Well as soon as Nate met me in Cinque Terre I felt more at ease, he scared them away for me. hehe.
After Florence I had a nice couple nights in Siena. I had a nice little room out of the center on a little back street (which yes, once again I got lost trying to find). Every single day I got lost in Siena, just wandering round the little winding streets. Think that shows how often I have landmarks in the distance that I can see that I use as reference points. When you are in a city with tiny streets where you can't see in the distance to see reference points it tends to make it more of an adventure ;-p
View from my bedroom.. Love that the wash gets hung outside of the windows to just air dry over the street
Delicious snack in the square - Piazza del Campo - this is where all the action in the city is at. There was such amazing people watching here! I ate at several of the little restaurants around the square.. as did I get some delicious fresh made gelato and just go sit and watch the action. There are no cars allowed so everyone could lounge about - and children run and play - safely.
The start of the masses, as the day went on there were more and more people coming together
The Cathedral of Siena - another candy striped cathedral. They really are very decorative. So interesting to see the different styles throughout out the different regions of Europe.
Rahr!
There were angels looking down through all of the skylights :-)
The second day in Siena I figured I would take a break from the crowds and went on a day trip into the Tuscany countryside. As per recommended in the Rick Steves book, I took an off the beaten path tour with Roberto Bechi, he was a very entertaining Siena native who has spent quite a bit of time in the US so is very fluent in English. He owes Rick Steves big time too, because I think that is probably where most of his business comes from. He only does small groups so it makes it pretty special, our group was 5 people, 2 from Canada and 2 from the US (all of which had booked him because of RS's recommendation)
Front door service he picked me up at my hotel bright and early in the morning. I was ready! Amazing how much easier it is for me to get out of bed and be a morning person when there is a fun adventure waiting during the day. After we had rounded up everyone we headed out into the rolling green hills in the Tuscany countryside. So beautiful! The green makes me think of home really (or Ireland, which also made me think of home, ha), we are lucky that we have such beautiful rolling hills at home too.
Our first stop in the morning was a quaint Tuscan monastery out in the country. We spent several hours out there wandering around and seeing how the monks live. Very peaceful place with so many stories.
Second stop was to a tiny little Tuscan town which now is home to only 18 people. Back in the day it used to be a much more thriving community but with all the young-uns leaving the nest it has left it as a cute little sleepy town to meander around. There is all kinds of political propaganda on the walls still, some of which you can still read.
I LOVE the stone walled houses, with vines growing up the sides. This is so what i think of when I imagine Tuscany. Picture perfect. And what an amazing day! Couldn't have had better weather!
Lion guarding the tiny road up the town. We had lunch up the hill a little ways on a little picnic table outside of a little store, our table was overlooking the picture perfect rolling green landscape. On the menu: Fresh sliced meats, slow cooked pork, fresh baked bread, local Italian cheese, yummy local red wine, and a bunch of fresh sliced veggies.. all with as much fresh made local olive oil as my heard desired. Yummmmm
Roberto and I
Final stop for the day was Abbadia Ardenga vineyard - this lovely place is where we spent the afternoon wandering through the place looking at all the old artifacts that they have from ages ago when farming was very different. You can tell this is a place full of people who have owned this land for decades and love what they do. There were pictures around showing the family harvesting the fields years and years ago. Part of which is the same family that still does it today. :-)
The wine maturing...
The collection cellar with wine dating back decades. We were lucky to be able to wander round looking at these, there were some that were from as far back as the 40's.
My 82 year old boyfriend, Mario, he loved me! He brought out way more wines for us to taste then I am sure would be included in a normal tour. Not a lick of English but still managed to make me blush with all the attention he bestowed on me ;-o
When we were leaving he gave me a signed book, and his wife was laughing in the other room, she came out and said I could keep him (all good natured of course, I am sure after 60+ years of marriage you must be used to someones quirks by then..). Very sweet man, I hope I am that happy, and doing something I still love so much when I am that age.
Next stop Cinque Terre for 4 nights - I headed over to Riomaggiore for the first 2 nights - Riomaggiore is the first of the five little towns cradled in the cliffs. I had one day/night to wander alone before Nate came in the afternoon the next day. What an amazing place! Totally stole my heart! The pace is slow and relaxed, and it is just so beautiful there! I had a cute little room overlooking the harbor! A bit jenky with a fridge that sounded like it was going to blow up, a bed that sounded like it was going to fall apart when you rolled on it, and a shower with no water pressure and a shower curtain that attacked you. But did i mention the view?? That counteracted the bad I think. Good thing I can sleep anywhere ;-)
My room, in the white building in the middle, third level of windows from the top.
Little rocky beach.
Main drag
Head of the walk of love - little bar with wine/beer and snacks at the head of the trail, I hung out there to watch the sunset and have a glass of wine. Another picturesque spot. I have found my little slice of heaven on earth.
I rode that ferry around for the rest of the day just checking out the other towns in the national park.
Breakfast by the sea
Town #1 by sea - Riomaggiore - So interesting to see how they have built up these little towns, one of the books described the towns as buildings all nestled together like a bunch of drunken sailors. I thought that was a fun analogy :-)
Town #2 - Manarola - spent the morning walking around the town - there is a great stroll through the vineyard on the hill above the town.
Looking back into Manarola from the walk.
Town #3 - Corniglia - town on the hill - no ferry access. This town had to wait for a visit on a later date.
That was all the exploring for the first couple days... then I headed back to Riomaggiore to meet Nate who got in late afternoon.
Welcome to Heaven Nate :-)
On the walk of love, "Via dell'Amore"
Our view from our room in Monterosso, we were at the top of the old town. Looking around we just might have been the highest room we could possibly be in (which meant we had a ton of stairs to hike up and down anytime we needed to go back up to the place). Manuel's Guesthouse... Amazing. Great service, fun spot. They had a little cheap bar up there too and gave us some snacks to take to our room to sip on our wine with.
Afternoon trip out to Portovenere. Was fun just to relax and ride the boat for a while. Beautiful coastline, there was cool red rock along the way (which you cant really see in the picture, but I know it was there. ha)
Portovenere church and castle
And now onto the hikes.. We started with Vernazza to Monterosso. Good exercise for sure! Lots of steps!
Vernazza from the start of the hike
We walked along this cliff all the way to Monterosso in the distance - think it took about an hour and a half. It was a warm afternoon so was making it feel kind of like a death march, ;-p
The next hike we decided to do in the morning to avoid having to hike in the heat again (and our attempt to beat any crowds of people coming in for the day to just hike the trails during Easter weekend)
Nate on the way down
Monterosso
We had some dinner and then went back to the room and played some cards on our deck overlooking the city, great evening.
Next morning we got up, had a nice breakfast, and then headed off to for hike #2 - Corniglia to Vernazza
Euro Nate sipping some coffee in Corniglia before we started our march
Looking back on Corniglia from the hike
If you felt motivated you could hike down to the nude beach from the hike, we didn't this time, but maybe next time, will have to work on Nate for a while first I think. haha :-)
Vernazza on the way in from the South.
Strong man holding up the end of the beach in Monterosso
Raise the roof
Loving life
Well I must say we had the best time, even though it rained on us a little bit... not enough to dampen our spirits. I couldn't wait to go back! So I made sure mom and dad were visiting the heaven over a long weekend where I could go down and meet them the next month... that is a story for another time. Was just as beautiful the second time around :-)
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