On Thursday night Brittany arrived from Jerusalem and stayed with me until Wednesday afternoon. We went out for margaritas and Mexican on Thursday night and then went on a walk of the main attractions of the city so she could see them without the masses of tourists.
Tourist season is in full swing here in Florence right now. There is barely any room to walk around all the tourists in front of the Duomo and there is a massive line that wraps around the piazza to even enter the Duomo.
On Friday we hit up some places around the city... the outlook of the city, Palazzo Pitti, had some gelato, and did a little shopping. We rested up and then hit the town Friday night. I got to take Brittany to one of the secret bakeries that night :)
Saturday morning we took a 2 hour train ride to Cinque Terre. Cinque Terre is a series of 5 towns that are all connected by a short train ride, or for the more adventurous, a rigorous hike. We met up with three of my friends from Minnesota, Katie, Lauren, and Nissa. The trains can be rather complicated since there are transfers and the trains only run ever so often. The five towns of Cinque Terre from first to last are Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza, and Monterosso. We finally arrived in Monterosso, where we were staying for the night, around 4pm.
After we dropped our stuff off at the Bed and Breakfast we decided to do the hike between Monterosso and Vernazza which takes about 1hr 30min. I wasn't quite sure what to expect from the hike since I had never been on a hike before... it kicked my butt! The towns are located on mountains so there are tons and tons of stairs along with plenty of hills.
The trails between the cities run along the Sea and offers some spectacular views.
A grape vineyard we passed along the hike. Cinque Terre is known for their white wine.
Lauren, Katie, and Nissa on the hiking path.
After what felt like hiking boot camp (Nissa is an experienced hiker so she set a speedy pace) we made it to Vernazza!
View of Vernazza from the hiking path.
View from in the city.
Some of the countless stairs during the hike.
We decided to take the hiking path back to Monterosso. We made it back around 8:30 and grabbed dinner since we were all starving from the exercise. I got a tasty pasta with tomato cream sauce and scallops. We headed back to our Bed & Breakfast after to rest up for another day of hiking.
The Bed and Breakfast we stayed at (on the right). On the website they should have noted that they are located on the 8th floor and there are no elevators... and that breakfast wasn't actually included. It was a nice place overall so I can't complain.
The next day we took the train from Monterosso (the last city of the five cities and the one we stayed in) to Riomaggiore (the first of the five cities). The walk between Riomaggiore and Manarola is called 'The Walk of Love.'
The girls in front of the entrance to the walk.
A view of the walking path and the side of the mountain. This was by far the easiest of the hikes... if you would even call this path a hike.
People put these 'love locks' all around the path which is supposed to bring good luck and make your love last forever.
The walk took about 20 minutes and then we were in the next town, Manarola.
The city of Monarola.
Again, the city of Monarola.
We were a little limited on time since the other girls had a lot of homework they needed to finish up for finals so we quickly looked around the city and then headed to Corniglia. We had to take the train from Monarola to Corniglia because the hiking path was closed due to landslides. Once we got off the train we were greeted by 382 stairs to get up into the city.
The girls on the stairs.
The city of Corniglia.
Some flowers in the city.
We took the hiking path from Corniglia to Vernazza which took about 1hr 30min and was pretty demanding especially since it was hot out.
A view of the city from the hiking path to Vernazza.
The hiking path.
Some iris along the path.
We finally made it to Vernazza.
In Vernazza we grabbed some lunch. Cinque Terre is also known for their pesto so I decided on a pesto pizza for lunch. It is a pizza with tomato sauce, mozzarella, and pesto. It was the BEST pizza I have ever had!! I think I am going to put pesto on every pizza I eat for the rest of my life because it was phenominal!
We took the train from Vernazza back to Monterosso to relax on the beach, grab our bags, and head back to Florence.
The beach in Monterosso.
During the week I had to put a lot of time into making my model for my Interior Design Studio. Megan and I finished everything over the next few days for our presentation that was today (Thursday).
I'm proud to say that I am finally FINISHED with the semester!
I can't believe I only have a couple more days here in Italy. Tomorrow the roomies and I are heading to the beach to relax and celebrate the end of the semester. Saturday will be a day of packing, last minute shopping, and seeing everything for the final time.
I am really going to miss Italy. I have met so many amazing people from the other students to the professors to the people around town. I love being in a walkable city and not relying on a car. I especially love traveling all the time (if you couldn't tell from my blog).
I'm so excited to see all my family and friends though. I get back Sunday night just in time for Mother's Day! Best Mother's Day present ever, right Mom??
Time to get some Zzz's for the beach!
Ciao ciao,
Hannah
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