Cinque Terre (chink-way tay-rah)

I think we like to press our luck sometimes. Yesterday, we drove directly into the town of Deiva Marina, on the Cinque Terre coast, hoping to get a room for the night as we have been camping for the last 16 nights. When we got off the autostrada there was no person in the toll booth, only computerized instructions in Italian on how to pay. I inserted a €20 bill but got a computerized scolding for an unknown reason to me. I was not about to insert my credit card because here in Europe their cards have a chip in them, different from those in the U.S. And I was afraid I wouldn't get it back. The computer kept scolding me so I pressed the "assistance" button, big and red. When I did an alarm went off and the gates went down in back of me locking in me and and another vehicle. Eventually a worker came down and manually opened the gate so I could go park and work things out. Luckily, the worker didn't speak any English and just waved me through to save himself the trouble and we ended up saving €4. The embarrassment and delay was not worth it. We drove down to the coast and found the beautiful Hotel Celia with only one room left and that was available for only one night and only if we had a small car (EXTREMELY limited parking!!). Perfect! The room was beautiful and it was nice to recharge our batteries, so to speak. We ate an awesome seafood anniversary dinner on the waterfront and after a sumptuous breakfast buffet we left and found a campsite nearby here at Camping Valdeiva. These European campsites are something else. They all have hot showers, dish washing areas, clothes washing areas, wi-fi, cafe, market, and this one even has a swimming pool. The cost for this one is €26 per night (about $37) and worth every cent. We are among Europeans, their families, and they are very courteous and always helpful. Tonight our neighbors are Dutch and German.

We rode the train into true Cinque Terre this morning and ended up spending the whole day walking, eating, swimming and just enjoying this incredible Earth. The water is crystal clear, warm and inviting. There are mobs of people but since most of them are beautiful tanned bodies in skimpy bathing suits it's not to hard to take.

The sun has gone down, it's cool and we are going to cook up another variety of pasta before crashing one more time in our trusty REI backpacking tent.