🇮🇹Buongiorno di Cinque Terre (Good morning from Cinque Terre)!🌅 This is my second weekend in Italy and I traveled to Pisa and Cinque Terre with one of my high school friends that’s also studying abroad in Florence!
Since most study abroad programs don’t have classes on Friday, Lauren and I took a day trip to Pisa. We took a 10am train to Pisa and we got there in a hour. The Pisa train station right next to the leaning tower of Pisa was very underwhelming. As we were walking towards the monument, it felt like it was a ghost town for two blocks. Once the tower was in our sight, the city became more lively. Around the leaning tower of Pisa were other landmarks such as a cathedral, baptistry, museum, and more. After taking pictures for a solid hour we went to get lunch. I ordered tortellini in carbonara sauce and it was so yummy. While eating lunch, it started to rain hard. We didn’t have any other plans besides looking around the leaning tower of Pisa so we had a very long lunch, trying to wait out the rain. Lauren was very worried that she was going to get soaked so she bought a weak umbrella from a guy on the street. A couple minutes after buying the umbrella, it stopped raining. I couldn’t stop laughing because I knew that the rain was supposed to stop eventually since I checked the weather app and Lauren didn’t. After lunch, Lauren and I walked around more and went into the cathedral. The cathedral was absolutely beautiful with gold ceiling and many beautiful buildings. We then headed to the Pisa train station and headed back to Florence. Four hours in Pisa was definitely enough time and I would highly suggest a day trip to Pisa just to see the monuments.
The next morning, Lauren and I had a 6am train to catch to Cinque Terre for a weekend trip. Cinque Terre means five cities and we were staying in Vernazza. Luca, the Disney movie, is based off of Cinque Terre but resembles Vernazza much more. Vernazza is such a small city that we walked around the whole city within 10 minutes. There is only one Main Street and its 500 feet long. We then checked into our Air bnb, which had an amazing view of the Main Street. We got lunch at Blue Marlin Bar, which was right next to our Air bnb. We split a pesto pizza and pasta and let me say it was the best pesto ever! Pesto is well known in Genoa which is right next to Cinque Terre so the pesto pizza and pasta were fantastic. We then walked around Vernazza and took pictures right at the coast. It’s crazy how accurate the movie Luca is compared to real life. There were parts of Vernazza that are identical to the movie. For sunset, we went to the next city called Monterosso. Monterosso is a beach town that reminds me of Avila, CA. It was a cute little beach town with very few cafe and restaurants open. We walked up and down Monterosso because it had a lookout point and watched the sunset there. The views were absolutely breath taking. We then ate dinner at one of two restaurants opened in Monterosso. I ordered a mixed seafood spaghetti and Lauren ordered a seabags. They were both so tasty since the seafood was fresh. We then took the 3 minute train back to Vernazza and headed to bed. This morning, we woke up and just sat outside looking at the scenery. The sun was hitting the mountain and sea at the most perfect angle and it felt like we were in a simulation. The views from Vernazza are incredible and one in a million. Now, I’m on a train ride back to Florence and have 2 and a half hours left.
What a great second weekend in Italy! Stay tune for more! Ciao!
