5 Terre

 Last weekend my roommate Virginia and I headed up to Cinque Terre, on the Northwestern Coast of Italy. 5Terre is a little group of 5 villages that  are set dramatically between the water and the  hills that run up to the coast. It is famous for its beauty, and for the amazing hiking you can do there- there are two main sets of paths, the easier one runs along the coast between the 5 cities, and the difficult trails which wind there way up and down the hills between the cities. Unfortunatley for us, due to mudslides earlier in the season, a large part of the coastal train was blocked and several of the trails between the cities had been closed off as well. The first day we spent on Cinque Terre, we decided to take it easy and we meandered along the open part of the Coastal trail, enjoyed the beauty of the Via del amore (a part of the trail that has been covered with graffiti and locks from the couples who have visited), ate a good lunch, soaked in the sun on the beach, and watched a gorgeous sun set over the water.

Via Del Amore

Virginia and I left our mark on one of the plants along the trail

Day 2 was probably one of the most wonderful days I've had while I was here! We spent the entire day Hiking far up into the hills, and walking along the ridge route between the last city, Riomaggiore, which we were staying in, and the first city Monterosso. We hiked from 9:30 to six in the evening (though admittedly we took it at a pretty leisurely pace, and took a couple nice breaks). While the 5 cities down below us were shrouded in clouds, we climbed above them, and got to walk in the sun! Though that meant we didn't get the great views of the sea we had been hoping for, we still enjoyed the beautiful varied wildlife, a great change of pace from the city, and the occasional view of the Alps! By the time we were done we were so exhausted, we slowly checked out the remaining cities, ate some of the North's famous foccacia for dinner and hung out on the most amazing beach I've ever been too!

The day begins!

 We're tired from our first trail; It was an uphill climb almost the entire way! At least it didn't take us the three hours it was suppose to!

 Another 3 1/2 hours on this trail- and it's not even the end! I'm pretty sure virginia's just thinking, "why did I let Amy talk me into this?"

 We're above the clouds! YAY!

 Chillin' at our lunch spot

 The Alps in the distance

 ...And 7 hours after we start (4:30) We're finally headed down!

 We're being engulfed by the clouds!

 Are we down yet?

WE MADE IT!

 Yummy foccacia :)

The BEAUTIFUL beach at Monterosso! The picture doesn't even begin to do it justice- never in my life have I seen such beautiful water (ok, so maybe it ties with the Red Sea), and the stones on the beach were the most amazing variety of colors. I was so shocked when I first saw it, I turned to Virginia and said, "The stones have got to be imported!" Which, of course, she thought was the most ridiculous thing I've ever said. I think it just highlights the fact that we live in a more beautiful and amazing world than I could have imagined!

"Give Them Cake:" ten days of food to die for!

*Warning* 

the following blog entry has been known to cause mouths to water, bellies to rumble; a few cases of spontaneously bought plane tickets to Italy, have been reported- Enjoy!

Almalfi Coast

A famous choclatier in Italy, I had read about these stores and when we happened upon one (it being only second day) Shaili and I couldn't resist buying a couple pieces of chocolate. To our astonishment the price of that delicious chocolate (which, of course, we could see them making!) was less than a bar of Fannie May chocolate!

 A traditional mussel/pasta dish on the Almalfi coast. Notice: there are no other people are in the restaurant. Why is this, you may ask? Because they weren't open yet. Despite the fact that the door said they were open (which we chose to believe despite the fact that it was 17:00, several hours before any respectable Italian would be seen eating dinner), we walked in to the restaurant to the quizzical stairs of the staff, and after we were seated, noticed that we had interrupted the staff meal. Lucky for us, they were willing to share the most amazing Bruschetta with us, without charge!

 

Naples: my second taste of the world's best pizza!

 

 

 Syracuse:

an Italian take on the classic ice cream sandwich- a definite win! I couldn't catch what type of gelato was inside, but there were swirls of homemade caramel, in between biscotti, which was dipped in chocolate and rolled in peanuts and toffee. I literally spent the entire time I was eating the "sandwich" trying to figure out how I could recreate this delectable experience back home. 

 

Catania

Next to the train station there was the most amazing looking orange stand- with HUGE oranges! you can't really tell in this picture but the orange was almost as big as my camera case (and much wider!)

 Agrigento

Sicily, being an island is famous for its good fish so of course, I knew I had to try some at least one night. Luckily, we ended up at an extremely affordable restaurant and I got the fish sampler plate (all this fish for 10 euro!) including shrimp, mussels, smoked salmon, octopus, bass, and some unknown smoked fish (the dark brown one)

 If you remember back to a couple posts ago there was a picture of me with one of the Almond trees in the grove of Almond trees that surrounds the Valley of the Temples. Well, according to my trusty Fodor's guide book, the dish Tagliolini alle Mandorle (pasta with almonds), was a must have, so Shaili and I split a small plate to try some of Agrigento's wonderful Almonds- Yum!

Palermo

 Arancini- a sicilian specialty, this is a fried ball of rice, with some sort of stuffing. Mine had spinach and blue cheese inside of it- TO DIE FOR good!

  Italian Ice Cream Sandwich, take 2! This time my Sicilian gelato was put inside Brioche, a sweet bread

 My Sicilian Cannoli! I knew I had to have one but after all the other food I'd eaten I just couldn't do more than a little guy and cafe