Unfortunately, we never made it to the Amalfi Coast, partly because it was too expensive, and partly because le Cinque Terre are the greatest towns ever. More about that below!
Venice
I had heard crazy conflicting things about Venice. Some people loved it, some people couldn't stand it. I think the secret is good planning; you need to stay in central Venice, not on the mainland, you need to abandon such abstract notions as "plans," and you need to go at the right time of year (i.e. April).
We couchsurfed for three nights, and our host fed us, showed us his favorite secret spots around the city, and took us out on the canals in his own boat. His apartment was right on the canal, near the Rialto.
The pink building was ours:
Boating on the canals was lovely. There is a lot of traffic on the water, but luckily, all we had to do was drift while our personal boatsman oared us along.
Besides drifting down the canals, Hilary and I attempted to get lost (and failed! there are too many signs), ate lots of pizza patate (potato pizza) and gelato, basked in the sunshine, and wandered to and fro, across bridges and through the piazzas.
Venice was beautiful, truly unique, and easily the most romantic city I have ever been to. Yes, more than Paris.
Le Cinque Terre
We took a train to Cinque Terre, five tiny villages on the coast near Milan. The villages are built onto the sides of rocky cliffs, and trails connect all five. We hiked all the way from one end to the other on the very first day.
We originally planned to stay only a day and half. But we decided to stay one more night... and then one more night... and then one more night. We just couldn't leave!
Each day, we hiked through olive groves, orchards of lemons and oranges, along cliffs and over swinging rope bridges. We spent one day climbing to a mountaintop church. The trail twisted back and forth, and the church came in and out of view, with the sea flashing distantly beneath us. When we finally reached the top, we were greeted by a fresh water fountain (the best drink I've ever had), a quiet sanctuary, and the perfect view.
We lunched on focaccia bread, snacked on gelato in the afternoon, spent the evenings on the beach, cooked pasta with local pesto sauce for dinner, and went to sleep early each night.
Absolute paradise.
Trani/Bari
There isn't as much to say about Trani and Bari. We had to go to Bari to catch our ferry to Greece, so we decided to spend a day or two exploring the area.
Trani and Bari are both beach towns, and their greatest attraction (for me) was that they were full of real Italians. We didn't see a single other tourist. Nobody spoke English. We drank real Italian coffee and observed the real Italian lifestyle.
Saturday night, after one last round of pizza and gelato, we climbed aboard our ferry bound for Patras, and left Italy in the waves, for the time being.
Ciao from Cinque Terre!
Que tu es belle. Les histoires sont vraiment interessantes. Nous t'embracions tres forts! Maman et Papa.
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