"So where do you feel like home?",

Anna asked me as our afternoon progressed into watching a London landscape shift in shape and tone before us. And for rarity, I was trumped that the very thought of. Sure, home is where the heart is but where is home if you've left jagged pieces of your vessel in many different places. Within a couple of seconds, my mind was transported back to the previous 5 days that had encompassed before I boarded my flight from Rome to Gatwick. Back to 5 small towns that has come to be known as "Cinque Terre".

Now, Manarola may have the best shoreline perspective, Riomaggiore may hold the best sunset vista, Vernazza may be the most picturesque, and Monterosso may have the best beach front, but I'd have to say Corniglia holds it's own as my favorite portion of the Cinque Terre experience.

Now the mistake most people make is thinking that Cinque Terre is just one place. In fact, it is a combination of 5 small rustic towns found on the Ligurian coast. What was once held as one of Italy's best kept secrets, it has now bloomed to become a popular stop for all tourists alike. Most of them you'll bump shoulders with in Riomaggiore, Manarola or Vernazza, the "Marsha Brady" of the bunch.

What makes Corniglia my favorite is that the draw of tourists has trickled down by the time you reach the whimsical halls of this town. Of course you'll spot the occasional tourist, but an afternoon here can be spent relaxing without the surrounding hustle and bustle of clicking Canons and iPhone enthusiasts.

 However, my favorite spot in Corniglia is found when one enters the closest resemblance there is to a square, up the steps and past the chapel. What would seem like an empty space that is capped off by a fence to most people, became my little safe haven for the 2-3 times I stopped by Corniglia. It is simply a wall with a crooked basketball hoop attached to the backside of the chapel. Below is a rectangle drawn out as to mimic a soccer goal.

The fence overlooked the calm waters of the ligurian coast, and if you look to the left, Manarola would reveal itself in a tiny moment of splendor.

It reminded me of my days as a youth playing basketball on make shift hoops, birthed from any materials that could bend round enough. That's all my friends and I needed. And for minutes on end, I could just chill there, bouncing round my little globe ball or staring off beyond the dimensions of a fence that acted as a stained glass keeper to the moment the sky met sea.

It is quite the smallest hints in detail that can transform any scene into a memory longing to be revered. Sure, Cinque Terre is a beautiful amassment of sea and structure, but it was this little area that caught my eye and resurfaced places that hold high stake in my growth as a person. Have you ever found yourself to be at home away from home?!