Santa Margherita and Cinque Terre

The weather had been kind of weird since we arrived in Italy. June was not supposed to be rainy. But we encountered a number of rain showers since we arrived. Locals said it hadn't done that for years. Just our good luck.......

Anyways, when we arrived at Santa Margherita yesterday, the weather was great. The sun was out in full force and the beach looked like this:

As expected, the girls wanted to go to the beach, we said tomorrow coz we want to go to Portofino first. Glad we did coz today, the sky looked grey. But today was tomorrow (if you know what I mean) and the girls insisted they want to go to the beach. So, we had no choice.

For those who have not been to Italian beaches, most of the beach fronts are private. That means, you have to pay a fee to use it! The price is about €10 per adult and for that they provide you with a deck chair, umbrella, changing room etc. To get the "Italian" feel and some photo op, we paid and went in. It was early and the sky was grey, so this is what it looked like.

The weather didn't stop the girls from taking a dip

As usual, only Tasha swam (she is oblivious to the cold)

whilst Andrea played in the sand pit

So, once again, whilst the girls had fun, we took some photos and we waited.

After about 2 hours, the sun still didn't come out. So, we packed up and went to visit Cinque Terre. Cinque Terre, as the name suggest - The Five Lands comprises five villages: Monterroso, Vernazza, Cornoglia, Manarola and Riomaggiore. All the towns are built along the rugged, steep landscape right up to the cliffs that overlook the sea. The best way to explore is actually to hike from the 1st to the 5th town. With the girls, we took the train instead.

Due to time constraint, we chose only to visit Vernazza and Manarola. Arriving just in time for lunch at Vernazza, we had our first pasta in pesto sauce. Yum!

After lunch, we explored the little village. There was a little public beach. And since the weather cleared up and was very hot, the girls went in to play.



Next we ventured to Manarola. Another quaint little village.

I wondered if he caught anything....