Cinque Terre is absolutely incredible. For those that have never heard of it [like me, prior to coming to Italy], it is a small collection of 5 villages off the Western coast of Italy. It's often frequented by study abroad students in the springtime, as the lure of warm weather, beautiful beaches and scenic hikes are too much to pass up. We stayed in the city right outside of Cinque Terre called Levanto. This is what we saw as we approached our hostel :
We had to fight the urge to drop everything, grab our towels and hit the beach for the remainder of the day! We made it to our hostel [fun fact: it used to be an old mental hopsital! you better bet I slept with one eye open the whole night...], checked in, and got a quick bite to eat at a local pizzeria. My Italian teacher had recommended the pesto in Cinque Terre, so I opted for a pesto pizza and boy was it delicious!
After we refueled, we decided to hike. Now I forgot to mention that one of the biggest draws of Cinque Terre is the fact that you can literally hike from one town all the way to the last. The trail takes about 12 hours to complete, so it's definitely not for everyone, but it's supposed to be spectacular. Unfortunately, due to a really rough winter, rocks have fallen and blocked most of the path between the towns, making the trail unnavigable. Disappointed, we decided to do the next best thing: "A two hour hike from Levanto to Monterosso." Monterosso is the first of the 5 towns and is where the biggest and most popular beach is located, so we were eager to get going!
So we began, carefully following the trail markers along the way!
We hiked up...
We saw lots of pretty foliage along the way, stopping to take 'photos' every 20 minutes [but actually using it as an excuse to catch our breaths]
We kept hiking, wondering when this 'hike' was ever going to end! We didn't realize it until we reached the summit but we literally climbed over a mountain!
And we FINALLY made it to the top, thoroughly exhausted! At this point we had already been hiking for 2 hours, so none of us were all that excited for the descent. It ended up being only about an hour down, but it was steep and treacherous the entire way down. Regardless, all 3 of us enjoyed the hike IMMENSELY and were so proud of ourselves for completing it. Next time, though, I'll be sure to bring a power bar and a bottle of water - I've never been so parched in my whole life!
Anyways, we finally made it down to the bottom and were welcomed by this heavenly view
We stopped at a fresh-lemonade stand, grabbed some refreshing beverages and headed straight towards the sand. I've never been so happy or excited to see the beach in my life! I gingerly stuck my toe in the water but very quickly retracted it, as it was absolutely FREEZING [even too cold for you I suspect, dad!]. We didn't care though - we happily laid on the beach and took a much needed power nap before beginning on to the rest of the villages.
After Monterosso, we hopped on a train to the next city: Vernazza! All of the towns in Cinque Terre are very small and it takes about 5 minutes to walk from one end of the city to the other. Additionally, they are all easily accessed by trains, which makes it easy for the lazy traveler to explore each city!
It was BREATHTAKING! The water, the rocks, the houses perched on the side of the cliff....I still can't believe this place exists. Euphoric from the views, we decided to continue on in hopes of catching the sunset at Manarola, the next of the 5 towns. Luckily for us, we timed it just perfectly:
Manarola. Wow. What can I even say? I think the pictures speak for themselves - it was hands down the prettiest place I've ever been in my entire life. I really felt like I was in a fake universe or something...it was incredible. We stayed there for as long as we could and then decided we should probably head back to Levanto before the sun completely disappeared. We made a game plan to get up early and hit the two remaining cities in the morning, as they were smaller and less picturesque.
Well, in keeping with the theme of our travel, something HAD to go wrong. Background: The lady at the train station told us you could buy a 6 hour pass in one direction that would be good for all of the cities. Coming back, however, we would need to buy another pass, is it would be going in the opposite direction and our one way pass would no longer be valid. By the time we got to the train station around 7:45, the ticket counter had closed and we couldn't find anywhere to buy a new pass! Anxious but without any other option, we boarded the train and crossed our fingers that we wouldn't run into a conductor. In fact, as the train began to move, I even said "We haven't seen one conductor all day - I don't think we have anything to worry about!"
FAMOUS. LAST. WORDS. About 3 minutes in to the 20 minute train ride, we see a group of about 10 Americans run from the back of our train car up to the front and, as they hurried past us, we heard the words "FINE". I turn around, see the conductor working her way up through our car, and immediately join the other frantic students in their attempt to hide. We navigated all the way to the VERY first car of the train and hid out there, counting down the seconds until the train would make its first stop. Just as the conductor entered the car we were all anxiously hiding in, the train stopped its wheels and we all bolted off, SO happy that we didn't get yet another fine. We checked the train schedule and realized another train wasn't arriving for another HOUR, grr. Regardless, we quickly made our way over to the ticket machine and...BROKEN?! Seriously? Out of order? So as 10pm rolled around, we boarded the last train back to Levanto, still ticketless and quite annoyed at the entire situation. Luckily for us we didn't have any run-ins with conductors this time around and, on a positive note, we spent about an hour in the 4th city Corniglia [and subsequently decided we didn't need to go back in the morning]. Sheesh
So the next morning we woke up and headed to Riomaggiore, the last of the 5 cities to be seen. The weather wasn't cooperating like it did the day before, so we weren't able to snag any good photos unfortunately. We said our goodbyes to Cinque Terre, bought AND validated our train tickets, and were on our way to Milan for the Nas/Damian Marley concert!
We checked in at our hotel in Milan and began exploring. It was only 80 degrees but it sure felt like it was 100! We spent a few hours walking around but, much to our disappointment, most things in the city were closed. I have to say, it wasn't my favorite city and I most likely wouldn't go back. We finally found a place to sit down and enjoy an ice cold beverage before heading to the concert.
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| The Duomo in Milan - it suuuure is beautiful! |
The concert was incredible! I'm a HUGE reggae fan, so I was excited beyond belief to see a reggae concert in Italy!!
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| Check out Damian Marley's Dreadlocks!! They're down to the floor! |
The concert did not disappoint! They were fantastic together, playing almost all of the songs on their CD, and then they each did a short solo set. I was in heaven. Additionally, they ended the show with an encore of Could You Be Loved by none other than Bob Marley. What a perfect end to a great show!
After the concert, we walked around Milan for a bit longer, looking at their Duomo at night. The city itself reminded me a bit of Florence but not as lively. There was a cool exhibit though that was a pile of salt with horses sticking out of it! Very neat.
switching gears!
With only about 3 weeks left in Florence, I'm really trying to make the most of my time here! This past week was filled with firsts, including: a visit to the Great Synagogue of Florence! It was absolutely beautiful. Photography wasn't allowed [and for once I didn't disobey the rules] but you'll just have to trust me when I say it was gorgeous. I'm hoping to go back sometime next week for a Seder at the local Chabad with some friends - might be a neat experience to have while in Italy! I also finalllly made it to the Accademia and saw the David! I've studied so much about this sculpture that it was really great being able to see it in person. He's huge!!
It was right up my alley. Our friend Matt from Australia that we met in Dublin is in town for the weekend and we've been showing him around the city a bit. We hit up the Leather Market yesterday and bought some last minute presents for the family [no spoiler alerts here...sorry!] ALSO, yesterday I went on a Psychology field trip to an Ex-Mental Asylum! It was definitely an interesting experience and left me with a very unsettled feeling in my stomach. In the 1960s, the majority of the people in the asylum were not actually mentally ill; instead they were different, ie gay, artistic, etc. This mental asylum existed before there were rules to control the treatment of patients. On our tour of the building, you could see writing all over the walls that said things like "help me" and "these nurses are the devil" and "you will pay for this." It was very very sad.
Tomorrow I am going with my Italian friend Giovanni and my apartment mate Noah to a little city called Populonia. Giovanni is the tour guide and he's taking us on a tour of this little town, known for its Etruscan ruins and beaches. I'm sure it'll be a really cool experience so I'll update soon, I promise!
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