Beautiful Cinque Terre

Saturday morning, we woke up early and drove from Pisa to La Spezia. We took about an hour detour in the car because we wanted to park in the first of the five towns that constituted Cinque Terre (aka "Five Lands"). There were no parking spots so we had to drive back to La Spezia, park our car, hop on a train and travel to Vernazza. Italy is notorious for not having parking spaces. You can look for over an hour and never find anywhere to park. After driving around, we luckily came across a parking spot right next to the train station in La Spezia. Vernazza was my favorite of the three cities we visited that day. Vernazza is a true "fishing town" with a street filled with shops and Italian flags that leads to a small beach that leads into then into the Ligurian Sea or maybe its the Mediterranean Sea. I don't know I never quiet figured it out. But what I do know is that the water was so clear! Unlike the North Sea, which you wouldn't want to touch with a ten foot pole, this water was so blue. Kristen and I sat on a rock and and put our feet into the water. It was a wee bit cold (did you like my new Scottish accent) but definitely worth it because we don't get that here in Aberdeen. However, Kristen almost sat on a crab in its shell. Luckily she didn't but we did find a star fish! It took us a little while to get the star fish out of the war but finally we did. We took it to my parents and asked if star fish could live out of the water. They looked at us like we were dumb and said of course not. So we hurried back to put him in the water before he shriveled up and died. We got pizza and Italian beer and ate it on the rocks of the beach. The beer was gross but the pizza was good. Scotland has taught me though to drink the beer even if you don't like it so I took it like a man and finished it. Here are some pictures from beautiful Vernazza. I hope you enjoy them!


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The Streets of Vernazza







Next we got on the train and went to Riomaggiore. Riomaggiore was less beach and but had more colorful houses stacked on top of each other on the cliffs. Here we were mesmerized by the beautiful scenery for some time then got gelato. Of course, we would stop anything to go get gelato! Then we started our journey uphill to the top of the city. One of the main themes of this trip was walking uphill or climbing a towerful of steps. If only you could see me right now, you would probably say "killer legs Hannah". And I would say, "yea I walked 500 miles in Italy". Once we got to the top of the city, we overlooked the water and the houses. They even had yellow houses! Super cool right! I would want to live in a yellow house there except I would not want to walk uphill everyday or have to drive downhill in ice. Maybe they don't get ice but who knows. Again, enjoy the pictures... (most of you probably read this just for the pictures anyways). Don't worry I understand.



View of the Riomaggiore



View from the top of the city



Our last visit was to Manarola which I considered to be the smallest of the three towns we visited. Kristen and I climbed up a big rock in the sea and threw a penny into the water. I made a wish so hopefully it comes true! Here, we popped open a bottle of wine and sipped it while looking at the scenery. It was pretty interesting watching everyone in Manarola. People were just laying out in the most random places enjoying the sun. Look at the picture below and you will understand what I mean. They looked like seals basking in the sun literally. We didn't spend much time here because we had to drive back to Florence later in the afternoon.



Are they people or seals?



When we were waiting for the train back to La Spezia, the craziest thing happened. The train going the opposite way was at the station and all of a sudden I heard my name being yelled. I looked back to the train and saw Ali Christensen, a girl I go to school with and was on the dance team with, and Maddie. I had no idea that they were going to be in Cinque Terre for the weekend. Out of all the people and all the places and all the times, we ran into each other. They didn't really have time to talk but I told her I would facebook and we could meet up later in the week in Florence. It's crazy how small a world it really is. That night we drove to Florence and went to my Aunt's apartment. This is where we stayed while in Florence. She made us a home cooked delicious dinner. We didn't eat until 10pm but had squid juice pasta?? It was black pasta!

Cin Cin