Pasta, Pizza, and Pesto in Cinque Terre, Italy

Cinque Terre
is similar to Croatia (which Ryan and I visited a year and a half ago) but is way more touristy with super teeny towns. It’s nice seeing everyone walking down the main drag in swimsuits etc. compared to the Riviera where it was so muggy you wanted to be wearing nothing but it seemed everyone was dressed to the 9’s ready for Monte Carlo. The reason being tho is because all there is to do in the town is swim. And it’s a 3 minute walk from the train station to the harbor.

It’s also nice having a sand beach AND big platform like rocks to lay out on – which goes hand in hand with aqua blue water + Italian food.

We were super lazy and did mostly nothing all day except read, lay out, swim, and eat, wash, rinse, and repeat. This was the view from the restaurant we ate at the first night.

I finished Jane Eyre

which I’m going to have to add to my top 10 favs list. It was one of those books that you miss when it’s over and wish you could linger in the book’s world a few more days. I even held off starting my next book til absolute boredom took over. The funny thing is, my mom encouraged me to read Jane Eyre when I was younger – maybe 11. And I hated the first 75 pages or so. So I gave up. Admittedly, even now, the first 50 pages were pretty depressing with unlikeable characters.

Somehow when you’re 11 the idea of an 18 year old hooking up with an ANCIENT 36 year old man who’s not even handsome or charming is a pretty revolting idea. So I laugh thinking now how completely altered my opinions are. 36 seems not too old or too great a gap for an 18 year old under peculiar circumstances like these were. And romances don’t have to be limited to the cookie cutter mold of hot, suave, and rich men alongside beautiful, stylish, coquettish women. Anyway, lesson being: moms, don’t recommend your daughter read Jane Eyre until she’s at 20+. She won’t appreciate it.

Ryan and I stayed in Vernazza for 3 nights

but took day trips to some of the other Cinque Terre (5 Lands) towns.

Manarola
Which had a gorgeous vineyard hike filled with roses, poppies, grapevines of course, sunshine and great water views.

As well as deep turquoise, clear water, that was deliciously refreshing other than the scary jellyfish, which I found out later don't sting.

Riomaggiori
There was a pathway that connected Manarola to Riomaggiori called Alla D’Amore and it’s gained this reputation for being the lover’s link between the two towns. Everyone rights their names and confesses their love in graffit.

We took a boat back to Vernazza which showed off the stunning scenery.

And I can’t even begin to tell you how utterly relaxing and refreshing it was as we felt the ocean breeze and sunshine on our little sea jaunt. The temperature and force of the wind was blissfully just right.

Monterosso
Our last day was spent in Monterosso al Mare. Again just filling our day with pizza, pasta, and sunshine. Before swimming, Ryan and I took a little walk to the edge of the harbor to get a good view of the town
Cinque Terre is kind of famous for pesto – since I guess it all began somewhere around there. And consequently for lemons too. So I thought this picture with lemons and basil was pretty characteristic of the feel of the place.

There was a cat curled up in one of the baskets of peppers just below :-)

And this older woman knitting under her umbrella on the beach just next to my towel was also pretty classic.

That pretty much says it all. If you want a totally stress-free, temperature perfect, sunny splash in the sea, Cinque Terre is calling your name.

And on to Mallorca.