Biking in the Tuscan Sun

I had been told by many friends that Florence was like an Italian Sevilla. When Grace and I arrived and made it to our hostel (an old monastery) just before the dark clouds rolled in, I already got a feeling similar to the one that I always felt walking the streets of Sevilla. Like the lively Andalusian capital, you can feel the passion and the energy just from walking next to the wonderful people who live there. Our time in Florence was full of art museums, great food, crazy cool architecture and the best gelato we found all trip--thanks to the Australians we met in Switzerland!

The Duomo in Florence is one of the most striking and detailed church
that I saw during my time in Europe

This is the dome in the Duomo

Here is the famous Ponte Vecchio 

Here we are with the center of Florence behind us

The highlight of our stop in Florence was hands down our bike tour through the Tuscan countryside. During our trip, Grace and I haven't joined many tour groups, but things like the Harry Potter tour and the Sound of Music tour were well worth sticking out from the native crowd, and the bike tour didn't disappoint either! We found a company run by a Scottish man who came to visit Florence and never left (the story also involves a love interest that kept him from leaving), and it involves a day of biking and a meal at a family-owned restaurant in the middle of the countryside.

First we were taken by van to a castle in the Chianti region that produces olive oil and wine. With our group, full of wonderful fellow travelers, we took a tour and tasted some of the goodness produced there. Next, we were given bikes and helmets and a native to Florence led us around as we looped through the green rolling hills.

Here are some of the barrels where the wine was kept

Me, our guide Keith and Grace at the top of the castle

The Tuscan Countryside  

Here we are with our bikes ready for the ride 

We got to stop and walk through the vineyards

The ride was mostly scenic, and just enough effort to burn off all of the pasta we had been eating. Just after our group lunch, where I had a few classes of wine and a huge plate of pasta, we reached the big bad hill that our guide had been warning us about since the beginning. He said it was part of the Italy's equivalent to the Tour de France. We were given the option to put our bikes in the truck and get bussed to the top of the hill, but Grace and I were determined! We were sweating our butts off while making our way up the hill and decided to stop and walk because we thought we had only made it to the half way point. Turns out we were so close to the top that we could see it, and man were we mad we stopped! All in all it was a lovely day, with perfect weather, fresh air, a little exercise, great company and good food. When they brought us back to Florence, our guides gave us big hugs goodbye and some restaurant recommendations for the rest of our time in Florence.

For our last meal in Florence we went to a restaurant recommended by our guide and got great service from the Italians. The next morning we made our way to the train station to begin the trek to our final stop, Rome!

When the waiter asked if we wanted water, we said that we
 would just stick with wine and this is what he brought us!

Grace's mystery meal--something about truffle pasta, so delicious! 

"In Florence we had yogurt and nutella gelato, fruit pie gelato,  cookie gelato,
tiramisu gelato, cheesecake gelato,  and dark chocolate gelato.
Can you see it on my lips???" 

5 Town Hike

Next Italian Stop: The Cinque Terre--also known as the Italian Riviera, and probably the stop I was looking forward to the most! After discovering my love for hiking, I heard about this little spot in Italy where you can hike between five little towns that are basically built into the cliffs on the ocean. When Grace and I were planning our trip, this stop was a must!

Here is a map of the towns. We stayed in Corniglia which is in the middle

I found this great apartment online and booked it for our 4 days in the Cinque Terre. I thought it was a good idea to stay in the middle, to make it easier to access all of the towns. Of course my brilliant idea didn't seem to consider the fact that Corniglia is the only Cinque Terre town that is not at sea level, and you have to climb 382 steps to get to it! But considering the amount of pasta/pizza/gelato that we had already consumed and was still to come, it was probably a good thing! Our apartment was owned by a wonderful Italian woman who lived down the street and took great care of us. We had three levels--one with a bedroom and bathroom, a kitchen up the spiral staircase, and a rooftop balcony.

We arrived late afternoon on our first day, so we took a walk around the small town, hit up the local markets, and grabbed dinner overlooking the water. To top off our day we enjoyed more gelato and watched the sunset. It was a great way to kick off a beautiful few days. 

Our dinner complete with the always yummy Italian wine

There was a stray cat trying to get some of my gelato as we spent about
an hour just enjoying the views until the sun went down

In the morning we enjoyed breakfast on the terrace and packed a lunch for our full day of hiking. Rick Steves, along with all of the other guides we read, all made the hikes seem leisurely, but don't be fooled fellow travelers, they were hard work! Also, a few of the paths were closed due to recent mud slide, but Grace and I somehow managed to hike from Corniglia to Vernazza, a closed path, without ever being stopped--we also had the path to ourselves, which was a treat for our first hike. 

The dirt walking paths hugged the side of the cliffs.
The little town in the background is Corniglia, where we stayed all week

This view sums up what we were looking at during all of our hikes

This town called Vernazza suffered greatly from the mudslides and is
only just starting to recover. It had a cute little harbor where we had gelato

We arrived at our final stop for the day, Monterroso, mid-afternoon and had a picnic lunch on the beach. While exploring the town, I saw a man wearing a Minnesota Twins hat! I was very excited to see a fellow fan, but according to Grace, I scared him away...oops, Go Twins! After a long and physically exhausting day of hiking, Grace and I went back to the apartment and cooked dinner. We bought fresh mozzarella and tomatoes from the local market and a deck of cards to play cribbage until the sky became dark. 

This home cooked meal was one of the best we had all trip! 

If we thought day 1 was a hard hike, we had no idea what was coming for us! Unfortunately the direct path to get us to the other two towns was also closed. The guide told us that we could take a longer path, so we decided to go for it, without knowing that we would be on an uphill climb for almost an hour, and down hill for what seemed like another hour at the end.  I don't usually agree to climbing stairs for an hour straight, but the reward turned out to be far greater than we could have imagined. The path was full of Italian wild flowers and we ended up way high up the cliff in the middle of vineyards. 

Grace at the beginning of our uphill battle

The wildflowers all over Italy are red! 

This is Manarola, the town we could see from the balconies of Corniglia

To finish our day of hiking, Grace and I walked the famous Via Dell'Amore, or the "Walk of Love," which was nice and flat, and didn't make me sweat profusely! There are love locks and graffiti all over the little stretch between Manarola and Riomaggiore, the final Cinque Terre town that we saw. We walked as far as the path would let us, and had lunch on the rocks by the ocean. On our way back we met a group of students from the University of Minnesota; the second Minnesota connection we found in the Cinque Terre! They were just starting their summer session in Rome and gave us some great travel tips! 

This piece of art is the symbol of the Via Dell'Amore

Here we are in Riomaggiore, my favorite of the 5 Cinque Terre towns

Feeling tired from all of our hard work, Grace and I made our way back to Corniglia to enjoy a relaxing evening with more food from the market. The clouds that had kept us from baking under the sun during our hikes finally cleared and night and we got to enjoy a nice full moon on our rooftop balcony. Next, we spent our final day in the Cinque Terre in our little home of Corniglia after we discovered a hidden beach spot. We enjoyed a day under the sun with our books and more gelato of course! It was a great way to relax before spending our final week in more busy city settings. 

Here are the steps we had to climb up to Corniglia! 

I think Grace would agree that this was our best meal of the trip
Gnocci with pesto and focaccia bread--both originate from the Cinque Terre!

A beautiful night to have a rooftop terrace! 

After leaving the Cinque Terre, we had to connect trains in Pisa. Before we caught our first train, we met a woman from Vienna who had studied at the University of Minnesota (3rd Minnesota connection in the Cinque Terre)! She was a very funny lady, and Grace and I never figured out if the old man she was with was her father or rich lover...She insisted that we sit by her on the train to share stories, and didn't quite understand that we didn't have first class tickets. Once the train started moving and the ticket checker came along, we had to say goodbye to our new friends. In Pisa, while we waited for our connecting train, we threw on our heavy backpacks and hurried over to the tower--this was the second time we used the Italian bus system for free! 

Here we are with the Leaning tower of Pisa, which is
actually in the city if Pisa! 

When we were finally on our way to Florence, we met a group of three sisters who were also traveling together. One lived in London, one in South Africa, and the other in New Zealand, and they were gathering for a 50th birthday to do a walking tour of Tuscany. They got off the train in a little town and planned to from town to town in the area while trying the local food and wine. I think Grace and I definitely got some ideas for our future, especially with Grace going to the Peace Corps in the coming year!