Friday, August 6, 2010 at 11:00am
Our last stop in Italy is Venice!! I loved this city and I wish we would have had more time to explore. We actually only had what was left of the day when we got there and then we had to leave the next afternoon for the airport.
It took me a while to figure out that these boats were actually taxis!
It ended up being pretty easy to find our hotel and get checked in. We wanted to get out and explore right away. I felt like I didn’t really know where to start first since I had not done a lot of research beforehand on the city. I said lets just go look at postcards and find out what sites there are to see.
We found out that there was this big piazza called Piazza San Marco. We tried to follow a map to get there and we also asked for directions, but it started to get dark and we didn’t know our way back to the hotel.
We thought we would follow the sun since we knew it was setting in the west, but once the sun set we still had not found our way back. At last we found someplace familiar and got back towards our hotel. We were sad that we never made it to Piazza San Marco.
We found a small restaurant to have dinner close to our hotel and decided we better not go too far or we might get lost again. Thinking back this was the best salad I ever had! Fresh salami, mozzarella, artichoke hearts, and topped off with fresh olive oil!
The food was just amazing! I had to take pictures!
Our last day in Italy! We took a little walk not far from our hotel to just take in a little more of Venice.
Italy you will be missed!!!! This was our last trip to Europe during Matt’s time at Delta. I don’t know when we will ever be back and I am sad to know that most likely it won’t be while traveling first class! I am going to have to just get used to it.
Thursday, August 5, 2010 at 11:00am
Matt and I said good-bye in Vernazza and headed out for our trip to Venice, Italy. During our day of travel we planned to stop in Florence. Our original trip had us staying a night in Florence, however, we ended up having to spend that extra night in Pisa in the beginning of our trip. Unfortunately we only had couple hours in Florence. We saw some great sights and had another amazing lunch on a vine-covered patio.
The Gates of Paradise on the Battistero di San Giovanni.
This is the Florence Duomo. A truly magnificent structure with so much history. Since we were literally stopping through Florence we did not have time to explore the interior of any of the places we visited. I can just image how amazing it looks inside.
This the the Baptism of Christ above the Gates of Paradise of the Battistero di San Giovanni.
I miss having all the great wine with our meals.
And I REALLY miss the salads in Italy. There is just nothing compared to their freshness of the veggies and cheeses. Also using the fresh olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper is better than our thick, creamy ranch. MMmm!
And off to our last city … Venice, Italy!
Posted in Personal, Travel | Tags: baptistery, Battistero di San Giovanni, duomo, eurostar, florence, gates of paradise, italian food, italian images, italy, italy photographer, italy photography, northern italy, vino
Wednesday, August 4, 2010 at 11:00am
We finally were able to go back to Vernazza. We ended up having a phone number to a man who’s family had two rooms available. We were a little uncomfortable since we were Americans in a foreign country, not knowing anyone, and just trusting that this man had two rooms. Matt and I were lead up one side of town and his parents were lead up the other. Our first night we were separated and we were told the next night they had a room we all could stay in together. It was odd that we were literally almost guests in someone’s home with a private door and key to our room. At times it was hard to trust these people we didn’t even know since they could easily get into our rooms where our things were. We had to just let it go, trust, and most of all be thankful we had a place to stay.
We never got a chance to visit all five little villages in the Cinque Terre, but Vernazza was so beautiful I was happy enough there. We decided to take one of the hiking paths over to Monterosso on our first afternoon. We ended up taking the hardest path of the entire area. Let me tell you, for me, it was hard. It reminded me how out of shape I am. BUT it was sssooo worth it! The views from the top are unbelievable!! It still takes my breathe away. And we had a great reward waiting for us at the end!
Some of the path was literally 12 inches wide. And this was a one way path with people coming from both ways. It was tough to share the path when you needed to. At one point I lost my footing when I stepped on what looked like a bunch of leaves, but it was branches and my leg gave way. It didn’t go down much, but is shows that this path was not for the faint at heart.
We could see Monterosso from here. It wouldn’t be long now!
Ahh our much deserved reward! We climbed out to these rocks and swam in the crystal clear blue Mediterranean Sea! I even cliff jumped for the first time!
We wandered the streets of Monterossos and had some lunch before catching the train back to Vernazza. This is one of my favorite pictures! I just love the angles, textures, and colors of everything!
Our first night we went to a place that was recommended to us, but I still don’t think I ever got the name. We found it just by how the location was described. I had their homemade pasta with pesto sauce. This was to die for! The food here was just amazing!
On our last day we just enjoyed the town and did some shopping. Our last night we sat out on the pier, had dinner, and watched a beautiful sunset go down.
I hope that I can someday come back to this amazing area of Italy! Tomorrow Matt and I split off from his parents and finish our trip alone.
Posted in Personal, Travel | Tags: cinque terre, italian food, italian images, italy, italy photographer, italy photography, mediterranean, monterosso, northern italy, vernazza
by Amy
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