The Cinque Terre!!!

Day 15: A free day in Italy's Cinque Terre

s  region.   This is one of the main reasons I booked this particular trip.  I have many times gone to art fairs and seen pictures of this area and thought to myself, "I want to be the guy taking those shots."  Well, today, I was the guy.  The weather was beautiful and I started out the day with Dean and Sandy as hiking partners.  We set out about 9:30am to hike from Monterossa al Mare to Vernazza.  The going was tough, with a lot of stairs to climb along the way, but we got to Vernazza right about noon and found a restaurant that was both in the guide book and recommended by Stephanie.  More stairs to climb to the Ristorante el Castillo, but well worth
the effort.  The second photo here is of my lunch,
spaghetti al pesto and it was deliciousioso!  The
owners were extremely nice, especially when we
mentioned Stephanie and Rick Steves Tours.  The matriarch of the family even sent over a complimentary bottle of wine when we didn't have any yet to join her in a toast.  Delphina is a real sweetheart and obviously Stephanie is very well thought of as well!

After lunch I parted ways with Dean and Sandy,
taking the train from town to town and finding the
vantage points from which to take the photos I
wanted to get, then taking the boat back aftewards.
What a day!  I am absolutely exhausted, but happy
that I had good weather today.   Tomorrow it's on to Switzerland and the Alps.  Goodnight all, Ciao!