Being a Tourist in Florence

Drinks at the Duomo

On Friday night, Emily, Christian and I took a train from the town of Vernazza in Cinque Terre to Florence! While they were here I played tour guide. It was so great to be walking around the city and realize that I actually know where I'm going for the most part and be able to talk about things a bit. We visited the Palazzo Vecchio, Duomo, Ponte Vecchio, and Santa Maria Novella, among many other places. We walked A LOT. On Saturday, it absolutely poured. I have not seen this much rain in Florence since I arrived. Figures that when the people visiting from rainy London visit it pours in Florence. But we decided to climb the Duomo on Saturday, which was absolutely beautiful. Unfortunately, the rain made the top a little chilly. The climb up is 463 stairs, and my legs were already burning from the previous days' hike in Cinque Terre, but it was absolutely worth it. Such a cool perspective of the Duomo and the city. After that we found a place for dinner where we ate pasta and drank wine and eventually received complimentary limoncello (my first time having it in Italy!) After that we got drinks and sat on the stairs of the Duomo to recount our past couple days. It felt like such a Florence thing to do...it was the perfect end to the day.

View from the top of the Duomo

The Giotto Tower 

On Sunday, we did another climb, to the top of the belltower (Giotto tower). This one was only a mere 414 steps. My legs still haven't recovered, and muscles hurt that I didn't even know I had. But Sunday was sunny, so the view was absolutely amazing. You could see everything for miles and miles, including the countryside beyond Florence. I think I actually liked the belltower views better
, because you could see the Duomo from up close as well, which was very cool.

The climb up these monuments, however, was slightly difficult. They are old buildings, with very narrow staircases that often times are spiral, and people are trying to go up and down them which means you literally have to hold on to the walls at times. Honestly, some of the people trying to get up and down these staircases past other people were brutal. On my way up the stairs of the Duomo I had a little British girl counting every step. For the first 50 it was cute, for the last 413, not so much. And the 15 person tour groups trying to clamor their way up these itty bitty stairs were equally interesting. On the way up to the top of the belltower I watched a man be taken out with the hiking poles sticking out of the backpack of another hiker. And even when I was flat against the wall waiting for people to pass me, there was a constant touching. This is not an activity for people who are claustrophobic...There is no personal space. Despite this, I'm so glad I did it. The views from the top were enough to make me forget how trying the climb was.
 Another Florence tourist necessity checked off!

View from the top of Giotto Tower

XOXO

Cinque Terre

The town of Monterosso

This past Thursday I had my first experience on the train! After class I hopped on a train to Pisa to meet my friends Christian and Emily who are studying abroad in London. From there, we headed to Cinque Terre. After a lot of confusion and a couple train rides, we arrived in the beach town of Monterosso around 6:30PM. We explored the town a bit before going to drop off our things at our ho
tel and then head to dinner. We ate dinner overlooking the Mediterranean sea. This trip was actually my first time seeing the Mediterranean sea, and it was everything I could have imagined. The water was so blue and gorgeous and the cliffsides were magnificent. For dinner I had salmon, and obviously it was the most fresh fish I have ever eaten and we drank white wine. That night we brought Emily for her first ever gelato as well :) Coming from London, they fell in love with the food.

On Friday we woke up early and packed up our things for our journey to Vernazza. Originally we weren't exactly sure how we were going to get to Vernazza, since we didn't really have any specific plans. So we asked the owner of the hotel who looked at us and said "you're young, you can do the walk." We thought that sounded lovely and strapped on our backpacks and headed in the direction she sent us. As we approached the trail we realized people were using hiking poles and had on some serious hiking boots, but we decided to take on the trail anyway. Well, I now understand the hiking poles and boots. We weren't prepared for this trek at all, but it was still absolutely amazing. I would do it again in a heart beat. This
hike was the most incredible thing
I have ever done. "Rustic" would be an understatement. There are hundreds of stairs that are really just rocks carved into the side of the mountain as you literally hike up these coastal cliffs. And the foliage was breathtaking. Every time we came around another corner we had to stop just to take pictures because everything was so beautiful. Between the waterfalls, flowers, grape vines, and ocean views, there aren't words to describe the experience. Even though my legs were on fire and I was trying not to fall off the side of some of the more narrow parts of the trail, I was in complete bliss. Finally, we came around one turn and saw that typical "Cinque Terre" picture of the colorful buildings around the harbor. I couldn't believe that this picture actually exists. In fact, pictures don't do it justice.

A house completely split in half by the mudslides.

As we got closer to the town of Vernazza, we saw where the mudslide and flooding of October 2011 devastated homes and building. While most of the town has been put back together, it was incredible to see the power of nature while walking along these paths.

When we finally arrived in the town of Vernazza, we were starving. We had hiked for about 3 hours, and it was definitely the most physically tiring thing I have done in months. Almost none of it was flat ground and the rock and stairs made it tough. So we found a waterfront restaurant and took my host moms advice: order the pesto. Oh my God, it was amazing. I have never had pesto this delicious in my life. I don't even know how to explain how wonderful it was. When I get back to the US, I am on a mission to make pesto that can even be compared to the pesto I ate in Vernazza. Afterwards we wandered the town until we found a little tunnel/cave. We decided to explore and went in, and that's where we found the beautiful Vernazza beach. It was all rocks and pebbles, and there were giant boulders that Christian and I decided to climb and explore. They were right over the turquoise water and were so much fun to navigate around. We finally found a flat rock and sat down to admire the beauty of the Mediterranean before taking on the climb down. After our climb, the three of us decided to go into the water. The sun was beautiful and warm, and the water was perfect. We climbed over the stones and ran into the cold water. I swam in the Mediterranean.

Finally, it was time for us to head to Florence. Christian and Emily would be visiting Florence for Saturday and Sunday, with me as their tour guide. Unfortunately we missed our first train (oops!), and had to figure out plan B, which included getting back to Florence around 9:30PM. Pizza for dinner :)