Cinque Terre

sorry friends, way too tired last night to post. It was a very long, physically exhausting, but wonderful day. Bill and I hiked the coastline path to the five (cinque) towns. Sadly two of them were closed for construction, but we ended up hiking the path from our hostel to the beginning of the first path, so we still go plenty of hiking and breath taking views in. 

Of course these paths were not straight forward and paved. We were hiking on nature made trails so the majority of it was up, rocky, and winding. We literally hugged the side of the mountain and then it would wind out so we could see the coastline. I was really proud of myself. I didn't stop and pushed through it. Now don't get me wrong, there were times I had to stop to catch my breath and regulate my now hulking gulps, but there was no sitting and crying that I don't want to do it anymore. It's not like someone could come and get me. Lol. ( Although we did learn the two arm signs incase of an air rescue.) 

It was very demanding and Bill was very patient. He had to keep stopping to wait for me due to my short people problems. A lot of the steps up were not made for me. One of his strides was three of mine and some of the rock steps he climbed easily and I struggled to get my foot up and boost myself up. 

Each town was unique into itself and all were tiny. We of course stopped for gelato along the way... Strawberry and limoncello :)

The town of Vernazza is where pesto was invented. So we decided to split a small pesto pizza to try it out. Italy's pesto is MUCH better than ours. It's not so in your face and the pizza was really good. After we ate I, of course, had to go to the bathroom. I never wanted to be a dude so much in my entire life. See picture below to understand. It was very stressful!

 

I have learned that Cinque is the place of steps and I am so glad to be going to places with flat land for the next few days!

Our hostel was adorable. We were in a 9 person room that wasn't completely occupied, and the nice sea breeze made for good sleeping. We lucked out and had a cute ( read cheap) italian place across from the hostel and did take out since all we wanted to do was take off out shoes! Lol  

We took our time getting ready in the morning and headed to the train station. we pit-stopped at a little cafe to grab croissants and water for breakfast. We headed to Pisa.

Things learned: 

1) graffiti is everywhere in Italy. It doesn't mean you are in a "bad" neighborhood. Clearly they just like spray paint. 

2) Italians have a very different way of child rearing... Like they aren't concerned  when they can't see them and let them run ahead or stand outside while they are in a store ( I'm talking like 4-6 years old here)