Italy Trip: Chinque Terre

We stayed the night in La Spezia and boarded a boat the next morning to tour Chinque Terre. 

 Considered a UNESCO World Heritage Site (which means it's preserved and protected by the government to maintain its unique cultural significance), Chinque Terre are five towns along the Mediterranean Sea that you pop into and out of by boat (or train or bus; they are not accessible by car).

 At each stop, we waited about 20 minutes while tourists disembarked and boarded the boat.

 The kids went a tad loopy on the boat ride since it was two hours long, but we finally made it to the end!

 We got off in Montorosso al Mare.

 The kids played at the beach for awhile and John and Krista left to get started on their hike. They wanted to do the hike back through all five towns, but they were also going to see how they felt along the way.

It was heavenly to be without coats for the first time since last fall! 

After sandwiches (this area is known for its focaccia bread)...

 and gelato (this pistachio was wowing us all - even the kids ditched their strawberry for it!)...

 we started on the hike to the next town.

For two kids who put up a huge stink about our Sunday family forest walks every single week, they were sprinting into action. The walking sticks always help.

 

It was a hot day despite the overcast sky. About an hour into the hike, Adam told me a story about hiking this trail with his parents 13 years ago and how they had come upon a 200 year old man selling lemons and his mom bought one just to be nice (there are lemon groves dotting the terraces all along the path). Just then, we came upon an ancient fellow selling .... lemon juice! And orange juice! Adam didn't think it was the same guy .... but it made me wonder. We purchased one of each for 4 euros total and they were both refreshing and delicious. Whoever he was, he had definitely improved upon the business idea.

The hike lasted maybe 3 hours. It was really steep up and down with plenty of narrow pathways that drop down steep hillsides and cliffs, plus hundreds of stone steps. I honestly don't know if I'd done it with kids if I'd known how hard and precarious it'd be. But they did really well and they were pretty happy hikers the whole time, so it was worth it for sure.

 And you can't beat the views. Insane!!!

Noah was petering out just as Vernazza, our destination, came into view. When he saw it, he was able to finish.

We stopped for a snack of olive focaccia, then we made the final descent.

 
Shoes and socks back off!

Time to relax and enjoy the views!

 
When we got hungry for dinner, we took a 10 minute train ride to Manarola, one of the Chinque Terre towns where we'd booked our apartment.



When we got there, we enjoyed even more incredible views! I could've stayed here for a week!

 This dinner was my favorite of the whole trip. Adam and I shared a sea bass and it was everything I'd hoped for. Appetizers were anchovies, another regional specialty.

And finally, this shot. Because it's great.

Italy Trip: Venice

Adam was a missionary in Italy 15 years ago and had been several times since as a tour guide for his parents and later for his half-Italian grandmother who'd never visited. It was never top of our list of travel options because he'd already done it. But when we were discussing ideas with his old college buddy, John, who wanted to visit us with his wife, Krista, we decided it would be great for all of us to have Adam as our very own tour guide for our first time through Italy. It was the right choice. 

Our trip started when we all flew into Milan, rented cars, hopped in them, and sped to Venice. We originally planned to skip Venice, but changed our minds.

John and Krista flew in from Utah and powered through their jet-lag to make the drive. We all met up in Maestre, a town just outside of Venice.

 After some pizza for dinner (this was mine: egg, asparagus shavings, cheese, panchetta - doesn't look like much but it was one of my top 2 pizzas on the trip) we all crashed at the hotel. After a good night of sleep, John and Krista perked right up!

 Of course, I was immediately dying over all the architecture. Venice is a city in decay, which surprised me, but it shouldn't have. An old city built on water is subject to that kind of thing. In San Marco Square, however, the buildings are gleaming!

 There was a huge, old photograph of this pink and white building in our hotel and I immediately fell in love. In the picture, the square is flooded and people are holding their pants up and walking around. It's so great. I'm glad it wasn't flooded for us, though. I wouldn't have thought it was quite so enchanting.

 Adam and Noah in front of my favorite building. I really love this picture of them.

The whole crew, just getting warmed up for withstanding many days of my Over-documentation Syndrome.

Noah looking adorable in front of St. Mark's basilica.

Chasing, heckling and feeding the birds was the most exciting part of the day for the kids.

 This was early in the trip when the kids would still get in front of the camera.

 We were planning to skip the gondola because Adam remembered it being over-the-top expensive. But John found one for 80 euros for the six of us. Perfect! We went for it.

 Our gondolier was Lorenzo and it was so fun to hear Adam speak with him in Italian. Lorenzo is a 4th generation gondolier and his son is expected to be the 5th. If he chooses not to do it, they must transfer their license to another person. There are 450 gondolas allowed in the city. We all loved the gondola experience completely. What a place! There's just nothing like Venice.

We floated by Mozart's former residence when he was age 15. That was unexpected!

Our first gelato of the trip set the bar high. 

 Krista is 7 months pregnant but you can hardly tell.

Until she's double fisting on the gelato.

After lunch (also pretty good but I didn't take any pictures; I had a yummy seafood gumbo) and gelato, we left Venice. We rode the bus back to our cars in Maestre and headed to La Spezia to stay the night.