I only spent about an hour in Manarola. Total bummer. We took our time on the walk from Riomaggiore to Manarola....which meant that if we wanted the next train we had to hustle through the town. Again, total bummer. On our first cruise through the town it seemed much quieter than Riomaggiore. It also seemed smaller for some reason. I was super gung-ho to make it to all five towns.....so I kind of hustled us along. As it turns out, I ended up thinking that Manarola was the most picturesque of the towns I saw.

Manarola had a swimming hole at the base of the town. It looked perfect. If it had been a little warmer out I think I would have insisted on a dip. The town was perfectly situated on the cliffs....it overlooked the mediterranean and then wrapped perfectly around that swimming hole. There was a small stream that ran under the town and emptied into the swimming hole.

Like I said....the most picturesque.

There was a huge added bonus. An artist had displayed some bamboo weighted wind charms....I really can't think of a better way to describe them. The were amazing! I LOVED THEM! I took as many photos as humanly possible without missing the train. (I included a snapshot of the artists card....you can visit the website but it's in Italian....just a heads up.)

To sum things up. The town was gorgeous - there was a swimming hole - the water was blue - there were once in a lifetime photo opportunities. Loved it.

Don't forget you can click through the photos that are semi displayed below. You may need to open each 'page' individually....as in set one doesn't automatically scroll through into set two. Some of the photos are incredibly washed out by the sun....and I'd love to apologize but, I am actually quite gleeful that we got such a gorgeous sunny day to tour the Cinque Terre!

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