A Vacation from a Vacation Part II

So finally, here it is: Part II of my wonderful trip with my family. Enjoy!

A preview of Rome at the Trevi Fountain

        After Venice we took the train straight to Cinque Terre, another natural wonder that is perfect for hiking. It literally means “5 lands” in Italian, the reason being that it consists of 5 small, picturesque towns all within hiking distance of each other. What makes it so unique is that all the towns and paths are built on the rocky slopes right on the Mediterranean Sea. Lemon trees and grape vines dominate the hills, adding an Italian sentiment to the already perfect landscape. Unfortunately, there were some serious mudslides last year and two of the trails between some of the towns were still closed. Luckily there are boats and a train to connect them all, plus I now have an excuse to go back one day!

Walking through some of the cramped alleyways in Vernazza. 

Riomaggiore, the biggest and southernmost town in Cinque Terre

Just another view of Riomaggiore. This one is from the boat we took back to Monterosso. I highly recommend this because it's a new view of the towns and it's pretty inexpensive. 

        We stayed in the town called Monterosso al Mare which, in my opinion, was the best choice for lodging. It is a very relaxing town with fewer hills than the others, has a sizeable beach, and has a spectacular view of all the other towns, since it is the northernmost town of the five.

Going up the first hill of the hike between Monterosso and Vernazza. Don't worry, this was the hardest trail. You can see Monterosso in the distance, though the main part is still behind the other hillside.

The rocky, but wonderful beach in Monterosso. Behind me you can barely make out the 4 other towns, though it's much easier to do in person! 

        After our stay in another natural paradise, we dove right back into another big city, Florence. It quickly became apparent that I was in the birthplace of the Renaissance upon seeing the many statues, frescoes, and monuments throughout the city. For me the two highlights of this trip were the cathedral and, of course, the statue of David.

I might add that this is the best pizza I've ever eaten. Far superior to all the other pizza I ate in Italy. The restaurant was called "Il Pizzaiuolo"

And here's the best gelato I've ever had! It's called Grom and was recommended by Rick Steve's, who said it's all natural and is "home made". This gives it a more unique flavor from all the other gelato places, so that's probably the main reason I liked it so much.

        By then I was pretty sick of seeing cathedrals since literally every important city in Europe has one. But I found Florence’s as very unique due to the beautifully constructed, green-patterned exterior and, of course, the dome depicting the transcendence to heaven and hell. It was well worth climbing the dome for a spectacular view of the city and a closer look of the dome’s artwork, but we never actually explored the actual church interior (it didn’t look that special, especially for 4-5 euro).

There's the dome! The cathedral looks even more amazing from the front, but it's hard to capture on camera.

From the top of the dome. Beautiful italian architecture and hills surround us

        I know that seeing Michelangelo’s statue of David may seem like an exaggerated tourist site, but I personally enjoyed it thoroughly. The downside is that it is quite expensive to go into the museum that houses it, but at least there are plenty of other interesting works there as well. Also there is a David reproduction statue in one of the major city squares, but for me it didn’t do justice. Turning the corner in the museum for my first glimpse of this perfect statue was amazing. I could only think how ironic it is that David is now the real giant, standing at 5.17m, or 17ft!

Pictures aren't allowed here, they're probably punishable by death. So, "I didn't take this one"

        Our next stop was in Assisi, a small city/town that I never knew existed. It is a very religious place that is just filled with churches, largely due to the fact that Saint Francis was born there. It’s another relaxing, natural place with a panorama of farmlands and small towns from Assisi’s place on a large hillside. Its main cathedral is very beautiful and unique as well, but most of its character comes from the traditional, medieval architecture that dominates the town.

One view from our hotel, chimney sweeps (a type of bird) filled the air that evening. In this one picture you can see 5 church towers/domes. This gives an idea of how important religion is here.

With my parents right outside of Roca Maggiore, some of the remaining watchtowers and barracks from the city's ancient wall. However, the picture overlooks the town and its underlying landscape

More chimney sweeps, along with the setting sun

        Our final stop was the biggest in Italy: Rome. I absolutely loved Rome because it is just filled with rich history and monuments from every era since the Romans came in 300 B.C. Every monument is equally amazing; I cannot go too much into depth because there are just too many epic monuments and experiences to describe. Rome is definitely a city that would take closer to a week to fully explore, even though we were able to cram most of it in about 2 days. My favorite sights there were the Coliseum and basically everything in the Vatican City, though my list could just go on and on. Rome is a must for anyone for anyone going to Italy, but I would probably say the same for Venice and Cinque Terre for their unique qualities.

The first monument we saw in Rome, and the only one we saw our first evening after arriving.

Too big for one photo... One thing I might add about the Coliseum is that we used the Rick Steves free audioguide for our visit. We just downloaded the app on our iPhones and it worked great for several sights in Rome, despite being a little cheesy sometimes. 

Monument to Vittorio Emanuele II

The Roman Forum. It was cool to walk through and see it all, but I would almost say that it's not worth buying the tickets to actually go in. The view from outside is pretty good

The Pantheon. This was no doubt one of my favorite sights in Rome. Its dome was particularly impressive to me, especially considering when it was built. You can see me with one of its 8 massive granite columns, imported by the Romans from Egypt. 

The Sistine Chapel was awe inspiring, despite being a little crowded. I also didn't take this one with my phone...

Make sure you climb the Basilica's dome. As you can see the view is amazing, looking directly over St Peter's Square.

And finally here is Saint Peter's Basilica! It's definitely the most impressive church I've ever seen. Its proportions are unbelievable and it's obviously difficult to feel this through a photo. To give you an idea, the black altar in the middle of the picture is 7 stories tall! 

        By the time our trip was over, I was about ready to restart my solo adventures with all the new people, surprises, and unpredictability. I actually didn’t know where I was going until 1 hour after my parents left! So it was a great start back to my old habits (I finally chose Pisa).  I was also getting tired of staying in hotels because I think they are too tidy and they are not very social places. I can’t wait to do another blog update, there is still so much to cover! Check Facebook to generally see what I’ve been doing and where I am now!

And of course a preview of what's to come: