Manarola, Italy

Yesterday we left Vernazza in the afternoon and walked toward the towns of Corniglia and Manarola. We hiked up and down mountainsides near the ocean. We weaved our way through fields of grapes and olive groves. The locals were harvesting the olives in some of the fields we passed. After a couple hours of hiking we arrived in Corniglia where we ate gelato at two different places. Oh, the gelato is so good! We continued on another hour and a half to Manarola where we headed to the harbor for a swim. On the way, I saw a fisherman getting ready to head out to sea. I asked him if I could go with him. He look a little put off by the question. He got in his boat and organized the gear and as he was about to shove off I said Si (yes) or no. He motioned for me to join him. Mariella also gave me the thumbs up so I dropped my bag at the dock with her and jumped in the boat. The Italian man said one hour that turned into about three hours. We fished for squid and caught four. He was happy with our catch. We arrived back to the harbor after sun down. I thanked him many times before parting ways. Mariella and I left the harbor in darkness looking for a place to sleep. We ended up staying at a hostel on the on top of the hill near the outskirts of town. Mariella is in the female dorm and I in the male dorms. From the window we look down on the church, out to some vineyards and down to the ocean. The towns have great character and have not lost their character even as tourism has grown. In the next couple days we plan on heading south to Rome.