Pastel colors in Manarola

The Cinque Terre National Park is a must for photographers. The picturesque fishing villages built on the rock were added to the UNESCO list of world natural and cultural heritage sites in 1999. They impress with the random and chaotic arrangement of the houses in a dreamlike pastel-colored paint job.

It is advisable to leave the car in either La Spezia or Levanto and explore the five villages by train or on the hiking trails. The nights were still below 5°C, so I decided to camp again in Levanto. In addition to a power connection this time at a fixed price, this also had the advantage of leaving the car parked for a few days and being able to view everything by foot or train. Driving around the narrow villages is not much fun and takes up unnecessary time. I was also able to leave the bed permanently set up in the camper and didn't have to move it around every day.

In Levanto there was an old ruin with mainly only the tower remaining. It even had a bell that could be rung electrically, which happened exactly every quarter of an hour, clearly audible throughout the entire village... even at the campsite... all night long. Who needs an acoustic signal at quarter past three at night that it is now quarter past three?

In the low season, the hiking trails along the coast were unfortunately closed due to maintenance work between the villages, which meant that I had to hike the alternative ramps from one village up into the mountains and back down to the adjacent village to stimulate my pulse. This very sweaty way of getting around gave us wonderful views of the villages. Of the Cinque Terre, Manarola and Riamaggiore are certainly the most photogenic, but Vernazza and Corniglia also have their charms.

While the usual tourist can easily visit the 5 villages in one or two days, I took 6 days in the hope of being able to photograph the villages in different moods. And it was a good thing I was there for so long because I saw a cat sitting at one of the many watering holes. Her whining only stopped after I turned on the tap and she laboriously started spooning some of the stream of water into her mouth with her tongue. She tried everything not to get any of the cold water on her nose and kept jerking back as if she had been electrocuted. It's really good that I was there and saved the poor animal from certain death of thirst. It should be mentioned that despite the low season and the reduced infrastructure, there were still a lot of tourists on site and this cat certainly had fun abusing all the tourists for its own purposes. As fantastic as this area is, I don't want to experience it during the peak season with mass tourism.

Findings from this stage: The camper is only a means to an end, you have to explore and experience the world on foot. Everything in life is suddenly more beautiful when a cat is involved.

Vehicle Component: The standout vehicle component is the newly purchased laptop to replace the defective one. After several days of installation and data recovery, I can now process my images on the go and continue writing my blog faster than ever before. Well, that has to be the case, otherwise no one would be able to read this.