Last week I finished up the shortest class I have ever taken. I was in a two and a half week course called Faces, Facts and Places in Italian Fashion. I started it right after spring break and had it every day until last Thursday, when we had our final. Now I am back to having my regular four classes until my semester is over in May.
This past weekend I had two different day trips, one on Saturday and one on Sunday. On Saturday I got a free trip to Carrara and Lucca with my program, SAI. Carrara and Lucca are both small cities north of Florence in Tuscany, so the bus ride was only an hour and a half or so (very refreshing after Croatia). Our first stop was in Carrara and it was up to the famous marble quarries where artists such as Michelangelo would get their product to make sculptures!
We were very excited to see the quarries, but then we found out we would be taking a tour of the quarries in JEEPS! (Well, technically they were Land Rovers, but our guide said Jeeps the first time, so it stuck.) We were taken very high up the mountain with the bus, which was very nice of our driver to do, and when we got out we pretty much got right into our Jeeps after putting on neon orange vests and hard hats. Let me just tell you, I have never had as much fun riding around in the back of a Jeep as I did that day. The drivers were crazy and we were off-roading in a matter of minutes. There were times where it felt the truck was at a forty-five degree angle with the horizon and it was all curves and turns all the way up and down the mountain. It was so much fun.
(Nicole, Bri, me, and Maddie standing on the edge of the "road" overlooking part of the quarry and the city of Carrara)
When we got down from our tour, we went into the two little souvenir shops, and I even got a carved, marble thimble, which was thrilling, and then we were on to our second part of the day in Lucca. When we got there we went to our free lunch, where we had three courses of delicious, filling food. After we were done, despite not being in physically ideal conditions to walk, we had a lovely little walking tour of the city, where we passed many churches, learned about the towers in the city, and saw the flea market that they have every three weeks. They also had some sort of event going on with lots of old cars driving by, which was pretty cool, and at the end we finished up in their updated version of a mini amphitheater, which was full of happy yellow buildings.
(Inside the old amphitheater)
When we were done with the walking tour we had a little while to spend doing whatever we wanted, and many of us walked back over to the market area to browse. After we were done we headed back to Florence. It was nice getting done at a decent time so that we could get some rest.
On Sunday I went on a trip with one of the student tour companies to the Cinque Terre (five lands). It is in this little region in Italy called Liguria on the northwestern coast, and because the mountains rise up right near the coast, the little villages had to be carved into terraces. I learned a lot about the area in my food class here in Florence, and one of the most interesting parts was that back when people first moved to the area, it was because they were forced to do so. The rich people and government officials that lived inland forced many peasants to the coasts as a sort of look-out protection force. The biggest issue with this was that due to the terrain it was next to impossible to make a living there. It's not a place you can raise live stock, and there are many crops that won't grow there. Nowadays the main source of income for the Cinque Terre is tourism, but back then they had lots of flowers and basil. You know what having lots of basil means? They made lots of pesto! So pesto is one other thing other than the cute little villages the area is actually known for. That's my little history lesson for today. Onto my little adventure.
We started at the village of Manarola. It was still pretty early in the morning and it was a gloomy day, so the streets were pretty quite before filling up with tourists. I walked around the cliff side paths briefly before we had to move on to the next village.
(Village of Manarola)
Our next stop was Riomaggiore, which we got to by a two minute train ride through the cliffs and mountains.
(Village of Riomaggiore)
I had myself a tiramisu milkshake there which was quite good, and, again, had a little time to explore and stick my head in some shops before moving on to Monterossa, which is the most popular of the five villages. There I had lunch with the two guides from my little group as well as the guide from one other adult group. That was a new experience for me because the other guide was quite obnoxious but very funny and entertaining. I got a pesto pasta, because of course I couldn't resist, and I thought it was delightful. Often times their pesto will have potatoes, which may sound odd, but I had a few cut potatoes in my pasta dish and they were quite good.
(Monterossa)
After lunch I went off by myself to explore for the rest of free time. I stopped in numerous little shops and walked around by the beach, which was more pleasant weather-wise than it had been earlier, but not enough that I would go swimming. Honestly, I think I had my hopes up a little too high for the trip, because it didn't quite live up to my expectations. I think there were numerous reasons behind that though, one of them being that my tour only took us to three of the five (even though they do all look quite similar), and the weather wasn't ideal for the day. Another big one though that I think made a difference is that after having been to both Burano near Venice, and Positano on the Almafi Coast, it would have had to be a bit more special than I found it to be. People had been raving about it, and don't get me wrong, I thought it was lovely, but I saw even cuter little colored houses in Burano, and found the cliff buildings of Positano to be just as cool, if not more interesting to explore. That being said, it was still a very nice day, and made me realize I have so much to be grateful for. I have been to so many different Italian cities now that something like the famous Cinque Terre seemed average, which may sound pathetic, but is actually pretty incredible. That just goes to show how many amazing places I have seen and I am so thankful I have been able to experience them all.
Now since today is Thursday, you would be accurate in expecting me to be going somewhere tomorrow. I will be in the French Riviera for the next five days, and I could not be more excited! I will have to give an update when I get home from that little adventure.
Love, abbie