Saturday was a day of adventure as we set out to visit Riomaggiore and Manarola, two of the five fishing villages that are set high on the cliffs overlooking the Mediterranean sea.
We drove from our flat to catch a train in La Spezia, which is very near the Cinque Terre, but just makes getting there easier. Simple as this may sound, we used our GPS, to hopefully make it even easier, and it actually made it a little more complicated. Our GPS guide who shall remain nameless took us down cramped alleyways and winding up and over the hills overlooking La Spezia to the point that Mark questioned whether or not the GPS had any idea where she was taking us at all. The kids were a little freaked out (as was I) to be winding up and up on sometimes switch-back roads that were often only wide enough for a compact car in our rather bulky minivan. But the views from that high were fantastic, so our little detour was, in hindsight worth it.
In mild relief, our not-so-trusty GPS guide led us eventually back down the hill on a much wider and safer road back into the main city and we found parking and got ourselves to the train station.
The kids were beside themselves with excitement that they were going to ride a train! We got our tickets and stopped in at the train station McDonald's to pick up a quick lunch before boarding. Please don't balk at us for eating at a European McD's. In our defense, it was the first "american" food we had eaten since we arrived and keep in mind we have 4 young children to feed (ha ha ha). We did manage to score a red ballon for each of the girls, so I guess it was worth it. ;-)
Mark warned us that we would need to eat quickly because the train from La Spezia station to Riomaggiore was very short, 8 minutes tops. We had only a couple of minutes to see the last of La Spezia, then entered a very long dark tunnel and as we emerged from the tunnel, we caught our first glimpse of the crystal blue waters and cliffs overlooking the Mediterranean sea. It was a gorgeous, sunny, 60 degree day, so it was an amazing introduction to this historic and romantic place we were about to visit. The kids have a magical love for the ocean, so they were just as in awe of the sight as we were.
When we got off the train we couldn't see the town we were expecting to find, and from where we were standing on the train platform it was sort of disorienting to figure out which direction to go to get to where we were going (Riomaggiore). We looked left and right and decided to follow a rocky path out and around the cliffs to our left. As we looked down at the gently rippling ocean below, we saw the tops of what we are pretty certain were dozens of purple jellyfish foating in the water. We rounded a sharp corner and there before us was the great wide ocean in its magnificence!
We took a few photos and then climbed a very narrow, steep staircase that led into a shadowy and rustic alley that seemed to be taking us into the city. On our immediate left was a stone stairway heading up
and ahead of us was a narrow pathway. We chose to stay on the pathway and were directed by a kind woman to stay on the path because it would be easier for the girls.
Before we knew it, we were on the main winding street of Riomaggiore which leads down to the docks for the boats. We first headed away from the docks (a very steep hill) to explore and find a place where we could try their famous Ligurian foccacia. Within a couple of minutes, we found a little shop selling at least 10 kinds of foccacia and we ordered enough for everyone to enjoy. What a treat! We now understand why they are known for the foccacia! WOW.
We had a blast taking photos of the kids who were thoroughly enjoying this city:
We made our way down to the boat dock and Maisie quickly began making friends with several cute older Italian couples who were enjoying the sunshine there. They may have also been waiting for the boat that travels between the towns. Mark went over with her to one gentleman in particular, who she was for some reason very intrigued by. Once they learned her name, they were all calling to her and she was eating up the attention! We were snapping photos and taking video of it because it was so funny to see our one year old charming the crowd like that! She was waving and dancing and just cracking us up!
The time passed quickly in Riomaggiore, and we headed to catch the next train to the next town called Manarola. Here we got off the train, followed the crowds down a tile stairway and into a long tiled tunnel which took us out to a square that overlooked the main street heading to their boat dock. Little did we know that this was the very town we had used as our main photo on this blog. So, from the ocean, the photo at the top of this page is what Monarola looks like--pretty amazing, huh? This town seemed much smaller than Riomaggiore and the little street heading down to the ocean view was very quaint and charming. Mark and Joyce teased me because I said I appreciated how "clean" it felt, so now every town we visit, I give it my "clean"
rating/approval. We ate at a cute little restaurant and enjoyed some amazing pasta dishes. Joyce and I peeked into a pottery shop on our way out of town and the kids enjoyed running around in the square and meeting some italian children who were close to their age. Cami even got to practice a little bit of Italian with them; interestingly, one of the girls she was talking to is also named Camilla. She also really gets a kick out of telling people that her middle name is Firenze :).
Sunday was our day to visit Pisa & Fiesole. Mark decided to give our GPS another chance, and this time she did alright (it helped that he had been to Pisa before). The kids were beside themselves (once again) because the Leaning Tower of Pisa had been their #1 Italian landmark they wanted to visit (since it is one of just a few they were familiar with). The old walled city of Pisa was busier than we had imagined it would be at this time of year, and there were a lot of students visiting that day for some reason. The Leaning Tower did not disappoint! Joyce said it was just as big as she thought it would be and I thought it was bigger than I imagined. Prior to our trip, I had heard others say it was smaller than they imagined, so I guess I was really setting my expectations low. There were big wind gusts that day, so the clouds in the sky were moving rapidly above the tower, so it looked like the
tower was actually falling at times---pretty trippy. The kids had fun seeing the tower and I just kept pinching myself thinking about the fact that we had our kids with us in such an amazing and historic place of the world--it's still unreal to me at times.
The kids immediately found the big grassy lawn next to the tower and began chasing the pigeons that were congregating there, then we grabbed some lunch and did a little shopping; each of the kids bought a sparkly, purple miniature statue of the leaning tower. What else would you expect from 3 little girls? We found out that kids under 8 years of age can't climb to the top of the tower, so we just decide to enjoy it from the ground.
After visiting Pisa, we were off to see our great friends Sean and Shandra Galloway in Fiesole. Six (or seven?) years ago, Campus Crusade assigned them to begin the Campus Crusade ministry in Italy. During that time, they have lived and worked there, sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ with Italian college students and others and have been recruiting more workers for this area of the world. They live in Fiesole, which is a romantic hill town that overlooks the [also very romantic] city of Florence (Firenze). They graciously welcomed us into their amazing flat in the center of the city, which contains an Etruscan tomb that predates the time of Christ! Shandra served us some delicious foccacia she made which is a local favorite, and then we celebrated her birthday with Sean and their two sons, Shea and Shad--great job on the cake, boys!
Shandra took us to the patio of a close-by restaurnant so we could see the glorious view looking down to Firenze--the girls were so excited to see the Duomo. Did you know that the Duomo of Firenze is the largest free-standing dome in the world??? I didn't remember that from our last trip here, so that
was a fun fact to learn.
Last, but not least, the Galloways introduced us to their favorite restaurant in their town. I wish I could remember the name...Our food was delicious and we all had a fantastic time visiting. The kids especially enjoyed getting to go peek in the kitchen while the chefs worked on their entrees. It reminded us of the Ratatouille movie.... :) Hopefully this will not be our last time at that restaurant.
Maisie certainly enjoyed herself there!
Fiesole was such a beautiful town, it is now in my top three places to visit in Italy, so far... I can't believe we missed it last time we were here!
We were all so tired from our weekend of touring, but what amazing memories we made!
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