Manarola, Cinque Terre

Manarola is an itty bitty village in Cinque Terre. It's actually the second smallest of all the villages, but we probably had our most memorable experience there. As you walk down towards the marina you'll notice crowds gathering to watch the brave individuals dive off the cliffs into the popular swimming hole. It was definitely "the thing" to do.

The day before we had laid on the sandy beaches of Monterosso and decided that in Manarola we wanted to experience sunbathing on the rocks and swimming in the Ligurian Sea. However by the time we reached Manarola (our second village of the day) the swimming hole was already pretty crowded. So we grabbed some food to-go (delicious fried seafood, pesto pizza, & beer) and head down to the left hoping it would be a little less crowded. Thanks to the advice of another American we wound up at the dock of one of the ferries. It was perfectly secluded since the ferries stopped running between 12:00 and 14:00. When our bellies were full from lunch and our bodies aching for the refreshing cool water we went back to the swimming hole and jumped in. None of us were brave enough to jump from the higher cliffs, but it was still an amazing experience. We sunbathed on the rocks again until our bathing suits were dry and we were ready to hop on over to the next village.

Next Up… Corniglia!

Corniglia, Cinque Terre

The last village we visited was Corniglia. In order to reach Corniglia you must climb a flight of over 350 steps. Once you finally make it into town you quickly realize how different it is from the other villages. There are more narrow alleyways and instead of walking down to the beach you continue to rise in elevation and reach an observation deck. There you will find a beautiful view of the marina below and the other villages out in the distance. Corniglia was my least favorite village in Cinque Terre and I found to be a bit anti-climatic after the great displays of houses on the cliffs in the other villages. Although I must say that our fruit salad gelatos and cold drinks picked up our spirits and off we went back to our favorite village, Monterosso, for dinner.

Petite-France

Petite-France is a picturesque area in Strasbourg where the river Ile splits into a number of canals. There are numerous covered bridges, timber-frame buildings, and it is absolutely beautiful. Thanks to Wikipedia I found out that the original purpose of this neighborhood was not so pretty; tanning and slaughter houses. Yuck! And to make matters worse the naming of "Little France" had nothing to do with sentimentality, but was a way to distinguish the island that housed individuals with the "French disease" aka. syphilis. Not so pretty, right? Luckily when you're walking around with gorgeous views down every street you easily forgot about all of that.  :) Petite-France was my favorite part of Strasbourg so I thought it appropriate to award the quaint neighborhood it's own post. That way it wouldn't get bogged down and lost among all the other pictures. Enjoy!