Italy...Cinque Terra.....and more Gelato

We drove across the flat lands of Italy and into the mountains. We arrived in a national park called Cinque Terra. It consisted of five villages that were connected by walking paths. The differences in the types of vegetation were really interesting. We saw oranges, lemons, limes, olives, figs, grape vinyards, and cherry trees. Dad and I stopped and picked some from a tree that seemed to be growing wild. Dad got a stick and pulled down the branch so we could reach the cherries. They were tiny and very delicious.

We stayed in a town called Levato, a town nearby because the actual Cinque Terra villages were very pricy. We looked all around for a place to stay for a reasonable price. After a couple of hours of going up to houses and hotels we decided to head out of town. On the way out we saw a sign for Maria Rosa’s B&B. Finally we had a place to stay. It was run by a little Italian woman that spoke no English. Fortunately her daughter was there and helped us get checked in. It was a little house that was hundreds, maybe even a thousand, years old (no exaggeration!) We stayed in a little room with three single beds pushed together. It was cute and very much so the authentic Italy we were looking for. We woke up and had breakfast outside.

We spent today at Cinque Terra. I set out for a run across all five villages. The trails in between were not at all what I had expected. If any of you have read “Born to Run” the trails were similar to what is described there. It was hot and very hilly. The trails were more like goat paths, barely one skinny person wide. Some places were on the edge of a sheer cliff with no guard rails. I ran through all the towns and then back to the one in the middle, a total of 7 or 8 hard miles. The view was very pretty. The Mediterranean ocean is a very blue color.

We drove up to northern Italy and stayed in a town by the water. We went out for another Italian dinner of pizza, pasta, bread, and calamari. We stayed at a small Italian inn and just ate the best pastry I have had since entering Italy. It was a steaming hot croissant with apricot jam inside. Today we will go to Monaco.

Sarah

PS. So far I have tried lemon, cantaloupe, pineapple, strawberry, vanilla, orange, pink grapefruit, pistachio, and rum raisin (drinking age is a lot lower here, jk.)