At this point in studying abroad, I had already finished the bulk of my traveling, but this was an extraordinary weekend that was relatively easy to make happen. Take a look:
We've been doing a lot of traveling in the past few weeks. It's
exciting and eye-opening but it's also a little exhausting, especially
when we traverse across across countries. So the past few weekends
have been really nice ways to explore more of Italy and get to know the
country that's been home for three months. A little recap of my
travels abroad thus far: I've done Perugia, Assisi, and Orvieto in
Umbria where the trip began, we all met, and I started to get
accustomed to touring giant, ornate churches; Interlaken where I skied
the Alps and ate only hashbrowns; Florence where we visited Becca and
Rachel and Adam, and of course our friend David, and where I ate until
my pants actually hurt to wear; Paris where I fell in love with the
baguettes, the macaroons, and the romance of the language; Barcelona
where sangria made for a sensational seaside sunset; Amsterdam where I
immediately lost my purse and then was easily relaxed by, let's say, my
"participation in the culture," and by visiting remarkable cultural and
historical landmarks; back in Rome where I turned 21; Sienna where the
picturesque countryside, delicious wine, delectable food, and
once-in-a-lifetime seder made my Tuscan weekend particularly memorable;
and finally back to Florence and Cinque Terre where I'm caught up to so
far. Right now I'm actually on a train back to Florence again because
tomorrow morning Hallie, Becca and her friends, and I are going on a
four day cruise to Corfu! It's been quite the adventure trip up until
now and I'm confident the next month won't disappoint. But let's just
focus on last weekend for a minute.
Cinque Terre literally translates to "Five Cities" and is a
national park in the northwest part of Italy, about a 3 hours train
ride from Florence. It's made up of five tiny towns situated up on the
cliffs overlooking the sea, where you can hike from one to another
along the coast. I know I've said this about so many of the places
I've been to while studying abroad, but this is actually the most
beautiful place I have ever been. Each town is pint sized and quaint
but buzzing with travelers coming through for the weekend or just the
day to hike through and shop a little bit, or even just to try the
amazing pesto that this region is famous for. Made up of a few
narrowly winding streets, they're perched high up on lush cliffsides
which slope steeply down towards sparkling blue waters. Rachel said it
perfectly: "It's so cool that the water actually sparkles!" Simple as
it sounds, this place looks like it's been kissed by the sun. And we
couldn't have asked for better weather - a warm 75, not a cloud in the
sky, and the occasional refreshing sea breeze. So while Bex and her
friends went straight for the beach at the bottom of the last town by
way of train, Hals and I met Rachel and Adam to brave the hike between
the five towns and reward ourselves at the end with some beachside
chillin'.
We hiked from one town to the next, each trail more beautiful
than the last. At the end of the last leg, so close to the fifth town,
the trail weaved us through lemon tree groves to a teeny tiny lemonade
stand. The guy who was making the lemonade reminded me of Uncle Mark
and Uncle Steve - backwards hat, really tan, big muscles. While he was
squeezing the just-off-the-tree picked lemons and adding only a
spoonful of sugar and frizzante water, he was also asking us where we
were from and telling us a little bit about himself. "Cheecago wis zee
skyscrapers!" He told us that in the morning he brushes his teeth with
grappa and at night with sugar. Alrighty then, sounds delicious!
While he made the lemonade and entertained us with good conversation,
he also gave us each a small slice of fresh lemon with just a little
bit of sugar. WOW! It tasted like candy. It was sweet and sour at
the same time, a little puckery but not pungent, and he told us they
were organic so we could eat the peels, which were soft and a little
chewy. If lemons tasted like that at home I would eat them every night
for dessert. Maybe. The lemonade itself was refreshing and delicious
- a perfect way to end the last few minutes of our hike.
We ended on the beach as the sun began to set, looking back at the 9 km
distance we'd just traversed. I suspect 9 km was the bird's eye view
distance because the hike, including stops, took us almost exactly five
hours. At the end we were tired but proudly energized by our
accomplishment. We went to dinner at a cute little restaurant in the
final town where I broke bread for the first time in a week. After
missing the last train back to Pisa because I wanted to stop and get
gelato (what?!) we caught a 10:30 train from the last city, which
connected us to another train that took us to the Pisa train station,
where we caught a bus back to Florence on which the bus driver was
pumping explicit rap music despite his full bus of sleeping passengers.
Finally back in Florence at 3 am, we slept late the next day, went to
lunch at Oil Shoppe, and hopped on yet another train to make our way
back to Rome. There, our friend Carrie and her friend from her program
in London met us and stayed for two days. Which brings me to the
present. We're almost in Florence again now and tonight we're going to
dinner at La Giostra, which is supposedly one of the best restaurants
in Italy. Rach and Adam say to order the pear ravioli and balsamic
steak - ya, so I'm gonna blog about that.
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