Today was one of the best days of the trip thus far :)
Did you know Cinque Terre is another World Heritage Site?
That makes four on this trip alone!
I'm going to preface this post with a note that Meryl made it her goal to take as many pictures of me today without my knowledge as possible...so if there seems to be more pictures of me in this post you know why.
We started out the day hiking to Vernazza the next town over from ours.
It is the most challenging hike between the five towns.
There were A LOT of stairs and rocks... also, it was really humid in the morning.
Basically, this meant by about 10 feet in I was stripped down to my bathing suit
And using jean shorts to blot the sweat off...
Yes people- Meryl and I are freaking beasts when it comes to hiking, but that doesn't mean we don't sweat.
On the way to the hike we ran into man-capris
Those look so awesome on you- said no one ever.
Please world, rid yourself of this travesty.
On to better things.
Here is a view of Monterosso (where we are staying) from the hike.
Most of the hills are terraced to cultivate lemons, grapes, and olives.
Some views along the way
Meryl and I thought we were hiking beasts until we saw this couple with a baby.... and they past us.
To be fair, we had stopped to take pictures and we eventually caught up... but they were crazy good hikers.
Cacti in Italy
The return of man-capris.
Dear goodness, please no.
It was a long way down
Here we are above Vernazza :)
Apparently, this place was known for its nude beach in the 70s.
There were really terrible floods in all of Cinque Terre back in October and they are still trying to recover. Trails between a few of the towns are still closed and you can tell that there is still a lot of rebuilding to do.
Vernazza!
Yes, I hiked two hours on steep hills in these sandals.
Meryl did it in TOMS.
Everyone we encountered was either impressed or thought we were really stupid.
It really wasn't bad .... but you can tell my feet are REALLY dusty though.
We walked around Venazza for about an hour
Damage still getting cleared away
I have to say, Monerosso's beach is SO much better
And here we are getting gelato...again.
I'm pretty sure it's Meryl's goal to try EVERY flavor in all of Italy before the end of this trip....notice the difference in size...
Ok so here is the first of many pictures Meryl took without my knowledge today... I really only put this on here because it's pretty funny how many times I looked like this today.... I LOVE THE SUN!
After visiting Vernazza we took a train to Manarola
Isn't it just gorgeous?!
Benching in Manarola :)
We walked around this Manarola for a little while before heading down to catch the ferry back to Monterosso.
This town is AMAZING!
We had about 10 minutes before the ferry was supposed to be there.
Then I saw the small cliffs and rocks.
I just had to jump... so I talked Meryl into taking the leap with just minutes before we had to leave (she wanted to get gelato)
I'm about to jump here...
Meryl is so graceful in everything she does...she jumps off a cliff ans STILL looks like a dancer.
I, on the other hand, looked ridiculous... so I decided to spare you.
Just know, the jump felt amazing, even if it didn't look amazing in pictures.
Here we are after jumping... Meryl still had time to get her gelato thank goodness :)
He hopped on the ferry that stops at all the towns except one that sits too high up on the cliffs.
We had spectacular views of all the towns on the way back
And here we are back in Monterosso!
Boys fishing by the ocean
and a man sleeping on his boat.
Man, I love this town!
I know my mom would love the yellow houses :)
Here we are heading to the beach after our treck.
I think Meryl thought I looked pretty determined to get there...
which is basically true-
I was ready for more SUN!
We decided to take a kayak out for an hour... I think we did more relaxing than paddling though :)
Once me made it back to the beach it was time to relax...
Meryl spent a portion of her relaxation time catching me just soaking up the sun.
More than likely I will be extremely dark by the time I get home.
Sand, crystal-clear blue water, and a good book- it seriously doesn't get better than that :)
I did get pictures of Meryl at least once today... seriously I need to get better at catching her unawares!
After lazing at the beach we headed back to our apartment to drop off our towels and of course, I had to take some pictures along the way.
Meryl has the patience of Job.
We finally made it to dinner- pizza on bread...so good!
We sat on the beach eating gelato after dinner.... let it be known that Meryl had 4 stops at gelato shops today... it's possible she had more than 10 different scoops of gelato on one day.
She takes dedication to a whole new level.
Things I love about Italians:
1. They love food and take a long time eating it and just relaxing (time just kinda stands still- we really could learn to savor life a little more like the Italians do)
2. They actually say buon appetito
3. They love their kids :) There are a lot more kids here and I can't tell you how many parents and grandparents I've seen walking with their kids in a stroller basically just to show them to the neighbors and play with them so they giggle.
Tomorrow we head to Milan, but I'm really going to miss Monterosso and all of Cinque Terre.
This is one place I have to come back to one day :)
Love,
Ale
P.S. I may have spent the whole day getting hit on by MULTIPLE Italian men...most of them old enough to be my father or grandfather...it was pretty ridiculous....like whistles, cat calls, called beautiful in different languages, asked for my picture, the whole bit. I was getting pretty embarrassed, but Meryl just thought it was funny. I love how loving Italians are...but it was getting to be TOO MUCH.
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