pizza, pasta, & pastels.: Stairs, stairs, and more stairs.

Finally, after a couple of days spent exploring all there was to explore in Riomaggiore, we were able to experience the neighboring village of Manarola. On the morning before we would hike over the hill, I spent a couple hours on a beach covered in smooth stones, watching the water slowly make its way closer and closer onto the shore, and sketching some more. After a lunch of apricots and olive foccacia, the group assembled as we walked over to the trail head located on the other side of the town. All the towns at Cinque Terre are connected by a hiking trails, and we would be taking the one that would lead us up many stairs and into Manarola. Although it was pretty warm out, and the majority of the hike consisted of rocky stairs, the hike only took us about 40 minutes. Once in the town, we made our way to the center where we were able to take a couple hours to draw, get a bite to eat, and relax. We stayed in Manarola the rest of the day, which concluded with watching the sun set over the cliffside in the distance, near the furthest town. It was fascinating to watch how the colors of the town changed with each minute as the light slowly faded and the many homes that lay on the hillside began to turn on their lights. As it was dark by the time we had to leave, we rode the train back to our home base at Riomaggiore; only about a 5 minute ride.

The images above were taken at the beautiful beach where we began the day. The emptiness and calm that I was able to experience when we first arrived early that morning was eventually lost at the arrival of many tourists as the afternoon approached.