Cinque Terre

Hello!!

Well this weekend I made it to a place called Cinque Terre- it means the 5 cities. I made it there but man did I have to fight for it. As I put in my last post, it was very difficult to find a hostel. So after that didn't work, I tried to look for a hostel and finally found one!!! So our trip was booked :) We were all excited and then Thursday evening came around and we found out that there was going to be a bus and train strike on Friday (apparently this happens fairly often). So our original plan was to train from Siena to a nearby city called La Spezia. Well, after we found out about the strike we were forced to bus to Florence, on one of the only buses running that day, and then train to La Spezia. It was a pain in the butt but we finally made it there!! Brianne, Megan and Beth were my three friends coming with me this weekend. We all dropped off our stuff and then went out around La Spezia for Friday night. It was a really cute town with a lot of shops and restaurants!! For dessert we found this crepe place that made all different kinds. I got a Nutella and Marscapone cheese crepe- Giada would be so proud! It was absolutely delicious!!













Then we called it an early night to get some rest! Saturday morning we woke up and Brianne and I met Megan and Beth at their hotel to eat breakfast. They had a great breakfast buffet! They had crossiants, pastires, yougurt and they even had eggs you could hard boil- well I thought it was hard boil... turns out I think they eat them soft boiled, which I was not into. But it was still cool!









After our yummy breakfast we went to get on a ferry to cinque terre. This was the best idea of the day!! Our first sight of the beautiful cities from the water made them even more beautiful!! I loved every minute of that ferry ride! We went all the way up to the 5th city first and then worked our way down from there.





































The 5th city was called Monterosso. It was all of our favorite city. There was a gorgeous beach and it was relatively flat so it was easy walking. My friend Beth, who I decided to call Auntie Beth for the weekend is 42 years old and cannot do a lot of walking so the other cities were much harder for her to explore. We just walked around this city for a while and decided to buy a weekend pass for a train that takes you back and forth between the cities as much as you want. So we were ready to move on to the next one...













The next city was called Vernazza. I really enjoyed this city as well. There were many shops here as well. In one of the shops- I bought some pretty purple earrings made of glass from Venice!!












Then, Brianne and I really wanted to go to the beach. The third city, Corniglia which is on top of a bunch of rocks, and go to the 2nd city, Manarola. This city was pretty too-- basically more of the same in the actual city. The beach turned out to be more like a rock beach and was kind of dirty so we decided to maybe just skip the beach for Saturday and go back to the top city on Sunday because it was much nicer!













Another option of traveling between the cities, besides the train, is hiking. Although the hike from the bottom to the top takes about 5 hours. Instead of hiking to all of them, we decided to be lazy between cities 2-5 and hike the easy one between 1 and 2. It was gorgeous! It was called Via dell'Amore-- the Lover's Walk. There were a whole bunch of pad locks along the way, we never could figure out exactly what they were for other than something about couples. But it was on the mountain, looking out over the water and it was just gorgeous! The water there was so blue, it was beautiful!! During the walk there was a vineyard on the mountain-- can you even imagine having to pick those grapes!


















After our walk we explored a little bit in Riomaggiore but this city was on a steep incline and after walking up about half way and there not being too much to look at, we decided to climb back down. Brianne and I went down to the beach and sat for a while and Beth and Maggie went to have dinner on the ocean. That was my original plan- to eat fresh seafood on the water- but after eating a HUGE pizza for lunch I was not hungry until way later that night! So instead, we all finished up and went back to La Spezia. We were all exhausted anyway so it was good to go to sleep semi-early.













Then on Sunday we all got up, did the breakfast buffet again and then went to the best city to spend the afternoon. Brianne and I got to sit on the beach for a few hours and Maggie and Beth went around the city again. It was a very wonderful relaxing day. We then went to have lunch on the water and yes, I had fresh seafood!! I had shimp cocktail- which was nothing like at home. It was warm with this thick dressing on it and actually pretty good. I ate 3!! Then I ate fresh almond encrusted salmon!! It was really, really good! I really enjoyed it! Brianne got this seafood pasta and I tried a clam which was probably one of the worst things I have ever eaten- I hated it. It tasted like I just took a huge gulp of seawater! Ugh- good thing I ate that before mine because I think it made mine even more enjoyable! :)



















After lunch it was time to go back home to Siena and get ready for another week. We only have 2 days of classes left and then a presentation and paper due Wednesday and two tests to take. Then I am done with classes!! I know- already right?? It feels like I just got here!! I am sad for Siena to end but I am also so so so so excited for my family to arrive! Wish me good luck on my finals, I am not excited for them! Ciao!