Forte Di Marmi

 

Last weekend Annie, Alison and I took a day trip to Forte Di Marmi. It was the most beautiful place ever. We had to take a train and a bus to get there, which was a little confusing but luckily we found some really nice people who were also going there and spoke Italian so they helped us out tremendously. This was the first sand beach I’ve been to in Italy and it was amazing. There were mountains with snow behind us while we were tanning on beautiful sandy beaches.

 

We had to walk 2km in order to make it to the public beach, which was way more crowded than all the private ones. When we tried to sit at the private ones multiple times the lifeguards made sure we knew we weren’t allowed to. But we did find a crab on the beach and got to play with him, which was really cool.

He was a little wounded, but we saved him and put him back into the water!

We finally made it to the public beach though. There was a big fence in between the two and it was significantly more crowded, but very fun nonetheless!

 


 

We spent all day tanning and playing in the waves and water. At one point we saw a group of guys tossing each other into the air and decided to join in on the fun. Annie and I asked if they could throw us and it was so much fun flipping through the air! Annie, on the other hand, went once, smacked her back on a back flop and decided she’d had enough fun for the time being.

 

The water felt really nice and we took a lot of pictures, especially with the mountains in the background!

 All in all it was a great day at the beach!

Nightlife

Annie and I at Amedeus

This past week has been pretty laid back. Besides class we’ve been walking around through the markets and trying out all the new places in town. After dinner at El Gato y La Volpe, we’ve tried out a few bars/clubs that we’ve heard about through locals—twentyone, blob, Y.A.B., the Lockness and Astors. Most of them were fun but it’s definitely a different atmosphere than in the US.

  We also learned that Duff Beer is a popular beer here in Italy (from the Simpsons). We thought that was pretty cool.

Walking around the city we noticed a lot of pictures drawn in chalk on the sidewalks. A lot of people will make chalk art on the road for a living. Some of it is really well drawn!

 

We also walked by the “lucky wild boar” at the leather market. Legend has it that if you rub the boars nose and put your hand into the fountain of water coming out of his mouth you will have good luck!

Around Firenze

The next day we decided to walk around Florence. We met up with everyone from our school, Lorenzo Di Medici, for a group dinner. We went with our roommates to meet up with everyone at the Duomo.

When we got to the dinner there was a buffet set up with a bunch of different appetizers. We got little plates and filled them up. After eating appetizers, we realized that we had actually just had “dinner.” We ended up grabbing some snacks on the way home.

 

Later that night we went out to a bar called Amedeus and got delicious shots to celebrate with Annie and Alison. We stayed up late and ended up sitting on the bridge next to the Ponte Vecchio watching the sunrise. It was beautiful.

Cinque Terre & El Gato and La Dolpe

Last night we went to a restaurant named El Gato & La Dolpe, which translates to "the cat and the wolf" in English. We had the best appetizers, which consisted of buffalo mozzarella, 2 different types of bruschetta, Italian meats and cheeses, and marinated grilled veggies.

Cinque Terre

 Cinque Terre was beautiful. It means "Five Cities" in Italian and is comprised of 5 cities on the side of a mountain. You can hike from one town to the next all with spectacular views. We hiked the first trail, the "Trail of Love."

 The trail from towns two to three was closed, so we took the Cinque Train to town number three. We hiked (all uphill) from the third to fourth town, Vernanza. Since pesto was invented in Cinque Terre, I got a delicious pesto pizza. It was so good! Then, we hiked for ten minutes towards the fifth town so we could take pictures of the spectacular view.

Apartments in the town of Vernanza

Vernanza

 The hike was pretty strenuous, so we decided to take the train to the fifth town where the beach is also located. The beaches here are different than I'm used to; instead of sand, they have rocks. But it was really fun and the water felt great! We played and climbed on rocks and tanned all day! The water was crystal blue.

On the beach in Cinque Terre!

Clear, beautiful water

All in all, it was a very fun day! We got back to Florence around 9PM exhausted ready to eat and go to bed. Tomorrow school starts and I'm taking Wine & Culture I: Wines of Italy. I'm so excited, but very tired from the beach and hiking, so off to bed.   :)   Ciao!

Orientation in Florence

Odeon Theatre

The statues above the screen.

 This morning we had orientation at 8:45 so we made sure to grab cafe on the way. It was delicious and so strong!! Our orientation was at the Odeon, a movie theatre in Piazza Strozzi. The inside was so beautiful. There were sculptures and the architecture was very impressive.

Exploring Florence and the Duomo

 Afterwards, we walked around Florence for a little, and admired the Duomo. There is so much detail and work put into it. It was amazing to see.

          

Salchicha Pizza

Caesar Salad

After walking for a bit we were starting to get hungry. Walking towards home we saw a cute restaurant called Dai Boia. We split a Caesar salad and  salchicia pizza! The pizza was amazing (yes, even with sausage on it)!!!

Afterwards, it started to rain so we came in for a nap before a LdM group dinner and bars tonight! :) Also, we booked a trip for Sunday to Cinque Terre! Hiking through 5 towns and beaches for 2 hours! I can't wait. 

More to come, Happy Birthday Mom!!

Ciao!