Cinque Terre

Trip Start Sep 06, 2008
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Trip End May 01, 2009


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Flag of Italy  , Italian Riviera,
Sunday, October 5, 2008

Just got back from Cinque Terre. We took a bus to get there from Florence on thursday after classes and got into Monterosso (the town we stayed in) around 7pm. Stayed in a hotel room with 4 other girls, our room was in the attic pretty much but the girls across from us had the best view since it overlooked the city. We found this cheap restaurant right on the water for dinner and then watched the ocean from our friends "apartment" they had for the weekend. It was a VERY relaxing evening.

Friday morning we were supposed to hike from our town (which was the first of the five cities) to the last town and then catch the train back. But it started to rain a little in the morning so Peter (Gonzaga in Florence's travel guru) suggested we take the train to the last town instead and then hike back to our town. The rain and clouds cleared off right away and it turned into a gorgeous day. We stopped in each of the 4 other towns along the way. The hike was not at all as rough as Elba had been the previous weekend, so I was thankful for that. The ocean was a beautiful blue/turquoise color and the way it sparkled in the sun was amazing. I held up the line of hikers behind he a couple times just because I was so in awe of the sights around me and I had to stop to soak them all in! We got back to our town of Monterosso around 4pm and a bunch of people went and played in the waves (which were REALLY strong-- they were literally knocking people to the ground). Dinner was provided that night for us at this really nice ristorante (I might as well start incorporating my Italian in here). Cinque Terre is known for it's pesto so, of course, our pasta course was this pesto pasta with these little braided-type noodels, followed by swordfish and potatoes, then tiramisu for desert. It was pretty delicious, I must say.

The next day a few girls and I went to the town over called Levanto (not one of the 5 towns of Cinque Terre) and layed on the beach all day, since it was sunny and clear the whole day. We played in the waves and soaked up the rays and lived the high life for the afternoon. That night there was a festival going on in the town called Buonosola for something having to do with the Virgin Mary (I think), so everyone on the program went there. They lit candles and sent them out on little boats into the ocean, which looked really cool but wouldn't show up clear in my camera, and then had an AMAZING fireworks show. It was a very good day and night.

We took the train back at 9:30am (which was SO much better than the bus) and arrived in Florence around 1pm. It was an EXCELLENT weekend and I am not looking forward to starting homework now. Luckily I don't have too much.

Next weekend is Southern Tuscany! Woohoo!
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