Well, it appears that Robin has left the big Cinque Terre blog post to
me. I think Cinque Terre might be
the most difficult to write about since so much of the experience involved
eating and taking in all the wonderful scents. The Cinque Terre is located on the north west coast of Italy
in the region known as Liguria.
Besides being known for the best pesto anywhere which I have already
stated on here millions of times, the Ligurian area is also known for its
abundance of lemon trees and vineyards.
Combine this with the great variety of flowers in bloom, and you have
yourself quite a delightful mountain hike. The five villages of the Cinque Terre are basically carved
out of the mountains. There are
many trails that allow you to walk from city to city and escape into
breathtaking nature where the ocean meets wild flowers, vineyards, and
cliffs. Unfortunately, there was a
terrible flood in this region back in 2011 and many of the trails are still
closed due to landslides. At first
we were a little bummed, but after hiking two of the more serious trails, our
feet and legs were thankful for a rest.
For our Italy travels, we decided to take advantage of the
website Air B n B that allows people to post their spare rooms for tourists to
rent out. A few of our trustworthy
friends had nothing but great experiences using the website. We also had unique and memorable
experiences staying with real Italian families. In Florence, we stayed in the apartment of a graduate
student and his sister. They were
very helpful with suggesting great, local eats and with avoiding tourist
traps. In the Cinque Terre region,
we stayed with the sweetest and most thoughtful Italian family. We had such a memorable experience
there! We cannot speak highly
enough of this family. They
even prepared us breakfast in the morning, and their entire house smelled just
lovely! Perhaps this is because
the father takes great pride in his garden. I would’ve been perfectly content spending the entire day in
the garden. It smells like
paradise with the lemon trees and great variety of flowers. They even had
tortoises in the garden. Their
cat, Yuvi, surely appreciates it, too!
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| La Spezia is an important military base in Italy. |
Top Cinque of the Cinque Terre (Top 5 of the Five Lands)
1. Seafood in a Cone
Ok. This one is not for me but for Robin of course. All the seafood is fresh since the
Cinque Terre is right on the ocean.
Everybody was walking around with their seafood in a cone, and Robin had
to get one. I even admit that the
smells coming out of the food stand were enticing. I almost wanted to try the calamari. Next time, Cinque
Terre. Next time.
2. Easter Mass in Riomaggiore
We went to Easter mass in one of the villages. Mass was in Italian of course; however,
I think Italian and Spanish are pretty similar. We were able to catch a few words, and we even attempted to
sing in Italian. Good times. Fun
fact: the very young priest happened to be the doppelganger (look-alike) of a
St. Norbert friend. I read that
the true residents of the five villages maintain very close relationships one
another, and it was fun to observe the families that probably grew up together
interact. Another fun fact: little
Italian kids dressed in their Easter best are adorable!
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| So many cute nuns in Italy |
3. Friends from Around the World
Like Robin mentioned, meeting friends from around the world
was a common theme during our trip and it continued in Pisa and Cinque
Terre. We walked with an
Indian/English couple from the train station to the Leaning Tower of Pisa. We met a family from Austria. We talked for a while with a man from
Hungary who was actually traveling to Galicia to meet friends. Finally, we asked a girl to take our
picture and she was from none other than BURLINGTON, WISCONSIN! She was studying abroad in Milan and
she says she frequently goes to Kenosha for Buffalo Wild Wings. Haha the world
keeps getting smaller by the day
:)
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| The girls who took this picture was from Burlington, Wisconsin |
4. The Bike Ride
Our kind host let us use her bikes to get around the way the
locals do. Italians sure do love
their mopeds and bicycles. It
seemed like there was at least one bicycle or moped on the road for every
car. Maybe this is an exaggeration
for Cinque Terre, but Florence was dominated by mopeds. We rode bikes to the nearby town of
Portovenere. It is not officially
a part of the Cinque Terre, but it is just as beautiful. It felt more resorty than the rustic
Cinque Terre fishing villages. We
don’t mind, though. We walked
around the town, bought a little jar of pesto, some bread, found a bench, and
then watched the boats until it was time to ride back.
5. The
Culture
We hope you had a blessed Easter! Rejoice! He is Risen! :)
Blessings,
Alyssa & Robin
