Cinque Terre, Italy

It was a long train ride from Barcelona to Cinque Terre. I didn't have a sleeper on the overnight train, but was able to make two opposing seats stretch out into a reasonable approximation of a bed.


Spent lots of time chatting with these American girls on the first leg of the train ride.	The guy on the left was more organized than I could ever hope to be. He had every town, every hostel, every train completely planned, booked and mapped out. Hell, I barely knew where I was going to be the next day.

On the last leg of the trip, we held a NAFTA summit between these two American girls and a Mexican.	Had no trouble finding a place in Riomaggiore. I was supposed to meet up with a Canadian I met in Barcelona but we never connected via email. I went to the town I knew he was staying (Levanto), in the hopes I would run into him. I didn't, so I just hung out at the beach.

After a good swim and snooze, I decided to head back to Riomaggiore for some food. As I was walking up the beach, I noticed a long-haired hippie-looking dude admiring the view. It turned out to be Anthony, the Canadian guy I was supposed to meet. We hung out on the beach and chatted, drank cheap wine and watched the sun set. If he were a woman, it would have been quite romantic, but no matter how much I drank or squinted my eyes to see if the long hair would make him look more feminine, it just didn't work.


Contemplating life as I stare out over the Mediterranean.	A beautiful sunset over the cliffs of Cinque Terre.

We had the first of the "Best damn meal I've ever eaten" at this pizzeria in Levanto.	The next day, we embarked on the famous scenic hike between the five villages of Cinque Terre.

A look back at the first town - Monterosso (it had the best beach.)	There were so many beautiful vistas on the tough hike between towns.

Vernazza is one of the more heavily touristed towns in Cinque Terre.	Another stunning view of the cliffs overlooking the Mediterranean.

Approaching the hilltop town of Corniglia.	Corniglia

Anthony and me.	These huge masses of flowers grew everywhere.

The view from the top of Manarola.	Anthony honing his World Cup class football skills with a local kid.

We met up with an American massage therapist named Mary somewhere along the way. We all hung out together and did dinner in Riomaggiore. We finished the evening off with drinks at a cliffside patio overlooking the Mediterranean. I was loving the Cinque Terre!

The next day was pretty much a beach day. Anthony and I spent the day tanning, napping, swimming, girl watching, swimming. Repeated ad nauseum. Our diet consisted of foccacia bread, gelato, pizza, beer and wine (which turned out to be the story through much of Italy). A great combination.

That night, I ran into Mary (the massage therapist) while eating out with my flatmates. I was rubbing my neck which was sore from a poorly executed dive into the water earlier in the day. She offered to give me a massage. I thought it would just be a quick one, but she took me down to the beach and gave me a full professional massage while I looked up at the stars and listened to the waves crashing on the beach. Life was GOOD!!!

The next day, I did a solo daytrip out to Portofino. I have a painting over my bed of a streetscape scene of Portofino, so I just had to see the town.