5 Terre

Cousin Jen told me to come here. WOW! This place was breathtaking. We stayed in the farthest south town called Riomaggiore but went to all 5 of the little towns the next day. You have the option of either taking the train in between the towns or hiking the footpaths. We did a combination of both since one of the trails was closed due to a landslide. Unfortunately although the towns were cute, almost all the businesses were closed for either Christmas holidays or just because it was winter. So finding a place to eat was pretty much impossible. We did the longest and most challenging hike between Vernazza and Monterosso which provided some incredible views of the sea.



Nate always jokes about the fact that no matter where I go in the world, I will see someone that I know. I thought for sure that it wouldn't happen while I was in Italy, too far fetched. But when we were walking through a tunnel in Cinque Terre I saw a couple of backpackers pass by us and one of them looked familiar. After we passed I stopped and casually said, “Angela?”. Sure enough it was an old UP acquaintance of mine. We chatted for a few minutes and found out that we would be in Florence around the same time too in a couple days. I thought, wouldn't that be funny if we saw them in Florence too. And we did, on the street, just a few hours after arriving. Crazy small world!






Also while in 5 Terre we tried the local specialty of pesto. Oh wow, one of my new favorite things in Italy: Pesto. I never really cared for it before, but after having fresh homemade green goodness, oh, so good. I also got some prosciutto crudo for Nate to try for the first time, he loved it of course. Delizioso!

We stopped in Pisa on our way to Florence and saw the tower. Pretty cool.