{Cinque Terre}

Our last stop in Cinque Terre was our absolute favorite. I was in constant awe of myself for being there and utterly enchanted with the experience. Cinque Terre is a series of 5 coastal towns on the Mediterranean. The towns are very small, hilly and old. I think public roads and trains only came about a 100 years ago and so historically they were very isolated with each village developing its own dialect. There is a beautiful hike that connects all five, and it was no small feat to go on, but totally worth it. The views were amazing. It was rainy and slippery though, and we had to be careful. Lots of mud and rocks.
There were hardly any tourists and after the craziness of Florence it was a wonderful end to our trip. The towns are tiny and very friendly and Scott had most of his Italian conversations there. Our little room in our hotel overlooked the bay, and we had to climb up 4 flights of stairs and a tiny spiral staircase, where you had to hold onto a rope to get up, to reach our room--no easy feat with our luggage. There is supposedly only 1 hotel in all 5 villages that has a elevator.
The last night there a huge rainstorm hit that knocked the power out of the whole town. Once the lights went off everyone started yelling to each other. We could hear all the sounds echoing over the bay. It was so funny.
Pesto and Foccacia was invented there, and I had my most amazing meal at a little restaurant right next to our hotel on the waterfront. The pasta, homemade by "mama" that morning, had a homemade pesto sauce that was pure heaven.
Now we are home, and it is back to the real world where I need to pay attention to my watch and what day it is. The trip home was exhausting, a whole 24 hours, and we are glad that part is over. It is good to be home, too. We feel so lucky to have had such an amazing experience. Traveling always makes me realize exactly how big the world is, how little I have seen and how much more I want to know. It is fun to see how similar and different people are and to learn about them and experience just a little of what this world has to offer. It makes me realize how small my own little sphere is.
Supposedly these figurines are lighted up on holidays and are the work of one artist.





The ocean made the coolest sound after it washed over the rocks and was sucked back into the ocean. It was like thousands of marbles hitting together.