I looked out over the rooftops to another bright and sunny day in Riomaggiore.  It was, however, somewhat windier than the previous few days and down at the harbour the boat booking office was closed with a notice saying that shipping was suspended due to the weather, so it was as well I had done the trip to Port Venere the day before.  It was Sunday (I knew this due to the loud bonging noises that had woken me up) so it seemed like the right time for a relaxing day in Riomaggiore…

The rough seas meant that most of the boats had been hauled out of the harbour onto the slipway and above, so I was able to indulge in a favourite holiday pastime of photographing lots of boat details.

I followed the narrow path round from the harbour past the boat dock to the beach.  Some intrepid sunbathers had picked spots out on the breakwater, close to the crashing waves in the breezy conditions.  It was still mighty hot though, so a sit on the beach with a picnic lunch seemed like a good plan.  Others sat atop the mound of shingle formed by the waves and cooled off with feet in the water.

Swimming wasn’t really an option, but a few braved the waves and I gave it a go to cool off, but was immediately knocked off my feet and swirled around in the current – I imagined a bit  like being in a washing machine with a bunch of rocks.  I manged to crawl out again, somewhat bruised but nevertheless refreshed.   After that, staying on dry land and staring out to sea, with white cloud formations bubbling up on the horizon, seemed the better choice.

After the beach I headed back into town in search of something to eat, but came back down to the harbour at dusk for a bit more photography.  Clambering out onto the breakwater to photograph Riomaggiore wasn’t possible with the sea conditions, and a major building to the left of the harbour entrance was covered in scaffolding anyway, but I’d found a spot favoured by fishermen which gave  a good view of the other side of the harbour and set up there waiting for dusk and the lights to come on.

As the light faded, I made a few more long exposures looking out into the Ligurian Sea.

This made a lovely way to round off my visit to the Cinque Terre – I’d be up early the next day and setting off on my return journey, stopping first at Genoa.

For more images see my Riomaggiore set on flickr.