Just like us Asians, they all look the same

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Geo: 44.1629, 9.7201

Very tired, did not sleep well. Perhaps eating too much starch in Italy? It feels only like yesterday that I started this trip though it´s been more than 2 weeks. Today is for scoping out the 5 towns and then I will decide where to go tomorrow.

Manarola - not much there. Some rocky coves. Hiked the Via Dell´amore. Nice, but over-rated. Pure cheese - lovers paint the walls of the tunnel with graffiti professing their undying love. There was even an accordion player doing his thing. The only thing cheesier than that? Trekking halfway around the world to Spain to find someone that you only spoke to for 15 minutes the year before! Can you imagine if someone was crazy enough to do something like that????

Riomaggiore - not much there either. Had a juice and the local fruitcake (best I´ve ever had, but that doesn´t say much now does it?). Vernazza - tiny beach. Walked up to the castello - views were over-rated. Not worth the 1€ entrance fee.

Hiked to Corniglia - VERY hot! Needed gatorade halfway through the 1.5 hour hike. You can hike through all 5 towns - 5 hours in total. Can´t believe there were some crazy enough to attempt it in this heat.

Monterosso - best of the 5 towns; biggest beach but also the most crowded. Overall the Cinque Terre is over-rated, over-crowded, and over-hyped.

The new version of U2´s "One" by Bono and Mary J. Blige is playing everywhere. Sounds good, but still not as good as the original. Dinner was ham pizza (ok) and 2 skewers - squid (salty but tasty) and assorted meat (sausage, beef, chicken, peppers - ok as well). I needed the protein. Was craving roasted chicken all day but none were available at the market by the time I got there. I had visions all day of chicken fat dripping off my goatee and glistening in the sunlight as the sun was setting ... such a romantic image ... it brings a tear to my eye!

Power outage at night - apparently very common there as a lady turned and said to me "welcome to Italy", as she shrugged her shoulders. I´ve been using an outdoor tap for drinking water ... everyone else seems to be using it to clean their feet. Hopefully it´s safe to drink and I don´t get worms.

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Photos

A
Rocky cove in Manarola.

B
Taken on the Via Dell´Amore portion of the hike.

C
The love tunnel with all the graffiti ... even the cheesy accordion player in the background.

D
D

E
Mural depicting the hard working people of the Cinque Terre. A nod to the history of the region.

F
Tiny little beach in Vernazza. Why bother?

G
Taken on the hike to Corniglia.

H
Beach in Monterosso - nice, but overcrowded.

I
Monterosso again.