i promised you more italy photos, so here you go. :) i am getting through them rather slowly.
after spending a week in beautiful, but very crowded, rome we were all ready to escape the city and discover the tuscany region. but getting out of rome is much harder than getting into rome. we spent three hours standing in line to get our rental car. our car turned out to be a "three-door" which, with some very clever packing and stacking, just barely fit the four of us and our luggage. once we were finally wedged into the car and on the road we faced another challenge. street signs. in many cases there are literally no signs marking streets at all. and when they are present, they are usually pointing the wrong direction causing unsuspecting tourists to follow them around and around in circles in growing desperation. however, we finally managed to defy rome's evil plot to trap us there forever and made it out of the city and onto the beautiful winding roads of tuscany. we were able to lodge at a luxurious old stone house on the side of a hill overlooking a village spreading down the valley.
we spent the morning there feasting on fresh figs and enjoying a dip in the pool. :)
unfortunately we were only able to stay there one night so we packed up and drove north. we stopped in pisa for a look at that leaning tower.
then it was driving north again.
we finally found our way to the mediterranean coast. we were able to find lodging in a quaint little family owned bed and breakfast directly overlooking the sparkling blue sea!
by the time we were settled into our room the sun was setting, so we found a nice cliff overlooking the cinque terre to enjoy the view. i am a huge lover of sunsets. they are my favorite part of the day. but this particular sunset was by far the most wondrously magical sunset i have ever, and perhaps will ever, experience
the next day we hiked through four of the cinque terre villages.
we hiked through vineyards on the sides of the hills and of course had to sample their juicy goodness!
we hit the beach for some salt water bathing. i have never seen such crystally blue water!
we finished off the cinque terre with some cliff jumping...
and a walk down the via del amore.
then it was driving north again.we finally found our way to the mediterranean coast. we were able to find lodging in a quaint little family owned bed and breakfast directly overlooking the sparkling blue sea!by the time we were settled into our room the sun was setting, so we found a nice cliff overlooking the cinque terre to enjoy the view. i am a huge lover of sunsets. they are my favorite part of the day. but this particular sunset was by far the most wondrously magical sunset i have ever, and perhaps will ever, experiencethe next day we hiked through four of the cinque terre villages.we hiked through vineyards on the sides of the hills and of course had to sample their juicy goodness!we hit the beach for some salt water bathing. i have never seen such crystally blue water!we finished off the cinque terre with some cliff jumping...and a walk down the via del amore.
Lucky!! you were at cinque terre villages at sunset! me I was there in the middle of the day, it was too sunny to take really beautiful pictures ;)
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