Cooling off in the 'Med'

This morning it was hot again and since we are next to the Mediterranean Sea it is also humid.  After our very good hotel breakfast, we set off to the train station to take a quick trip from Monterosso al Mare to Vernazza - the next city along the coast of Cinque Terra. 

Beach from the Monterosso train station.

Once we got to beautiful Vernazza, crowds had just began arriving and Karen decided a lemonade would be refreshing.  

Looking for the lemonade stop.



New shirt.

We found a little place that sold lemonade but the Italian way of making it is a little different than we do.  They put water, lemon juice, ice, and a mint sprig in the glass and give it to you with a couple of packets of sugar and you are expected to sweeten it to your taste.  This method showed us just how much sugar is in American lemonade since it took about 3 packets of sugar to sweeten our drinks and they were not as sweet as American lemonade.  We walked our lemonade down to the base of the main road right at the bay and enjoyed the view for a while before walking back up hill through the town to the train station.

The harbor.

Back in Monterosso we purchased some focaccia sandwiches for lunch before we got ready for our afternoon cruise along the coast.  The purpose of this trip was to be able to see all 5 towns of Cinque Terra from the sea - something Karen wanted to do since we were here many years ago.  


After we met up with our boat captain/guide "Bruno" we set off in his very nice boat with a group of 8 people from Ohio who we enjoyed very much.  

The views of the coast and towns from the boat were spectacular but pictures don't due them justice.  

This is Monterosso where we're staying.

Vernazza.

Corniglia.

Manarola.

Riomaggiore.

At one point the boat stopped and Bruno announced that it was time to go swimming.  Since we were pretty hot, this sounded refreshing.  

Come in - the water is great.

Karen sat down at the back of the boat and dangled her feet in the water while most of the others including Bill jumped in and used 'noodles' to stay afloat.  


This looked refreshing to Karen so soon after the others were in, she got up the nerve to jump in with her own noodle.   The water felt great as Bruno said it was about 80 degrees.  

Karen did it!

During the cruise, we were treated to beer, prosecco, focaccia bread sandwiches, and a little cake for dessert.  On our way back to Monterosso we spotted some dolphins enjoying the refreshing sea like we did.  We saw several of them and Bruno said we were very lucky since they hardly ever see dolphins.  He was very excited about this sighting but they are a common occurrence to us California people.  

We tried another outdoor restaurant tonight and the food was well, really good.

PS. From yesterday's dinner where we talked about the owner/operator we saw with Mike and Carla a few years ago (maybe 2019?) it turns out the large tomato patch we showed from our window on yesterday's blog is his. And he has the best fresh tomato's ever.

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