Cinque Terre

The next stop on our journey was the Cinque Terre "Five Lands" in the Liguria region. Cinque Terre was my favorite out of all of the places we visited. The turquoise water, rocky coastline and the brightly colored villages made me want to pack up and move there. There wasn't a whole lot to do besides hike and eat and soak up the sun, but after our busy time in Florence, that was just perfect.

The train from Florence to La Spezia was a long one, but it gave us time to rest our feet and get some extra sleep. When we arrived, we were rested and ready for the day.

We started at the farthest village, Monterosso, and hiked our way back. We really need to start believing the guide books' descriptions of the hikes because this one was every bit as difficult as the description. We started our hike around 10:00AM and didn't finish until after 8:00PM (with a break for lunch.) The hike narrow and very steep, but totally worth every difficult step!

I will let the pictures speak for themselves...

We stopped for lunch in the most picturesque village, Vernazza. We found a little sea-side restaurant and sampled the local pesto on pasta and pizza and just stared out at the beauty before us.

Before the train tunnels were carved into the mountains, it was difficult to travel between the five villages. The Via dell'Amore was a route that joined two of the villages and provided a rendezvous spot for young lovers.

It wasn't exactly romantic compared to the natural beauty around us...

When we reached the end of our hike, we found Conan's Italian cousin basking in the sun!

By the time we reached the end of our hike we were utterly exhausted, but supremely content. We grabbed some sandwiches and drinks from a local shop. We also purchased our one and only souvenir from the Italy - pesto!

Florence, Italy

Sadly, I have already forgotten many details about our stay in Florence. We did so much in such a short period of time that everything runs together in my memory. I will try to recover what I can, but forgive me if I don't remember the names of all the churches and museums.


Florence was the most aesthetically pleasing city I think I've ever seen. Even the most basic buildings were beautiful with their sun-bleached brick, sloping roofs and shuttered windows. Each turn down a narrow side street made me ooh and ahh. Poor Matt got tired of stopping for pictures, but I just couldn't help myself.


We made reservations in advance for the Uffizi Gallery and the Academia. I am glad we did this, but it made us feel very scheduled. I would have prefered to just wander the city and see things as we happened upon them, but we didn't have the luxury of doing that.





Basilica de Santa Croce:

Piazza della Republica:

The Bargello Palace:

The David:

El Duomo, Santa Maria del Fiore:

The golden doors of the Baptistry:

Inside the baptistry:

There were bikes everywhere:

For lunch, Matt and I discovered a tiny hole in the wall restaurant that served amazing paninis and pastas for ridiculously cheap prices. We were the only non-locals in the restaurant, which was quite a feat considered the city was filled to the brim with tourists. The food was delicious, but the restaurant itself was cramped and not the most relaxing place to take a break.

Later in the afternoon we indulged in gelatto while resting our feet and enjoying views of the Arno River.

The Ponte Vechhio:

Fountain of Neptune:

Instead of waiting in a long line to climb to the top of the Duomo, we decided to climb the bell tower instead. The views are about the same and the tickets are cheaper. The only down side is that the top is "caged" by bars which didn't obstruct our view, but it did hamper our photo opportunities. The climb to the top was quite a hike, and after our adventures in Stresa our (mostly my) feet were definitely in pain. I think the soles of my feet were bruised, which made all the walking and museum touring less enjoyable than it could have been.

Enjoying the breeze at the top of the bell tower:

Looking out over the Duomo:

The Ponte Vecchio at night.

After a long day of zipping through the city, Matt and I returned to our hotel for a shower before heading back out to enjoy the warm evening in Florence. We shared a lovely meal and a caraffe of wine at a fabulous restaurant near our hotel and then just strolled along the streets. It was nice to return to some of the places we'd been during the day and see them in the evening light. By this point, we had seen everything we wanted to see so we were able to just relax and savor the moment.

Florence was definitely one of the highlights of our trip to Italy. I would love to return someday when we have more time. We would probably try to go at an off-peak time to avoid the crowds. Next time, I'll skip out on some of the museums in favor of simply getting lost in the city.

Stresa, Italy

Matt's conference was held in Stresa, a small town on Lago Maggiore, just outside of Milan. We probably would not have chosen this destination had it not been for Matt's conference, but we were glad that we went. Once Matt was done with his conference, we spent some time island hopping and hiking in the pre-alps.

Here is Matt outside of the hotel where the conference was held:

Just blocks away from the conference was the ferry to the islands. This is a view of Stresa from the ferry. You can see the neighboring Swiss influence in the architecture.

We decided to go to two of the three islands. The first island we went to was Isola Bella, where the Borromeo Palace and gardens were housed. The palace and gardens were beautiful, although slightly over the top.

After taking our time exploring Isola Bella, we took the short trip to Isola Pescatore to have lunch. Isola Pescatore was even smaller than Isola Bella. We walked the entire circumference of the island in 10 minutes.

There were quite a few charming little restaurants to choose from. We eventually settled on a restaurant right on the water. The food wasn't anything fantastic, but the setting was worth every penny.

After visiting the islands, Matt and I took a cable car to the top of Mount Motaronne, the tallest peak in the area. Although the cable car was grossly overpriced, it was still worth the lift. The views at the top were awesome.

Instead of taking the cable car back down the mountain, we decided to hike. Our travel book described the hike as long and easy. Matt and love hiking and usually find that books and trail maps over-estimate the difficulty of most hikes. So when this hike was described as easy, we expected it to be. It wasn't. The trail was filled with large, unstable rocks, which made it really difficult to maintain our footing. It wasn't aerobically difficult, but our feet took a serious beating. After several hours of hiking, we decided to change our route and head back to the cable car to take it the rest of the way down the mountain.

This picture shows one of the few spots along the trail that was free of rocks.

On the narrow road back to the cable car, we passed through a tiny village. We heard what sounded like cowbells in the surrounding woods. I was delighted to see a small herd of mountain goats. The bells started to get louder, and I remember telling Matt, "They're excited to see us!" The bells got louder and louder and we suddenly realized the goats were running toward us. I didn't react very quickly to the danger, but as soon as I saw a goat with its head down and horns pointed our way, I realized it was time to get out of there. Matt grabbed my hand and we started to run as the goats chased us down the mountain. The goats got within a few feet of us and the only way to get away was to slide down a small cliff. Fortunately, the cliff was grassy and not rocky, but we still got a little scuffed up. The goats must have decided we weren't worth the effort because the stayed at the top of the cliff and just looked down at us. I'm not really sure what would have happened had we not escaped, but I'm pretty sure those goats would have kicked us off their mountain one way or another. Thankfully, we didn't have to find out.

Matt and I still think it's hilarious that our biggest danger traveling in Europe came in the form of a pack of goats.

Despite our adventure with the goats, we had a great time in Stresa. The islands were charming and the views of the lake and the alps were incredible.