I cannot believe that this weekend was the last weekend I will spend in Italy. Where has all the time gone? It seems like only yesterday I was lugging two huge suitcases through the airport to my new home. Now it is April and the Italian spring is in full swing; the weather has been 70's and 80's for the past two weeks. As much as I have been trying to focus on school, it has been mighty hard with such great weather!
This past weekend, two of my best friends from Italy and I went on an extended weekend vacation to Cinque Terre. Cinque Terre is located on the southwest coast of Italy in the Ligurian region. This is the same region of Genoa and San Remo, some other famous vacation spots. Jodi, Allison, and I stayed in the beach town of Monterosso al Mare -- a beautiful, picturesque town where the water was as blue and clear as the sky. We had our own private beach. Needless to say, we started off the weekend right!
We arrived Friday afternoon around 1:30pm and checked into our hotel. Our hotel was a small, artsy building located about 400 meters from the beach. Mosaic tiles covered the walls and headboards, adding a bit of sparkle to an already amazing place. We dropped off our luggage, changed into our bathing suits, and headed down to the beach. Along the way, we tried Ligurian foccacia (what they are famous for) and gelato (of course) before we found a spot in the sand. We spent the afternoon sunbathing in the beautiful Monterosso atmosphere. The water was crystal clear -- I literally could see for a good 200 yards into the water from the shoreline. It was, however, incredibly cold. Jodi and I dipped our feet a few times to cool off. I was worried to go in any further! It wouldn't take much to get hypothermia in that water!
Later that afternoon, the sun was shining so bright and the warm weather became almost unbearable (even on the beach), so Jodi and I decided to brave it up and jump into the ocean. What were we thinking? I'm pretty convinced we weren't, but we grabbed hands and sprinted into the frigid water anyways. Needless to say, after that ice bath, we didn't need another dip in the water for the remainder of the afternoon.
Saturday morning, Jodi and I woke up early to go for a hike in the Monterosso hills. Currently, Cinque Terre is finishing up maintenance on most of their trails that lead to the other four towns. Since we were only really able to stick around Monterosso, Jodi and I decided to hike up Monterosso to Levanto, another beach town about a 2 1/2 hour hike away. With our Powerades and hiking gear ready, we set out on our little adventure.
It was already 70 degrees by 10am and more humid than a Chicago summer. The trails weren't as clearly marked as we would have liked. We decided to trust our instincts and go with our guts rather than asking for directions. We soon learned that asking for directions, regardless of how butchered our Italian is, can save a person some grief. I say this because we found ourselves amidst our "let's just go with it" attitude, Jodi and I found ourselves lost on a nudist beach. After nearly dying of laughter and embarrassment, we sprinted back to the main road and finally found the right way to our morning hike.
The hike was great; nothing too strenuous, just something to really enjoy doing together and being with nature. On our way down, we were exposed to some of the most beautiful views in all of Monterosso (and I would argue Cinque Terre as a whole) that we couldn't help but stop and soak in. Eventually, we made it back to the hotel and met up with Allison. We showered, gathered our beach gear once again, and headed out for another day on the beach.
Along with foccacia, the Liguarian region is world-known for the invention of pesto. A huge fan of pesto, I was eager to try it. I enjoyed it on handmade linguine pasta, homemade bruschetta, and foccacia. Delicious. I even brought a jar to bring back home! Now the fun part will be getting back to the States without breaking and spilling all over my clothes in my suitcase. :/
We made it back to Paderno safely Sunday evening with enough beach memories and great times to last us a lifetime. A beautiful, fun way to end this amazing experience.
Some pictures of our trip:
Monterosso, Cinque Terre.
My homemade linguine with pesto. Yum!
The Monterosso harbor; even foggy, it was still beautiful.
What our hike looked like.
More of the beach in Monterosso.
Allison and I on the beach.
I cannot believe that I will be landing in Chicago this Saturday afternoon. It came so soon! But I hope you all have enjoyed the photos and stories. Of course, this is only a fraction of the pictures and stories I have from this wonderful journey, but there is lots more time for that in the future. :) Look for a final blog post or two sometime later this week!
Until Next Time --- Ciao!
No comments:
Post a Comment