Cinque Terre

We left Florence by train early Friday morning and arrived in Monterrosso around 11 am. The 5 Lands are only accessible by train, ferry, or on foot, so I dropped my bag off at the hotel and hit the trail. A day hiking pass is only 5 euro and that's a pretty good deal, considering the whole path is about a 5 hour+ hike. I only hiked from Monterrosso to Vernazza, but that took a good 4 hours to and fro...plus it was really steep. "Uphill both ways," as my dad would say. When I was done I took a quick dip in the ocean. The water was so clear.

On Saturday several girls and I took the ferry so that we could see the other 3 Lands. Although it had been raining hard earlier that morning, it turned out to be a gorgeous day. We spent the whole afternoon in Portovenere. Here I had my first (and definitely last) experience with anchovies!! Never, ever, EVER again. The taste still haunts me.

On the ferry ride back to Monterrosso we saw dolphins!

I absolutely want to go back to Cinque Terre before I come back home, if only to hike the entire trail.

Yesterday I went to the Museo Academia to see Michelangelo's David and a Robert Mapplethorpe exhibit. Beautiful!

Italian Tip #3: Unless you like chewy, salty, tapeworm-like fish, do not eat anchovies.