Cinqueterre

Non capisco il tempo dell'Italia. Io sono stata data prima arrivendo che farebbe caldo ogni giorno. Mercoledì, è piovuto per tanto il giorno. È fato molto freddo. Non ho portato panteloni perchè non era pensato che avrei bisogno di loro. Proprio non ho portato un ombrello. Quindi sono bagnata ogni volta andare fuori. Lunedì, dopo ritornando dal San Gimagnano, sono dovuto andare all'apartamento del mio amico nella città nel piove. Ero bagnata.

Cinqueterre questa fin di settimana era perfetta. Siamo arrivate in Riamggiore venerdì pomeriggio e siamo andate in spaggia immediamente. Il temp era bello e il mare era incredible. Dopo tre o quattro ore all spaggia in Monterosso, eravamo molte stanche, quindi abbiamo avuto una cena presta. Amanda, Edie, Heather, ed io abbiamo mangiato a un ristorante con un panoramico bello del mare e la città di Riomaggiore. Abbiamo condividuto un antipasto "spinach flan" (non ricordo come si dice in italiano). Aveva una salsa di formaggio. E poi abbiamo mangiato verdure grigle: melanzana, pepperoni rossi, e zucchini. Il nostro primo piatto era pasta con pesto--famoso al regione di Cinqueterre. Aveva patate, succhini e pine nuts. Era terrifico. Per dolce, abbiamo condividuto una mille foglie, creme brulee di caffè, e una torta canella con mele e crema. Tutto oera buonissimo. Abbiamo spesso tanto.

I had myself a fun little weekend.

Thursday night, I went with a couple friends to a contrada party. For those who are not familiar with the contradas of Siena, they are the 17 groups that participate in the Palio. They are very close-knit neighbors, you could say, with intense pride and lots of songs for their contrada. The one we went to was the contrada of the shell, Chiocciola. It was so much fun. There was a ton of people there. When we arrived around 10:30pm, there was only one dude on the dance floor, and he had a pony tail and man purse. But by 11:30, more people were drunk and everyone was dancing. It was a blast. They played horrible music like YMCA mixed in with awesome Italian music. I danced with a beautiful French man named Ramon, then went to my friends apartment in the city, ate some tiramasu, and went to bed.

Friday morning 6 of us left for Cinqueterre, 5 tiny beach towns about 3 hours away that are linked together by beautiful scenic walks and hikes. The first thing we did after leaving our bags at our hostel (that took 217 steep stairs to get to, by the way), was go to the beach. It was lovely. The weather report said it would be rainy but it was sunny and perfect. There were 4 of us that wanted to eat out that night, so we went to this restaurant with a beautiful ocean view, right below our hostel. And then we went to town on some of the best Italian food I've had so far.

For an antipasto, we shared a spinach flan with cheese sauce. It was incredible. I forgot how much I love spinach. We then had some grilled eggplant, zucchini, and red peppers. Cinqueterre is famous for its pesto, so we had a pesto pasta that was seriously to die for. It had potatoes and zucchini and pine nuts in it. Soooo delicious. We shared 3 desserts between the 4 of us: Mille foglie, which was like a 3 tier pastry, cheese, honey and powdered sugar combo, coffee creme brule, and an apple cinnamon cake with cream. They were wonderful. Nothing makes me happier than a wonderful meal does.

We were all separated at the hostel because we booked it so last minute. I shared a room with an Australian and 2 sisters from Denmark. I was so tired that I managed to fall asleep with the light on and all 3 up packing.

We started our hikes with the Via dell'amore, a stunningly beautiful sidewalk along the cliff side overlooking the ocean. The whole trail is graffittied with romantic sentiments and poetry. There are padlocks everywhere you look, that couples lock there and throw the key into the ocean to represent their love. I really like it, even though I was there with 5 other single girls. :) We arrived in Corniglia and even though it was 10:30 in the morning, I had to try the honey gelato they had there. It was delicious, and not too sweet to enjoy that early in the day.

The next hike was more nature-y, and more like a real hike. It actually was pretty difficult, but you had an ocean view the whole time which made it worth it. It felt good after all my weeks of eating to get a really good workout. Plus, the town that it led to, Vernazza, was stunning. It was my favorite of the 5 towns by far. First of all, it was tiny. Second of all, it had a little fortress around it which I liked. I had the most amazing pesto bruschetta there. Seriously. I was almost crying it was so delicious.

We took the train back to our beach and spent a couple more hours soaking up the sun and fending off Italian men in speedos. Heather and I shared a nutella crepe, and we were on our way back to Siena. It was a short trip but it was wonderful. It made me excited to beach it up in Barcelona in a couple weeks!