Five Little Villages . . . Sitting By the Sea

Five little villages
Sitting by the sea
All very pretty
Just to please me!

Five little villages
In the pouring rain
Still appeared most winsome
I'll be back again!

Most of you will already have seen Sherwin's blog post on the five little villages on the north west coast of Italy.  If not, Click here to see Sherwin's blog, Shower Wisdom, on Cinque Terre.

But I think a piece of my heart got left behind there so I must record a few photos for my own 'chronicle of life'.

Did we think that the skies had been threatening the day before in the south of France? Huh!

I suppose the thing that struck me most profoundly about this secluded part of the world was the simplicity of the villagers living conditions and what appeared to me as their lifestyle.  They depend upon agriculture and fishing... pretty simple.

One of my favourite village scenes...

See the green bottles set out on the wall beside the house... probably wine bottles, ready for a new crop.

There was absolutely no shortage of opportunities to get your daily exercise. There didn't seem to be many flat areas... lots of climbing about from one level to another.

Or moving your materials around by hand...

Each village had towers for clocks or bells...

and, of course, a church.  In Vernazza we ducked into this pleasant little church to get out of the rain.  The farther north we went in the boat, the wetter it became.

Sherwin sat a bit in the church...

while I prowled around with my iPhone, which takes the best interior shots.

They had the usual decor...

 and a shrine for a former priest.

All tastefully simple.

By the time we got to the most northerly village, Monterosso, we were properly soaked.

Some local fare topped our agenda. Our pasta dishes were wonderful. Sherwin had a pesto linguine...

and I had a ravioli stuffed with squash.  Of course we did our usual trade through the middle of the meal so we could each taste the other's food.

As we sat dawdling over our food, trying to dry off, I looked about for opportunities for more photos. And I was rewarded.  Just across the way was a kitchen where you could hear 'kitchen noises' and smell more heavenly food being prepared.

And these two little girls took time to stop by and talk to the cooks.  By all appearances I would say they were local children.

Everywhere we looked we saw bright colours and peaceful settings...

Even the laundry (and in Italy we saw lots of laundry hanging from windows!!!) looked good, probably because it was someone else's...

In Riomaggiore, before much rain had fallen, we saw these three women having a bit of a gossip, or maybe they were talking about world peace...

Tour time slipped by and it was arriviederci time. This golden tunnel was the last to walk through on our way to the train...

Ciao, Ciao!

Until next time, be well.