Living in a Postcard

AA: This weekend we made our way to Pisa then onto Cinque Terre where we stayed in the small town of Levanto just a few minutes north by train.  It was kind of a long journey with lots of train connections, but the experiences we had once we arrived were so worth it!

The first evening we simply enjoyed catching a few waves, sitting on the rocky beach and taking in the spectacular view. As the sun started to disappear behind the mountain-like-hills we headed into town to find some dinner. The Cinque Terre region is known for having the best pesto, so naturally we had to get some Pesto Pizza! It was very oily and most of it ended up all over me rather than in my stomach, but it was still incredibly delicious! I could definitely tell it was made with only the best of the fresh ingredients.  It not only satisfied our stomachs, but our dwindling college-kid budgets as well!

Saturday morning we headed down to the town of Corniglia where we found a great breakfast place to fill up before we began our hike through a few of the towns. Little did I know I was about to burn off not only the cappuccino and chocolate pastry I had just downed, but also thirty days worth of gelato and bread!

We hiked for a little over an hour and the higher and higher we got the more breathtaking the view became! The green landscape, crystal clear blue waters, and rich colors of the houses provided lots of contrast that was something I had only seen on postcards! On the way up I saw such a wide variety of vegetation, but I was really surprised to find a lot of orchids along the path. I had forgotten that they were legumes and picked one off the plant and opened it up. We continued onto the town of Vernazza where we went through a cave that opened up to a rocky beach. We stopped and had our panini "da portare via" (to take away) on top of the rocks overlooking the ocean! We felt like the character Ariel from Little Mermaid with the waves crashing all around us, and occasionally cooling us off with a little mist.

After walking through the town that looked as though we were walking through Pinterest, we continued our hike to Monterosso. We finished faster than the estimated time, but jumping in the cool Mediterranean Sea wouldn't come soon enough!  We stayed there the rest of the day! I may or may not have returned a little more pink than when I left!