before a ferry arrives to take us to our second town where we will have lunch.
After that we will take a train to another town inland where our bus will be waiting to meet us and return us to our ship in Genoa.

With an hour to kill we have time to sit and have coffee and rest our feet....

La Spezia

We moved on from the rest stop and our next landmark would be the port of La Spezia.

I continued my gazing out of the window.  It's maybe 8 a.m and the sky is cloudy so we may get a little rain shower this morning.

A distant hilltop town

The end of the Autostrada

We won't be stopping in the city. It's just the gateway to the coastal road to Cinque Terre.

I'm confined in my seat but continue taking pictures as I may never be here again

We are not in the city for long and we soon climb up a narrow road to the heights above

The grey ships in the harbor are Italian warships as this is a major naval base

There's a white Costa Cruise Lines ship in the distance

If the trees are blurry that means the bus is moving, although slowly

Bottom right you can see the winding road we have just come up on

We are heading for the town of Manarola one of the 5 towns of Cinque Terre (5 Lands).
Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia and Riomaggiore are the other 4. Today we only have time to visit two of the 5.

Another anonymous hillside village flashes by. I wish I had a map to get my bearings and identify them. We are heading West from La Spezia.

Vineyards appear. We are in Liguria and winemaking is part of the local economy.

We must be getting close as the sea is on our left

And there below (wayyyy below) is Manorola!

Tour buses are too big to go into the town so we park outside and will walk from here. It's all downhill but steeply so.

There is parking for cars on a level down below us. We will be some taking stairs to begin our descent.

Next....the Long March