Pisa and Cinque Terre!

Where to begin! The last week has been a blur! I'm not sure how I'm going to manage this traveling and school thing but I'm sure I'll figure it out! On Wednesday, my program hosted us at the church of St. Ignatius in downtown Rome for Mass of the Holy Spirit. Afterwards, we all went to a delicious dinner in the piazza outside the church.

The ladies (Me, Court, Lauren, Jess) before Mass

Thursday, we prepared for our FIRST self-planned trip, packed, and then went downtown to meet-up with the other Santa Clarans.

I finally got to see Mary at Scholars!!! 

The next morning was an early one, but we got our espresso and we were off to Termini to catch our train to Pisa! Embarrassingly enough, we may have gotten some fries and cappuccino milkshakes at Mcdonald's (they are literally in EVERY train station) - we felt like such tourists, but I think we can justify needing a little taste of home. I've been craving bagels but they are NO WHERE to be found...so sad.

Termini

We likened our train compartment to that of the train to Hogwarts (Harry Potter reference) - and a little cart with treats was even wheeled by the door! The ride through the countryside was gorgeous. Trains are a great way to travel cause you get to see so much of Italy! Finally, we arrived in Pisa, said our goodbyes to our other travel companions (who were going straight to Monterosso), and we were off! Rick Steves pointed us is the directions of La Lupa - "the wolf" - a little cheap caffe with DELICIOUS food. We were all starving surprisingly, and each wolfed down our own salads and huge pizzas. Thank you Rick. We decided to walk to the Field of Miracles, and thus got to see most of the picturesque little college town. The river, with a view of the beautifully colored houses, was my favorite part!

Here it is! Courtney and I with our backpacks and the river behind us! 

Finding the leaning tower amongst other gorgeous buildings was quite a shock to us. I pictured it in a grassy field all by itself, but it is in the "Field of Miracles" with a decorated cathedral and a stunning baptismal structure. We were pointing at the church saying "what is that!?", and all of a sudden the tower appeared! Of course we had to do the typical touristy photos...and a Delta Gamma one for the recruitment video. Then we bought our postcards, leaning tower shot glasses (yes, they tilt), and plopped down on the grass to take it all in. Our train was late getting into Pisa, so we didn't have a ton of time and we wanted to hit up the best gelato place is town (are you sensing a theme?) before leaving. So, we began our walk back to the station with our treats in hand.

The classic photo

DGs

The ride to Monterosso (the last of the 5 towns in Cinque Terre) was very quick! We were getting so excited looking out the window because the views kept getting better and better! Stepping off the train we knew we had reached an indescribable place - but I will do my best to tell you about it...

The train steps take you directly out to a view of the beach and the deep blue horizon. We then walked on a road (pretty much foot traffic only) paralleling the water, through a tunnel with a women playing the flute inside echoing off the walls, and up into the cute little town. Our hostel was towards the top of the town, but we found it in no time and checked-in.

First hostel!

Then it was time to freshen up, and meet the boys for dinner. There were eight of us girls staying in the "Hotel Souvenir," and the boys lucked out in an apartment owned by a couple who make their own wine. Needless to say they got lots of free-tastings. We followed Rick Steves again to a yummy place by the water. They couldn't accommodate twelve people so we broke off into groups of four. Courtney, Jess, Lauren and I stayed at this restaurant and had probably my favorite dinner of the trip. The region is known for its pesto so we went a little pesto crazy. We ordered a bottle of Chianti and caprese salads (with pesto) to start us off. Then, the other girls got the pesto linguine and I got the vegetable soup with pesto. Most delicious pesto we've ever tasted - I tried to bring some back but it was just too heavy! Guess I'll just have to make another trip there! The best part was that dinner was just sixteen euro a person for everything! We were supposed to meet up with the rest of the group afterwards, but we got really tired and settled for a refreshing walk along the beach accompanied by, yes, more gelato...hey, you only live in Italy once...

The next morning we headed off to the beach. We rented lounge chairs for six euro - totally worth it. They are so much better then the ones in the States! They have little visors to block the sun from your face, and a little pull tab when you want to recline!

View from my chair...not too shabby

Our next hostel was in Vernazza (the next town over), and we had made reservations over there for all twelve of us (we learned our lesson the night before)...so we needed to start our hike. First, we searched for a place to cliff jump, but were unsuccessful in finding a popular location - and that's not something you test through trial and error. We decided to save it for the Amalfi Coast this weekend, but we were a little disappointed to say the least.

Searching for a jumping spot

We may have misjudged the hike's difficulty, the heat, and how much weight a backpack adds...and we thought we were in good shape! Whoops. About seven minutes in, we were definitely getting our cardio. The hike is pretty much ninety-degrees straight up. It takes you from the beach all the way up to the top of the cliffs, and then back down into the next town. Let me tell you, Italians do not believe in switchbacks...just stairs, lots and lots of them, that I liken to the ones on the temple at the Mayan ruins. Regardless, the views were more then worth it...I definitely need to bring my father back here! He would absolutely love it!    

Ran into the boys heading back the other way to their Monterosso apartment to shower before dinner

The view is much more enjoyable when it flattens out

A relatively flat set of stairs if you can believe it

Made it to Vernazza (the "jewel" of the Cinque Terre)

Vernazza (we climbed that castle tower at the top of the photo)

In Vernazza, we checked into our surprisingly SUPER NICE hotel (Francamaria Rooms), and immediately starting the shower rotation. We then met the group for a wonderful, loud dinner where the waiter was this super feisty old man. He hit me in the back of the head like I was one of his children when I was talking...I wasn't sure how to react but the rest of the group got a good laugh from it! We invited the gang back to our room (because it was HUGE) to hang out. We proceeded to get more gelato (surprise, surprise), and then spent the rest of the night wandering the tiny harbor and chatting at the town's "young and hip" bar - which was also our breakfast spot the next morning.

We climbed to the top of the castle tower before leaving Vernazza the next morning - glad we did

Gorgeous

Ciao Ciao Vernazza!

It was then time to head off on our next (and hardest) hike from Vernazza to Corniglia. Despite being the hardest, it was also the most rewarding. That hike gave us the best look at area you could possibly get. One of our group members wasn't feeling too great so she took the train to meet us. When we got to Corniglia we realized there wasn't much to it. While we waited for her in the ONLY piazza, we grabbed a Coca Cola Light, some of the area's famous focaccia with olives, and a chunk of asiago cheese. GREAT snack choices. Then we decided to push through Manarola to Riomaggiore, the final town.

Looking back at where we'd hiked from (see Monterosso in the distance?)

Manarola

The view behind us as we approached Manarola

The next hikes were quite easy - at least in comparison. Even though we planned to push through Manarola, we had to stop. It was just too precious! We watched the busy fisherman at the harbor lowering their boats from the cliff into the water to start their day, and did a little shopping at a painted pottery shop. Then we headed to the famous Via dell'Amore! Couples on this "road" lock padlocks on various surfaces together to symbolize their undying bond...or whatever you want to call it. It was pretty cute though. All ages were there traveling it, and so excited to get their pictures taken (a lot of them by us), and to lock their symbolic lock.

Some locks

Via dell'Amore

Popular couples picture spot

Right as the "via" ended, we found a gorgeous terrace with self-serve food. We decided to camp out their to wait for our train to La Spezia. The salads and cappuccinos were delicious. The other girls we traveled with found us, and we grabbed some pesto (of course) sandwiches and apples for the long train ride home - we may have also stopped at the Mcdonalds at La Spezia...we'd earned it (or that's how we justified it).

Drinking my cappuccino in paradise

Now it's back to school! But I'm in Rome so I can't complain! I am however VERY tired...and I think we all came down with colds. Fingers crossed we will make a full recovery before our train to Napoli tomorrow night...yikes!

Long story short, EVERYONE must experience Cinque Terre for themselves...it is truely a magical place full of both relaxation and adventure. I'll go back with anyone who wants to go...just say when!

:)