Day 14 & 15 - Cinque Terre > Florence
Hi!
View from Campiglia, Italy
Our last day In Cinque Terre was wonderful. I have to say.... it's been my favorite city of our trip so far. We found a hiking path from Campiglia, Italy to Porta Verde, Italy that was supposedly the best hike in all of Cinque Terre. Even though technically, those cities aren't part of the Cinque Terre (5 towns). The hike was supposed to take about 2 1/2 hours. Our research suggested we start in Campiglia so the hike was less brutal and equally rewarding. As soon as we began, we understood why. We took a tiny bus up and up and up into the mountains where we found the path entrance. There were actually two path entrances to the same destination with two difficulties. We took the harder of the two because the views were supposedly much more rewarding. This was accurate. THANK GOODNESS we started in Campigilia. We hiked mostly downhill the entire time. The trail was mostly rock we had to crawl over. The views were breath taking. We hiked in about 95 degrees weather with direct sun. A few hikers passed us on the trail. They were all decked out in hiking gear and cursing like sailors (they all started in Porta Verde and climbed upward). I hiked in sandals I bought at Zara. Hahahaha I'm sure it was a site for the other hikers but they actually did a great job! Props to Zara for making semi ok hiking sandals. Josh and I finished the hike in 2 hours. We were extremely hot and thirsty at this point but luckily the trail ended in a city on the beach so we threw ourselves into the ocean to cool off and then ate a hearty lunch. The day was beautiful. We hopped on a water taxi to get back to La Spezia.
Hiking up the rocks
Today, we said goodbye to our wonderful host Maria and braved the Italien trains once more. Luckily we only had to travel a few hours to Florence and it was so seamless! FINALLY! We managed to find our new apartment without any trouble. It's gorgeous. We are on the same block as the huge, famous dome in Florence! Our place has a kitchen, bathroom, washing machine and huge windows. Josh and I are very excited to start our full week here! For dinner, we found a little cafe near our place that supposedly had some of the best food. I ordered ravioli with meat sauce and Josh ordered tomatoe soup and bread. What we didn't realize, was the bread for his tomatoe soup was pre soaked in his soup. Hahahaha. He received more of a paste like substance than a "soup with bread". It was delicious! Just unexpected. My ravioli was creamy and scrumptious!
Looking forward to what Florence has to offer!
Lilly
Cafe Elite - Complimentary
Lunch in Porta Verde
Pizzeria Pulcinella - 27€
Cafe Elite - Complimentary
Rivalta Cafe - 21€
Birreria Centrale - 38.4€
The end of our hike at Porta Vedre
