Cinque Terre, Italy

It has been a little while since I last posted. I have been spending a lot of time going back and forth from the US and Italy. There are perks of having my boyfriend be based in Italy and now we are able to show friends around after scoping out the surrounding areas in Tuscany. Cinque Terre is one place we have really got the hang of bringing company too, you'll be able to see for yourself in the photos why we love it so much. This post is also only showing pictures of Villages 1,4 and 5. 

The buildings go up so high and have such vibrant colors. The green shutters are a lovely compliment to the colorful buildings. The pictures above are from the first village Riomaggiore. The pictures right below are also but it's to show how much of a boating / fishing village it is. If you go between the months of June - September be sure to bring your bathing suit and a towel. The water as you can see is so clear and feels great! 

I also just love how these boats photograph so well. Cinque Terre is also easily accessible via boat. There is a ferry that goes from La Spezia the town right before Riomaggiore. It allows you to not have to drive your car into the small roads to then have limited parking. I am attaching a link to the ferry. 

https://cinqueterreinsider.com/2018/03/22/cinque-terre-ferry-schedules-2018/

Vernazza is the 4th Village which we accessed via the train. The train goes through each village and it gets you to each one fairly quickly. The first image of Vernazza plenty of people are swimming as well. It is more a sandy rocky beach than Riomaggiore (which is just rocks). You can easily go swimming at each of the villages! As you can see in the picture looking away from the village the green terrain, it's actually vineyards. Cinque Terre has very tasty wine which they seem to serve at most of the restaurants. The yellow umbrellas are a little bar and there are quite a few different bars/ restaurants to choose from. Whether you want to order a spritz or a local wine they are great spots to enjoy the Italian coast line. 

Onto the 5th village I only have a few photos to share this time, mainly to show what the village looks like and our favorite restaurant. 

Lobster Ravioli

Tiramisu

The restaurant we like to eat at is in the 5th village which looks like a castle. The pictures above are the dishes I ate and the view from one of the tables! Torre Aurora is one of my favorite restaurants in Italy this far. You can't beat the view and the staff are so nice as well as informative on the local wines and dishes to pair with them. They change up their menu seasonally so if you go you might not have these same dishes.

I hope this gives you a little idea of things to do in Cinque Terre and what to see! To be totally honest each time we go to Cinque Terre we only do two villages at a time. So if you do a day trip to really get a good idea of some villages do the first village and then finish in the 5th village for dinner. Watching the sunset, with good company and then delicious food, you can't go wrong. 

-MM

The Bell Towers of Venice

I keep noticing themes with my photos and in my Venice collection I noticed quite a few images with bell towers in them. 

Traffic jam in Venice! 

Four towers in on photo! So many towers in Italy! 

One thing I have learned to appreciate are the bell towers found in the cities of Italy. They are great for figuring out where you are and what monuments are near by. In Venice it was super helpful having so many around the city as location points. It also helped that we were staying down the street from one so it wasn't hard to get lost. With all the crazy streets that sometimes have dead ends it's very helpful to have them to look up too. If you're ever going to Venice, figure out if where you are staying is near one and go from there. 

Leaning bell towers in Venice 

The most famous tower in Venice, St. Marks Campanile and also in this photo, Doges Palace

An iconic photo of Venice Saint Marks Campanile and Doges Palace. The bridge to the right is where you can have a view of the Bridge of Sighs. 

-MM

This time Venice

The last blog post I focused on Murano and Burano, two islands near Venice. It is now time for a post about Venice itself. Back in the end of July my two friends and I had a few days off so we decided to go to Venice. We had ideas of what we wanted to see but didn't have it totally all planned out. As we tend to do when we go to Europe we just kind of wing it and explore. Which is exactly what ended up happening. The first day when we arrived we decided to stay up all day without a nap since we didn't have much time there, figured we would make the most out of our trip and just wander.

Those images were just a few of images of just wandering around and getting lost. I don't like saying I'm lost... I like saying I'm on an adventure, because you can't really be lost if you don't know where you're going in the first place! :) 

The rest of the wandering around through Venice I just kept focusing on the architecture as you can see above! There were the essentials to photograph like the Rialto bridge, Bridge of Sighs and then St. Marks Basilica. We didn't go into any of the buildings because we didn't feel we had enough time so we just looked at everything from the outside. Realistically you won't just go to Venice for 3 days like we did. There is just way to much to see, but we had a great time exploring a new city and look forward to going back one day, (at least I can't wait!)

Here are some tips:

Plan to be there for at least a week and for the water taxis to take forever so don't be in a rush.

It will most likely be Very crowded.

It's hot in the summer so dress appropriately but remember you can't have your shoulders showing if you go in the churches so pack a light sweater or shall. 

Go with a plan if you'd like or just wander, you will find things to keep you occupied either way.

Last but not least, have fun and eat well, it's Italy so the food is amazing! 

Ciao! 

-MM

Murano and Burano Italy

I recently went to Venice Italy but I am focusing this post on the nearby Islands of Murano and Burano. Murano is an island about a 20 minute boat ride from Piazza San Marco in Venice. The island is known for their glass blowing work. My friends and I went there right around 1 pm the prime hot time. Luckily some of the shops had air conditioning so we just wandered from store to store looking at all the beautiful pieces, even getting to see some of the glass being blown in front of us! I was respectful and didn't take any pictures of the works of art but heres one of around the island. 

We hopped on another boat to Burano which again was about 20 minutes away, this time from Murano. We learned you can't be in a rush when in Venice. Burano is where the fishermans houses are and they are each a different color! We were told you can't miss it and we really couldn't the houses speak for themselves. 

Each house really was a different color! 

Laundry that matches the house color! 

These are just a few of the images that I had a blast photographing. Once we got off the boat onto Burano we also didn't follow the way everyone else went we just went our own way. We did finally wander towards where the crowds were but it was fun being just with the locals.

It's as if he was posing.

These islands were the highlight of the 3 days we spent in Venice! I am incredibly happy we went even if it was 40 degrees outside. I'll have to do another post about Venice next! 

-MM