Cinque Terre

This was the path I tortured her with the see a panoramic view. Little did we know this was the start to our hike the next day.

Yesterday evening my mom and I made it to Manarola it was too late to go out and do a lot so we just walked a little bit around the town and ate dinner. Today we woke up and really hadn't planned anything so when we went to buy our park passes for the walk between the 5 towns we found out that only the walk between Vernazza and Monterosso were open and the rest were having problems. I didn't want to be boring and just take the train between each town so i convinced my mom to take the back hike that is free from Manarola to Corniglia. I think I almost killed her off. It was a semi-difficult hike mostly because it was extremely hot and humid and the majority of it was up-hill with a lot of switchbacks. My sister also convinced her not to bring runners so she was doing it in Birkenstock's which were okay but probably not the best support on the small rock paths. It was really worth it though because for me it was really fun and the views were amazing. It was also kind of similar to the Path of the Gods in Positano because you got to see a lot of the garden areas with grape vines. 

It took us around 2 hours to do the hike. 

Manarola

Corniglia

Twins

Look who we ran into! It's Sean and Krysta (and Alex hiding inside)

Mom had blisters so we went to the train station to make our way to Vernazza

Vernazza

We had a lot of fun shopping for bracelets here 

We also visted a beach and ate calamari, shrimp and anchovies (I did NOT eat the anchovies, I hate seafood so I can only be daring to a certain extent)

Look who we ran into again. Sean and Alex. Krysta was off enjoying the good shopping for jewlery as well 

Ricotta and Figs and Lemon and Basil

From Vernazza we decided to do the coastal walk to Monterosso which was 7 euros. I really think it should have been less since the rest of the paths between the other towns were closed off. 

Looking back at Vernazza

The narrow path we were on

We found Krysta and Alex once again in Monterosso. Sean had left for Milan.

We ended the night back in Manarola for dinner. The Colella family has really ruined Italian food for me. I ate some gnocci and it was horrible compared to theirs. I miss La Casereccia and how every single thing they made for us was amazing. Now I can't eat any other Italian meal without comparing it to theirs and so far nothing has measured up. 

-A

Final Day on Ischia

The day before I stopped by the Castello Aragonese d'Ischia. It was cool to see but apparently I should have gone inside to see the amazing panoramic view.

Yesterday was our last day of classes on Ischia. We woke up not feeling the best from the night before on the beach but we didn't want to waste our last day. Brittany and I were just thinking of packing and then walking around town but then we heard some other girls say that they were heading to St. Angelo so we decided last minute to bus there before afternoon class. The town was very beautiful but it didn't take long to go through the entire thing, which I guess was perfect for us since we had to be back for class anyways. 

(it looks like I had some water marks for the past two days-shoot)

The weirdest thing I think I've seen so far in Italy was on the bus ride back home. Brittany and I walked onto the bus and there was no one else on but in between two seats was a tiny shopping bag with about 10 fresh fish in it. One of the fish that was protruding from the bag had it's head chopped off and was leaking blood all over the floor of the bus. Unfortunately, I missed getting a picture of this because right as I was about to a man stepped in front of it blocking it. It ended up being his fish and he came in and put them in a bigger bag but the blood was still all over the floor. 

On the way to class I ran into the baby black lab again! She had already grown so much in the three weeks I've been here. As I stood up from petting the dog I heard someone shout my name. I turned around and it was my mom sitting and eating salad in the restaurant on the beach! She had landed in Ischia the night before and had ended up busing over to Forio for part of the day.

Matching dress girls

Green Room D-Brittany, Carlee, Sarah, Taryn, Me and Aliya all dressed up for the final dinner

Later at night we had the final dinner. The family took us on a tour of their garden and a few people in the class were able to help Amerigo make some honey. 

Artichokes and lemons

A rosemary branch I wish my plant in Canada got as big as this one branch

The family is so sweet to us they had a massive BBQ and even hired a DJ. 

Lauren combing some honey

It was bittersweet. We had so much fun and it's exciting to know that I will be seeing other areas of Italy with my mom for the next week but it is sad to leave the family environment where we were treated so amazingly well. We had dinner at La Casereccia together every night and were living in the family-run hostel, Ring Hostel and everyone went out of their way to make sure we were having a great time.

 -A