"Manarola, Cinque Terre" a Manarola Travel Page by johnandlynclarke

We stayed in Manarola for one week in an apartment in early May. It was a wonderful experience and just what we needed after a week in Venice. No TV, no newspapers, few English speaking persons...just great!

When one arrives at the Manarola train station, then one walks through the tunnel to the town. As soon as one leaves the tunnel, it is all uphill. Everything written about packing lightly immediately comes to mind. We did pack lightly, one 21" suitcase and one small backpack per person and it was still a struggle to get up that hill! The first time, it took three stops (with loud panting). Finally we made it to the top where our apartment was located. Without thinking our situation through, we immediately knocked on our landlord's door. The landlady let us in and bounded up 4 flights of stairs like a mountain goat! While we slowly panted and sweated our way up each flight, we became slower and slower at each landing. We must have been a sight, red faced and sweaty! BUT, when our landlady opened the doors to the patio overlooking the town, the climb, the sweating, the panting, were all worthwhile. it was glorious!

Manarola has plenty of services: restaurants, a grocery store, art gallery, little shops, museum, but it is smaller than the other villages and we think, quieter. At night the only thing we heard was rushing water and an occasional cat fight.

If one is looking for excitement and action, then one of the other towns would be more suitable. Manarola is great for people watching. Every evening, as we ate supper on our patio, we watched the old lady across the street from our apartment, come out onto her patio and watch he tourists. For a week, we watched 3 men work on their garden plot . Each night, a fiesty little woman dressed in black would come and yell at them pointing and gesturing at something they apparently did not do to her standards. Every day, the men would re-do whatever she had pointed at! We decided that she was the MOM and the men were her son and grandsons. Manarola lets you glimpse a slice of the locals' life.