Cinque Terre: Oh The Glory That The LORD Has Made

Cinque Terre...the most gorgeous place on earth....where do I begin...

We rolled into to Cinque Terre around 9:30 and then the train into the first village came around 10, after we refueled with some coffee. We got into the first village around 10:30 and began our hike in the most gorgeous place I’ve ever been. These 5 villages are secluded along the Mediterranean coast and only accessible by trail and by rail. We took the easiest hiking path which is about 9 km total I think. We started in Riomaggore and it was a pretty simple and marked path through the first 3 villages – then it got more challenging, which was my favorite part.

We would walk along the paths, taking a lot of pictures, and then stop in and spend a little time in each of the villages. We had a picnic of dried fruit and sandwiches and just generally enjoyed the most beautiful scenery you could ever hope to see.

The trail got more deserted as it got more challenging – the path got really narrow in some places and we took some spills.

We also took a few detours because Candace and Christin think its okay to follow rocks that say beach on it.

All in all I think we spent at least 6 hours hiking – when we got to the last village we rested for a bit and cooled off…after finding another giant rock to climb on.

We got into Florence around 8 or 9 and it was probably one of the most exhaustingly successful days that I hope I never forget. I’ve never seen anything as beautiful as these 5 villages along the coast and I had such a fun time hiking in the mountains – I would want to go back and do the more challenging trails. If you’re ever near this area - please go here if the weather is good. You could not possibly regret it.

Florence: F is for Food

We said goodbye to Rome Tuesday morning and took the 8:40 train to Florence, getting in around lunch time, by the time we came out of the terminal. We found food at a little side shop selling Paninis – and they were delicious, Florence just blows me over with their food, but more on that, later. Our hostel is a little past the train station and is really nice, we even have a TV in our room and a kitchen on our floor. After settling in we went exploring a little bit, walking past some open air markets full of leather goods - which Florence is famous for.

We stumbling upon the Duomo, which is way more impressive than I was expecting (that’s a recurring theme, you see.) It's huge and very different from any cathedral that I've seen so far.

We got to bed pretty early Monday night due to complete exhaustion over Rome, and Tuesday was a slow start. Rome was such a huge city with so much to see and we were enjoying it so much that it took a little while for 4 days of intense travel to catch up with us. We took our time and went to see Michaelangelo’s David at the Accademia, which is really, really awesome. It’s HUGE, so much bigger than I was expecting, and the detail is beyond words. You aren’t supposed to take pictures…but….

After this we went back to the hostel and had to worry about several things – Candace’s bank cards weren’t letting her withdraw cash and due to weather and logistical issues we needed to make changes to our travel plans. We decided to ditch some of our day trip plans and spend another day in Florence, and we moved our trip to Cinque Terre due to weather – luckily Christin’s friend knew someone studying in Florence so we got to stay with her for the last two nights we were there. With the extra time,we allowed ourselves to take things slower here and generally enjoy Tuscany on a slower pace than Rome. After figuring the stressful stuff out, we were in great moods again, and set out for our EPIC MEAL that we were saving up for.

We went to Le Fonticini for dinner after hearing great reviews from Monica about it being a life changing experience, and of course I follow her travel advice. This place is really fantastic, we could tell just by walking in. We were led by the owner of the restaurant past an open charcoal grill, fresh homemade pasta, and fresh vegetables and fruits. He let us take pictures and pulled the pasta out for us and told us he would let us come take a picture when the grill was really ready and he was cooking some meats, he explained to us they are one of the only restaurants left with this cooking technique for meats – new restaurants can only use gas grills.

After staring at the menu for way too long I decided on homemade, stuffed ravioli with ricotta cheese in a tomato cream sauce. Let your mind sit on that for a little bit. For dessert I ordered the Tiramisu with coffee, and I can not describe this thing – it was the best dessert I have ever had, possibly the best piece of food I have ever eaten. The coffee flavor was so rich and authentic and the rest was just creamy and delicious and…my God I would have eaten three of them. I just loved everything from the food to the waiter to the presentation. It was definitely pricey – but not the kind of meal you could ever regret.

Thursday morning we woke up and continued our food high – we went to the nearby fresh market full of local products being set out – cheeses, fruits, meats, pastas, everything looked delicious. We got a few free samples and got to chat with one store owner that recommended us a lot of pasta and spice combinations – I ended up buying a bag of Italian spices to take home for my Dad.

We bought some delicious fresh fruit to take on a picnic that afternoon, and we also bought some amazing dried fruit for our hiking on Friday. After leaving the market we packed a bag and began the hike up to Piazza Michaelangelo, it was a little walk away but the view was definitely worth it.

We stayed up here eating our food as long as we could until a thunderstorm started, so we ducked down into Ponte Vecchio to do a little bit of browsing in all of the really expensive gold shops that line the bridge – my grandma would flip here.Nearby is the fake David – standing where the original David used to, as well as an open air sculpture exhibit with some replicas of sculptures we’d already seen before.

After wandering for a bit we went to a gelato place we had read about online and discovered the best gelato so far – I had after-eight and some kind of chocolate fudge flavor and it was heavenly – the flavors were just really strong and the gelato itself was the creamiest I’d ever had.

We were trying to decide what to do when it started to rain again, so we ducked back into our hostel and spent some time listening to music and chilling out for a bit – then we began cooking our authentic Italian meal in our hostel’s kitchen.We had a slight accident with the spices and the pasta was waaaayy too hot – but I really liked the cooking experience and the rest of the dish otherwise – it was fun.

We had an early night to prepare for our very early train out the next morning. We woke up for Cinque Terre at 5:30 and were out the door of the hostel by 6 to catch our train - more on Cinque Terre on its own!

A Blessed Experience (Literally)

Sunday morning we set aside for Vatican day – the last Sunday of the month the Vatican is open and free to the public – which we realize is kind of asking for horrible crowds, since there are horrible crowds at the Vatican on a normal day – but we thought doing the Vatican on Palm Sunday for free was hard to beat – so when you have a plan, you do it right. We woke up hella early and got to the Vatican around 7, it opens at 9, we were one of the first groups in line. By the time it had completely opened, the line was wrapped around the building. I’m SO glad we did this, we got into the Vatican so quickly and we were basically in the rooms at the beginning alone – I especially loved the Raphael rooms and the tapestries. Honestly so much stuff is here its kind of dizzying.

I really liked a lot of the modern art we saw – including Dali.

Of course, one of the main reasons to come to the Vatican, is to see the Sistine Chapel. Honestly, it’s a little overwhelming at first, there’s SO much stuff here and all of the paintings you’ve seen picture of seem so small on the ceiling because they’re just surrounded with panels and panels of paintings. But once you realize the progression and patterns of the paitings, its really impressive. The Sistine Chapel is also where they light the fires that tell whether or not the new pope has been elected – signaling the white smoke or the black smoke.

After the Sistine chapel we went to the Pinacoteca where there are some really impressive paintings and molds of statues by Bernini, also here is Raphael’s masterpiece: The transfiguration. I have to say, and I think I’ve mentioned this before, you have to see these paintings in person. The size of them and the depth of the colors on the canvas and the detail that you see when you’re actually looking at it far surpasses a photocopy or a picture. I didn’t think I cared about art one way or the other until I came to Europe and now that I’m taking classes about it and actually going to see it, I can actually have a conversation about it and know some information behind it.

After our long day at the Vatican, we knew that the Pope gave a blessing in St. Peter’s at noon on Sundays, but by the time we got out of the Vatican, it was around noon, and we were starving. So we decided just to duck into a snack bar and buy a Panini (which was delicious, of course, I can’t get over the fresh ingredients here), and just wandered into St. Peter’s.

Well, we wandered it just as the pope was giving his blessing. It was awesome. I’m not Catholic of course but I could really appreciate the enthusiasm and the throngs of people from every nationality and seeing the Pope speak and then everyone responding was really cool.

After his blessing he rode around a bit in the Popemobile while everyone sang and cheered and it was just a great experience.

After this we laid out in the sun waiting for the crowd to dissipate, just marveling at the size of St. Peter’s and the square. We went to a few souvineir shops…saw a woman without any pants or underwear on…and then went to get in line for St. Peter’s, which was quite huge, but moved quickly enough, and was certainly worth it.

I loved the inside of St. Peter’s, it’s HUGE and open and the colors and the gold are fantastic. The chair at the top of the altar is above the tomb of St. Peter’s and only the pope is allowed to sit there. All of the columns are baroque and it’s just overwhelmingly awesome.

I wish I had more pictures, but my camera was completely dead, so I shall be sniping some friends photos.

After this, we were quite exhausted, it had been a LONG day. We got a bit of food to have a picnic outside at our hostel, it was nice to relax and unwind after getting up as early as we did, but it was a long and successful day.

Monday was our last full day in Rome and we had hit all of the major spots, so we had a really chill day that was necessary. We began our morning shopping along the main avenue in all of the incredibly expensive stores, just for fun. We walked into Gucci and Dolci and Gabanna and all the stores that make me kind of angry at society - I picked up sandals that were 750 euros. I mean, really? But still, it was fun to walk in them – I mean, when in Italy, right?

We took our packed lunches to have a picnic in a park, and from there we walked down around the city a bit and ended up back near the Colliseum, where we just sat on a ledge and sat in the wonderful sun, taking a few pictures. Nooot a bad day when you can say you sunbathed by the Coliseum.

Ancient Rome: Not Built In A Day, But Seen In One

Saturday was a day devoted to Ancient Rome

We started out by Piazza Venizzi, climbed to the top, and found a random, gorgeous basilica, and went inside.

We walked down from here over to the Roman forum - the Roman ruins in between the Palatine Hill and the Capatoline Hill.

We then we climbed the Palatine hill for an awesome view of the Colliseum and of the Circus Maximus.

Next was the Colisseum, which is ginormous and meets all expectations. I can’t believe a structure like this existed so many years ago - the Romans were an impressive bunch, despite their propensity towards horrible forms of torture...

After this we wandered over to the Pantheon and went inside.

After a quick gelato break (mandatory), we went and people watched for a bit in Piazza Novani, where Bernini's statue of the Four Rivers is, as well as others that I really liked.

After finishing our ice cream we crossed the river into Travestere, a really neat district a little more removed from the typical tourist stuff, I really liked it.

Around 6:30 we made our way over to our chosen restaurant for the evening – Piazzaria Da Baffetto. This place was legit Italian owned by the cutest little Italian guy who pulled us into the restaurant with two other groups of two – since all the tables were full – he just put all 7 of us at a table together!

We decided to order 3: mushroom, zucchini, and tomato. I have to say, the tomato pizza was one of the best pizzas I’ve ever had, I’ve never tasted cherry tomatoes that fresh before. The zucchini was amazing as well. My favorite part was the thin, slightly burnt crust, because you could just taste the wood fire method of cooking – absolutely fantastic.

Roma: Arrival

Oh Rome, you are so epic, and I love you.

We got into Rome at around noon. Thanks to wonderful Ryan Air I managed to pack 10 days worth of clothes in ONE backpack while also wearing about 5 layers in Spring. Ryan Air would also like you to know that babies do not count as carry on.

We had a good 3 hours worth of public transportation to get from the airport to our hostel (this includes buying tickets, waiting for busses, finding trains, and riding them.) Our hostel is about 30 minutes outside of Rome, but it was cheap during Semana Santa, which is what matters. It’s pretty no frills but it works, the thing that matters is Rome itself, which I feel like I thoroughly saw and absolutely loved

Day one we took the metro into Piazza del Popolo (I keep wanting to type everything in Spanish…) and went from there down the main street of Rome, full of all of the stores I could never afford. From this road we pretty much followed the crowds and stumbled upon the Spanish steps, which were very crowded.

We climbed to the top, took some pictures, and then made our way to the Trevi fountain around twilight.

The Trevi Fountain is pretty darn impressive. It wasn’t as open as I was expecting and can get a little overwhelming with the amount of tourists, but its certainly ornate and meets expectations.

We went to nearby San Crispino for the most unique selection of gelato I have ever seen – it’s definitely not the type of flavors I’m used to with chocolate or cookies – they had everything from honey, whiskey, apple sorbet, and grapefruit. I had pistachio gelato and ginger and cinnamon gelato, and I have to say – the ginger and cinnamon flavor might be the best I’ve ever eaten. It was so good.

We took our gelato down to the Trevi fountain as the sun was setting – no big deal and all…

After this, we ended our first day of Rome appreciating an awesome view from a park that we stumbled upon...