Cinque Terre

I don't really know how to even describe Cinque Terre, other than it is BEAUTIFUL! So here is a brief description from Wikepedia... :)

"The Cinque Terre is a rugged portion of coast on the Italian Riviera. "The Five Lands" comprises five villages: Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore. The Cinque Terre is noted for its beauty. Over centuries, people have carefully built terraces on the rugged, steep landscape right up to the cliffs that overlook the sea. Part of its charm is the lack of visible "modern" development. Paths, trains and boats connect the villages, and cars cannot reach it from the outside."



We missed the boat that takes you to the villages, so we decided to drive into the area, park and walk into Monterosso.

On the way we stopped...



and this is what we saw over our shoulders.



It was harder to find a parking space than we thought it would be (It ended up being an Italian holiday). So Kent dropped us off at the opening of the village (nice guy)and we waited while he parked.



Then we started walking and it was so, so pretty.











I loved seeing the flowers and lemon trees.





The lemons smell soooo good! Check out Kim's lemon!



Italians seem to wear a lot of beautiful scarves and light "flow-ey" clothes that I find really simple and pretty. So, I really enjoyed looking through their little shops. They had a lot of unique jewelry, bags, and clothes. Most of the prices were pretty high. Though, I did end up finding a "flow-ey," gauze-like, purple shirt and a cute beaded ring, which was kind of fun (and I felt a little lucky)! :)



Cinque Terre is also known for their seafood (especially anchovies on Monterosso), grapes, olives, and pesto. We ate in a beautiful spot and we ate some really yummy food. I had pasta with pesto. It was really, really so good! I wish I could have brought some home! I've never tasted pesto quite like this - so good, really!



While we ate, we watched what seemed to be some local boys jumping the cliffs. Some of them were brave right off the bat, others worked up to it! :)



What a beautiful day!

Florence and Pisa

After Volterra, we made it to our next place of stay... Camp Darby in Livorno, Italy. It was nice, simple, quiet, and convenient from a few different sights in Italy.



The next day we made it to Florence and Pisa for some sightseeing.

First, Florence.





Palazzo Vecchio (town hall of the city).



In no offense, we deemed this the "square of nakedness"...



with beautiful music! :)



The domed cathedral of the city, Santa Maria del Fiore, known as The Duomo.





The doors to the Baptistery ("Gates of Paradise").



A little pasta shopping in the market. We also found some beautiful scarves, silk ties, and leather in the open air market. It was fun. Florence is a very busy city!



And of course you can't go to Florence without seeing Michelangelo's statue of David in the Galleria dell Accademia. Now for those of you that have been you may already know that you are not allowed to take pictures in the museum. We did not know this - until after we took the picture. So I'm posting the picture with no ill intent - since they did not confiscate our camera. And just as the Mona Lisa was much smaller than I would have thought, David was much bigger than I would have thought! Sorry for the nakedness (and the man pointing). Kavan (looking at the pictures) was much concerned that someone would "make his privates," but the "whole" statue was pretty amazing in person. And if I remember right his second toe was slightly longer than his big toe! :)



Second, Pisa.



What are they doing?



Of course we had to be goofy tourists and join in.





The Leaning Tower of Pisa.



We even ate dinner right there by the tower. I should have had the pizza but had the lasagna instead. It was yummy!

Volterra

We drove through the Tuscan region of Italy, and it was beautiful! - Tons of vineyards and olive trees everywhere.





Then, we made a quick visit to Volterra and found out that Volterra has definitely not banked on its fame from Twilight. (Just FYI, New Moon was actually filmed in Montepulciano not Volterra - go figure.)



The actual city was way up there.



It was this huge fortress type - walled city that was as medieval as you could imagine! It had coat of arms carved on the sides of buildings and flags waving! It was so fairy tale like.





And although Volterra is not known in Italy for Twilight, it is known for its alabaster. This is a man in his shop carving a horse sculpture out of alabaster - with not even a picture - amazing!



And this, to me, is one of the most endearing photos of our whole trip! Layne saw them just kind of "people watching" and finally decided to take a picture. So sweet and so, so cute!







This is a building out of black and white alabaster. Kind of cool, huh?



These next two pictures, I can totally imagine the knights rushing in on their fabulous strong horses - hooves pounding on the cobblestone.







It is way up there!

Verona

After Venice, we started our next day with a quick stop in Verona. Beautiful!









This is the street where Juliet's house is, just through the arch on the right.





Letters to Juliet - not quite as "romantic - looking" as the movie, but taken very seriously none the less.





The Courtyard.



The Balcony.



A statue of Juliet. The myth is - if you touch Juliet's right side you'll have eternal love.



They also had a great little sandwich shop and bakery in Verona - so yummy!