Ta-dah! the Leaning Towah! and a Ta-dah! upon arrival in Monterosso Al Mare.
WARNING: This is another long one. But every amazing weekend deserves one of these, so I ain't holding back. Grab a snack =)
This past weekend I went to one of the most amazing places in the world, the Cinque Terre ("chink-weh ter-reh". it means Five Villages), which is technically a National Park. It is located on the west coast of Italy, pretty far north. If you imagine Italy's stivale (new vocab word this week- boot) shape, the Cinque Terre are located right where the top starts to flatten out. Andrea, I'm right up there with you - so far it's my favorite place in the world.
Soo, a couple of hourse after we got to bed after Domus on Thursday night, we were all up and at it again for the weekend! We took a bus part of the way because when we reserved our tickets, us being the responsible, planning ahead-ers that we are, there was a train strike planned for Friday, meaning some trains would not run and we had now way of knowing if ours would. Yes, I'm sure you're wondering, train strikes are organized and announced nationally, including the time of days during which it will be in effect. Quite strange, eh? It's nice because it doesn't completely ruin travel plans, but it also seems kind of silly to have an organized strike. And it actually turns out that we got burned for planning early- the day after we bought our bus tickets, which were a bit more pricy than the train would have been, we were informed that the train strike was now cancelled. Yaaay. We are never being responsible, planning-aheaders again. We need to start going about things the Italian way- aka not planning at all and being late for everything. So anyways, we got the bus(well, first we spent half an hour wandering around looking for where we get the bus), rode 3 hours, and stopped in Pisa. We found our way to Piazza Miracolli (Square of Miracles) and there it was, the Leaning Tower of Pisa. And gosh, the Piazza was PACKED! It was actually kind of strange for me because last time I went to go see the leaning tower (during my trip in high school) we went at night and it was totally deserted. But I discovered right away that I like the area MUCH better at night. A) There aren't people and vendors freakin' everywhere, and B) the Piazza looked so different during the night time. In the day time I actually think it loses a lot of it's beauty and simplicity. At night time, the square was so incredibly beautiful because the limestone of the buildings in the square actually glowed in the dark and I remember it precisely as being breathtaking. So, I am glad that I got to see the square like that because today it was just insane. Also, since we were in a time crunch, we had to move quickly. So, we had time to take our classic standing next to and holding up the tower pictures (Side story #1: I can't tell you how many people I saw having their friends and family take pictures of them "holding up" the tower in the wrong direction. Like, they were standing on the side that leans away. Hahahahaa, people are funny). Then I paid 4.70 euro for a mediocre piece of pizza in the center just so I could say I had a pezza de pizza in Pisa! Then we got a bus and got to the train station with 10 minutes to spare. Phew! Cuz we were rushing!
We arrived in Monterosso, the north-most of the Cinque Terre and HOLY SHIZZNIT is it beautiful! And I recognized some parts of it from last time I did the Cinque Terre. We arrived just as the sun was setting over the water =) I snuck onto the beach just to get my feet in the Mediterranean. Our hotel was tucked down a mini side street right near other apartments and such. I can’t believe people actually live there!! So we explored the town, found some great eats for dinner- lots of fish around here! So fresh! (Side story #2- As we were wandering we saw two guys, one still barefoot & the other still holding the fishing pole, pushing a wheel-barrow thingy of fresh FRESH fish through the street, stopping to chat with other locals and sell them a couple. Now that’s legit). Got some deeelish gelato (caffe & cioccalata. Yes, I know you need to know every kind of gelato I get).
The next day was hike day! We got our start at 7:45am with some groceries and breakfast and were on our way! Trails were straight up BEAUTIFUL. The first one to Vernazza was the most difficult- we had to climb up and up and up a lot of steps because we were ascending up the cliff!) There’s really nothing more to say about the towns because words just won’t cover it. The pictures don’t even do them justice, but they’ll be good enough. I’ll get those up soon. Got some lunch and some awesomeee pesto in Corniglia (#3). And I’m so mad I didn’t bring my bathing suit because the girls went swimming at Manarola (town #4) and I wanted to go! (Side story #3- as we were looking for the trail to Vernazza in Monterosso, we met a guy who was, for lack of better words, or more like no other words would describe him directly, totally gorgeous. Thick New Zealand accent. Blue eyes. Tattoo. Yeah. He helped us find the trail. He got a start ahead of us and we ran into him, his dad, and his brother in every town and wound up finishing up the hike with them. *Sighh.* And don’t you worry, ladies, I totally got a picture. He jumped into one of our group shots. Yessss.) We took the train back to Monterosso from Riomaggiore, the last town. Jess, Stephanie, and I took a detour on the way back from dinner in Monterrosso and found a “Festival de Vino” in the square where they were giving out samples of traditional Cinque Terre wine! After resting a bit, all 7 of us went back to the central square of Monterrosso where the wine festival was continuing. I was immediately drawn to the square because there was live music- fantastic band- and couples dancing! Actually dancing! It was like a dream. Eventually, I got in there and got Stephanie and Carly to join me for a minute. I just kept telling them, “This is what I do!” They also had some line-dancingish dahces, too, that I picked up, and people were doing cha cha and tango and swing and waltz. I had so much fun dancing and watching! I was totally thinking of Maren then in the square. She would have ABSOLUTELY loved it, with all the dancing and music. And she would have been in that square with me in heartbeat. Or less. Maren, I took some videos and pictures for you there!
Everyone's ta-dah! at the second town Vernazza. We took that picture in every town as our trademark.
The next day, Sunday, was beach day! And the sun was shining! Finally! Jessica, Stephanie, Chelsie, and I decided to rent kayaks! We went off on the sea (kayaking on the Meditteranean! So cool!) towards Vernazza, which we could see in the distance. There were lots of little caves and coves that we explored. And ooooohmygosh that water. Never have I ever seen (or been in) water of that incredible, crystal clear blue. I still can’t get over it. We found a little cove with an itty bitty waterfall where we jumped out and took a dip. The idiot her didn’t bring her swimsuit on this trip (that would be ->me<-) couldn’t resist the water and went swimming in her underwear :-x. Who cares, it’s Europe, we were secluded. Anyways, we were out on the kayaks for 2 hours and we were SO glad we decided to rent them. Afterwards, got to lay out on the very crowded beach and dry off a bit, got a panini (with tuna! FINALLY! I haven’t had any since I’ve been here and I missed it so!) and the most delicious strawberry daiquiri in the world to have on the beach. Took the train back and we all returned exhausted but exhilarated from the most fantastic vacation =)
Yeah, that's the water I kayaked on.
Links to the rest of my pictures (on facebook): http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2038610&l=41083&id=28503380
http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2038611&l=3ef78&id=28503380
Thanks for reading/looking! If you ever get to Italy in your life, get to the Cinque Terre. At least hit up Cornigilia, Vernazza, and Monterrosso. I miss every single one of you! Love.
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