Well, this one I will try to keep short! We were well rewarded after our grueling hike to find that our bed and breakfast was even better than we had imagined. Spectacular unblocked views of the Meditteranean, our own private terrace, and true rustic Italian décor….plus a cute little black kitty who greeted us at the entrance! After washing up, we hiked down into Vernazza for dinner, and found a great little restaurant perched above the harbour. It was the best meal we've ever had. Since Vernazza claims to have 'invented' pesto, it was only fitting for us to give it a try. Matt ordered the pesto lasagna and I had the spaghetti pesto, and of course we had to try a bottle of the local red wine. Just incredible!

After enjoying such an incredible dinner, I was on a high, which quickly came to a low. We stopped at an ATM to get some cash to pay for our accommodation. When we tried to use my bank card, a message came up and said "Card is not authorized for international use". This was the first time I had tried to use my card in Italy, and I had only used it once in England, so this came as quite a surprise. Matt tried his card, and received the same message. Thanks to the red wine we had consumed, I kind of just laughed this all off and we decided that we would sort it out the next day. Unfortunately when the wine wore off, I started to consider the potential impact that this little problem could have on our holiday. I'm so thankful that Matt was here to make me feel better, because I was not too happy (and was preparing in my mind what I would say to the Royal Bank, who had assured me before we left that everything would work fine in Italy). When we woke up this morning, we headed into town to deal with the matter. We bought a phone card, and luckily I had brought a list of the contact numbers for the Royal Bank (just in case). Standing in the middle of the piazza by the harbour, with I called the bank. It turns out that everything was fine with our cards and that the problem had actually been with the particular ATM that we were using. When we went back to the ATM, we saw a paper notice written in Italian that was placed above the machine which we kind of deciphered to mean that the machine was broken and wasn't working for international cards…..go figure!

We decided to take it easy today and enjoy the good life in Vernazza, reading our books on the terrace, venturing down to the village for a lunch of fresh pizza and mineral water. I had my first swim in the Mediterranean in Vernazza's crystal clear turquoise harbour. It was quite something to float on my back looking out onto the picture perfect pastel washed buildings. After my swim, I decided to regain some of those calories that I had burned by having a gelato….mmm, multo bueno! Tonight, we're off to the Il Pirata Restaurante, which is supposed to have incredible food and great entertainment. This place is truly heaven and I'm a little sad that we don't have longer to stay here.