We drove to Vernazza, having left Volterra that morning. We arrived late afternoon, but the pension owner had no record or memory of our reservation. Tough luck! We had to drive back up that hair-raising road and on to Monterosso (shown to the right) in hopes we would find something there. We did, but I think it might have been the last room in town! Monterosso is a nice town, famous for its beach. We stayed at the Hotel Palme, just a block from the beach. The building (a private residence?) shown to the right is along the beachfront. We bought some lovely lemon cream liquor--Crema di Limoni di Monterosso (Yum!), and checked email--a daily task.  We spent our day hiking to Vernazza. This is supposed to be the most rugged part of the trail that links the five towns. It is comparable to many of our local hiking trails. We didn't go any further than Vernazza, taking time to enjoy a leisurely  lunch while looking down upon the inter-village ferries as they collected and discharged their passengers. That convinced us to return to Monterosso by boat rather than by train. Vernazza really is a delightful place. Unfortunately, it seemed over run with backpacking youths. Gosh, I sound like an old biddy! But I felt more sorry for the residents than myself. I just hope Gig Harbor never gets "discovered", especially by Rick Steves!