Five Lands

Emily and I planned a day trip out of Florence to Pisa and the romantic Cinque Terre. We took an early morning train out from Florence and got off directly in Pisa! You only really need a few hours in Pisa, so we spent 4 there between trains. We got off and walked out of the station maybe 20 minutes to get to the Leaning Tower! It was an awesome sight, and so iconic, but much smaller than I thought it would be. It was only maybe 9 flights or so. We got tickets to the tower and got in line just in time. The gave us a brief history of the tower, about how the foundations started sinking and the building had to be stabilized. It was reopened in 2001 and then visitors could climb again. I remember climbing the tower with my family when I was younger, so Emily and I did just the same that day. Afterwards, we visited the Cathedral, which was one of my favorite churches in the entire visit. It was beautiful both inside and out, and we spent a good amount of time admiring the sites.

We got back on the train and started the rest of the journey towards Cinque Terre. There was a long transfer in La Spezia where Emily and I went shopping around in the weekend markets. It was a very pretty city, with orange trees and other trees blooming around the town. We stopped in one Gelateria to order gelato and coffee, but there was a HUGE language barrier. The lady did not speak a word of English, and we spoke very few words in Italian. There was a lot of sign language and a lot of counting in different languages. It was rough, but I managed to pawn off the 6 Euros that the lady from Florence gave me. Take that, Italy.

Cinque Terre is made up of 5 towns that are all linked together by walking paths and trains, no cars to be seen. Emily was in charge of looking for the one we were going to visit, and she decided on the town famous for wine, pesto, and seafood. I was not going to argue. We were on the train for a short time before we arrived, but the train was mostly through tunnels. We could see a light out the window, and for about a quarter of a second, we got a glimpse of the shore as the train whizzed by an opening in the tunnel. We reached our final destination in Manarola in the late afternoon. Walking out of the entrance tunnel, we walked down the path towards the shoreline, of course! I haven't been to the ocean in a long, long time and I missed it. We walked down to the rocks and sat down to enjoy the view for a while. It was so beautiful, one of the most amazing places I have ever seen. I even convinced Emily to join me in taking off our shoes

and wading into the water. Of course a large wave came to soak us, but we dried off quickly under the Tuscan sun.

The placement of the clock on this clocktower upsets me...

We explored the small town and spent most of our time looking out to the ocean and the view of the city. There were very few sights in Manarola, but we got to see them all. The cemetary at the edge of the city was colorful and had graves from centuries ago. The church at the top of the city was pretty on the outside, so we decided to stroll in. We walked right into the middle of Good Friday mass. We quickly turned around and left! It was about time to grab dinner, and I got octopus salad while Emily got pasta with pesto. I also got myself a glass of Grappa, because I have heard my Dad speak so highly of it! It was the most disgusting beverage I have had in my entire life... and I have had plenty of Vladimir Vodka... But I powered through, and took one for the team. The we got out to the shore again to see the sunset on the sea. It was a wonderful evening. Then we got on the train to head back to Florence for an early train to Venice.