Relaxing Cinque Terre

Bonjourno!
Our stay in the Cinque Terre was so great and i would love to go back again! Cinque Terre means five lands or towns in this case..which are situated on the northern coast of the italian riviera. We stayed in the second town called, Manarola. It was definitely less touristy than most of the others but it still had all the amenities we needed. Our hostel was located at the very top of the town behind the 700 year old church. After a long hot day of traveling to get to manarola, we then discovered that we had to walk the very steep and windy hill up to the hostel..wonderful! Our hostel was great though and the guys who ran it were very kind and helpful. The rooms were clean and airy and at night it cooled down so much so you could actually sleep! The only problem with that happened to be the church bells that rang for a good 5 minutes over and over at 7 am EVERY morning..ya... anyway....
The houses and buildings are all painted different colors and are built right into the terraced cliffs that run down to the sea.
Manarola didnt have a beach, so the first day we sunbathed on the volcanic black rocks and swam off of them into the bright blue water. We decided the next day to take the 20 minute train ride to the last town, Monterrosso (the one with the beach). That day we splurged and rented chairs and an umbrella because it was so hot and the beach was all pebbles and not much sand...but it was still beautiful and the water felt so good to jump into!
We ate breakfast and dinner at the hostel because they offered cheap and really good menu choices that we wouldnt have found in any of the towns..apparently pesto originated around there so i had it in some form almost everyday! The whole time we were there it was so relaxing and nice to not be sightseeing every day or rushing to get somewhere. The weather was perfect too..very hot during the day, but then cool and breezy at night!
After checking out the beautiful towns we left today for our long trek to Spain. we are staying the night in Marseille again at Marianne's house and then taking the train tomorrow morning for Barecelona!