Cinque Terre Photo Diary

It’s now my last week of Erasmus in Italy and I am terribly sad to be leaving this beautiful country. But I must say that of my trips I can safely say that I saved the best to last. Last weekend my friends and I spent 3 days in La Spezia and visited the Cinque Terre. Unlike my last travel blog posts, for this post, I have decided to just add the photos from my Olympus Pen (and iPhone), rather than describe what we did. We got the bus from Milan that took us to La Spezia where we stayed in a cute little AirBnB. Our weekend was crammed with food, cliff-jumping, and lots of walking. Cinque Terre literally means ‘Five Towns’ which is what it is. It’s an area, just north of La Spezia, with five little picturesque seaside towns.

If you are ever travelling to the NorthWest of Italy, you absolutely must visit Cinque Terre. You’d be an idiot not to.

Pavia

It’s now one of my last weeks here in Milan. I’ve seen most of what Milan has to offer; its got some great museums, amazing architecure and beautiful parks. I’ve spent the majoriy of my Erasmus in Milan and not enough discovering Lombardy. Yesterday morning I saw a message in my Whatsapp goup chat from a friend if anyone wanted to do a spontaneous trip to Pavia. Obviously I said yes. My group of friends and I ran to the train and went to Pavia, not really knowing what there was to see or do.

After the 25minute train journey, we found out there that the Universita degli Studi di Pavia (University of Pavia) is one of the greatest in Italy and also where Christopher Columbs studied!

After strolling along the riverfront and along the Ponte Coperto, my friends and I really were not sure what to do next. We decided that the best way to see this city was to just get lost and not following a map. It seems like Pavia is full of narrow cobbled streets and many churches.

To get out of the sun, we nipped into the Duomo. Along with the great breeze it had, the Cathederal boasts amazing architecture and marble everywhere to acompany San Siro (St. Sirus). In the majority of the churches and cathederals around the world, the caskets are closed but luckily for my morbid and parculiar soul, San Siro’s casket was open. It was interesting because I was able to see his bones and the impressive clothes he was wearing.

During our last hour in Pavia we came across these the towers, otherwise know as Tre Torri. We had our guesses of what they could be, lookout towers? Chimneys? Much like Bologna’s towers, the Tre Torri in Pavia were built buy wealthy families to show how wealthy they are. In other words, the taller the tower, the wealthy the family.

Ciao Campania

Ending to a Southern Italian Tetrology Love Affair.

After spending 4 days in this chaotic and gritty city I must say I’ve learnt enough about it to know I love it (and the food is not the only reason). As I said in my first Naples blog post, Naples is not everyone’s cup of tea.

1. Naples has its own energy. As much as I love Milan, Naples has its own rhythm. It’s so difficult to describe the energy. It’s a mix of recklessness and poise. Before I started my year abroad and studied in Milan, I was warned to look both ways when crossing an Italian street and Naples is the perfect example. With the traffic lights on the roads as decoration, crossing the road can be a death wish. But I love it, locals don’t flinch when they cross the streets. The locals also create that unique energy Naples has as they are the most friendly and welcoming people, much like the Andalusians in Spain.
2. I visited Naples with a good girl pal of mine, who also happens to have a sweet tooth. Naples happens to have some amazing pastries due to its mix heritage (Austrians, Bourbons, French and Spanish). Some are biscotti all’amarena, sfogliatelle and baba au rhum.
3. Day trips to Pompeii, Positano and Sorrento. The whole point of our trip to Naples was to visit the beach. Luckily the city of Naples doesn’t have the best beach. I say luckily as we saw some amazing seaside towns. Just by jumping on the Circumvesuviana you have Pompeii and Sorrento within an hours ride.
4. Pompeii or the National Archaeological Museum? On my last full day in Naples, I spent the day in the ruins of Pompeii. Little did I know that the majority of the artefacts were in the National Archaeological Museum! I was not able to visit the museum but if I were to return, that is first on my list. I would recommend visiting the museum before heading to Pompeii.
5. Last but certainly not least, the food. Oh my, on all the holidays I have been on, this was the one where I ate like royalty. All the food was IN-CRE-DI-BLE. Yes, obviously I did eat a lot of pizza. What? Pizza comes from Naples, so I had to make the most of it (don’t judge me). All the pizzas are cooked in old wood-fire ovens  But the seafood is also pretty extraordinary and cheap for its quality!

Pompeii Is In Ruins

A Southern Italian Tetrology Love Affair.

After 2 days sunbathing and burning in Sorrento and Positano, my friend and I were craving to go to Pompeii for some history. Originally we were also going to climb up Mount Vesuvius but, soon realised that we would not have time to fit it all in. I wasn’t sure what to expect from Pompeii. Since I was a young girl and watched a children’s documentary on CBBC about how many people had died from the volcano, I had assumed that Pompei would have several skeletons lying around. I was wrong. Turns out that the majority of the historicals artefacts are in the National Archaeological Museum in Naples.

Walking along the old streets, I couldn’t shake off the haunted feeling. To think that Pompeii has been kept so well is what puzzles me. People’s houses have been kept in amazing condition, columns still standing, windows and doors still in the walls. It really is just crazy.

If you do go and visit Pompeii, I recommend to wear hiking shoes as my friend and I started a game of ‘Let’s see how many times we can trip over the old stone streets’.

Pottering Around Positano

A Southern Italian Tetrology Love Affair.

After spending a day under the Italian sun in Sorrento, my friend and I were desperately trying to cure our impressive sunburns and decided the only way we could do so was spending another day in the sun. On our way back from Sorrento, my friend and I met some lovely people who asked us, how our holiday was going and we had told them that we were struggling to find a beach. We also told them that we were thinking of going to Capri. They quickly told us that it would be a mistake not to go to Positano. So that’s what we did. We headed off to Positano. Unlike Sorrento, to get to Positano, the journey is a little awkward, we had to get the train and a bus to get there but, the views were worth it. This little bus took us along the coast tempting us with views of the ocean.

I had heard about Positano a lot in the past, to be honest, I thought I would only visit it in my dreams. For me, Positano was a pinch-me town. Everything about it was breathtakingly beautiful. It’s one of the most vibrant places I have ever visited. Once we got off the bus, we headed down through the little streets that took us to the seafront. Obviously, the streets were crammed with adorable little shops and boutiques.

After spending another day under the sun and taking full advantage of the sea, we headed back up the little narrow streets that took us right up to the bus stop. I honestly believe that everyone should visit Positano one time in their life. Whether it’s for a few hours or for a few days. It’s one of Italy’s hidden gems.

Limoncello in Sorrento

A Southern Italian Tetrology Love Affair.

For our first full day in the South, my girl pal and I decided to make the most of the amazing sun and heat, so what did we do? Go to the beach of course! I had asked a couple of friends of mine who lived in/around Naples where would be the best place to go. Their response? Sorrento. We hopped onto the Circumvesuviana (a train that stops at all the little towns along the coast from Naples to Sorrento) and headed to Sorrento. We hadn’t done must research before heading there as we were so tired from the 10.30-hour bus ride and slept, so we were a little lost in trying to search for a beach. We headed to an information point and we were told that there aren’t any “real” beaches, in fact, they are more like little decks over sea water. We didn’t let that stop us. We were going to jump into that Italian sea water, beach or no beach.

Just getting out of the train station, you could tell that already, Sorrento was a special place. Naples and the surrounding towns made me feel as if I had traveled to another corner of the Earth. Everything was so vibrant and bright. Sorrento was just crazy. With constant smells of flowers and greenery everywhere, you could tell this place was unique. Once we had made our way through the town centre and had reached the beach, we saw what the lady at the tourist office meant about there not being “real” beaches. My friend and I are used to the beaches in Spain but we quickly found out there is no comparison here. We asked a welcoming man if we could go onto the deck. He told us we had to pay. PAY? Yes. Pay. I had heard that this was common in Italy but I didn’t think I’d ever fall into that tourist trap. With 10 euros less in our pockets, we sat on the deck chairs and soaked up the Italian sun.

After 4 hours of sunbathing and siestas my friend and I decided to see what this charming little town had to offer. We walked through the little alleyways that led off from the main town square and started asking ourselves why there were so many lemons and limoncello around the town….turns out that limoncello is actually from this part of Italy! So, like good students, we bought ourselves a little, handpainted bottle of limoncello.

Naples

A Southern Italian Tetrology Love Affair.

Although I absolutely love living in Milan, it is getting pretty hot. Living in a typical Milanese apartment without air conditioning and it being 32 degrees outside can make me want to cry and crave the beach. My friend was feeling just the same way. So what did we do? We went to the South of Italy in search of the beach for 4 days.

After the 10.30-hour bus ride from Milan to Naples, my friend and I were shattered. The idea of exploring the city was a big no-no. We found our hostel, left our bags and went on the hunt for something to eat. Whilst doing so we did see a bit of Naples. I must say that Naples may not be everyone’s cup of tea. For me it was beautifully chaotic and very raw, in a ‘what you see is what you get’ kind of way. It really reminded me of Granada (Spain).

After scoffing down a delicious seafood risotto (no picture as I scoffed it down within a matter of seconds). We went back to the hostel’s reception to ask where the nearest beach was. We soon found out that there weren’t many beaches near Naples and that we’d have to get a train. I guess that’s where our Southern Italian adventure began?