This post has been really hard to write. Mostly because I’ve been busy and there hasn’t been successful internet connections, but also because it was just hard to write about.  Because Cinque Terre is amazing, and because it was very nearly a terrible day.

It started off bad.  We woke up early to move our car to some free parking spaces our b&b host recommended.  When we found these spaces, they were all taken.  That’s a bummer, but only a 7 euro bummer, really.  The real problem was the next forty-five minutes we spent driving around in morning rush hour trying to get back to where we lived without going the wrong way down one way streets- a nearly impossible task, but Becca managed it.  Kudos to her.

Next we just had to buy tickets to the train over to the 5 towns, which I should probably introduce.  Cinque Terre is a set of five towns on a beautiful stretch of coast in Liguria (we’ve left Tuscany, fwiw).  They are all postcard gorgeous and probably have an interesting history that you can read about on wikipedia.  Probably.  (Actually, definitely, I’ve read it, but I’m not in a historical mood and don’t feel like creating a link.)  The highlight of them is that they’re amazingly beautiful and you can walk from one town to the next through beautiful mountain/coastal paths.

But like I said, this day was very nearly awful, and the next bummer was that the beautiful trail that connects the towns was closed.  As it had been for like three years.  In all our thorough planning, we just worried about hotels and directions and renting kayaks and getting on the train, etc.  We never bothered to see if, you know, there was still a trail!  Luckily, I guess, there was one part of the trail still open, from the fifth town to the fourth town, or vice versa, so we were able to walk that part.  And it was gorgeous- as promised.

Anyhow, we went to the fifth town, walked to the fourth town, and then it started to rain.  And it kept raining for awhile, so that was a bummer.  But we figured the best thing to do if you get wet is to get wetter, so we rented a kayak and paddled around.  Alas- no photos, on account of the wetness.  Then we hopped on a train, in our bathing suits still, to the next town, which unique among the four was up on a cliff, not by the sea.  Also unique: it was about a mile away from the train station, pretty much straight up the side of said cliff.  Hooray.

Then, long story not short but summarized a bit as I get sleepier, I put us on the wrong bus to go to the wrong place at the wrong time, which unfortunately don’t cancel each other out (-1^3 = -1).  Eventually we eat a mediocre meal in Riomaggiore, which is, as ever, totally beautiful, but the thing about beautiful places is that there’s no need for them to have good food.  But maybe I’m just being negative.  In fact, I’m sure I’m just being negative.  And I’m writing too much, so here are some pictures.

San Gimignano is known for its towers.  My cursory read of its Wikipedia page suggests that two rival families started building towers, which led to more towers, which led to more towers, until someone stepped in and was all like “Fratelli, enough with the towers, okay?”

Note- I’m pretty sure I kept taking pics of the same couple towers, over and over again.  Still, after three, any number of towers is impressive.

how many towers do you have?

First and foremost, I’d like to thank my sister for bugging me while I’m trying to remember all the cool things I did today.  So, thanks, Tracy.

So!  Today we spent WINEding around Chianti!  Get it!?!  Because the roads are all curvy and they ferment grapes!!  Whew, Sutton’s on a roll.  Point being, we drove around in Chianti.  And it was awesome.  We started off just kinda meandering, as we are wont to do, especially if I’m busy checking Twitter when I am supposed to be navigating.  JK, I don’t do that.  But we checked out some vineyards and olive..  um, farms, i guess.  I think most places that make wine also make olive oil.  Like peas and carrots or Campari and vermouth.  So that was cool.  We also nearly drove right into the middle of a little village market, then Becca had to do a (twenty-)three point turn in a crowded tiny street with about twenty people watching her.  But she nailed it and got an old guy to smile, so it was a victory.

Greve in Chianti is the name of a town.  Honestly, it’s kind of boring, but maybe we didn’t do it right.  Also, it was a Sunday so I think we didn’t get an ideal experience.  Point being, Montepulciano>>Greve.  Then we went to San Gimignano, which will get its own post momentarily.  We also finally succeeded in spending a reasonable amount of money on lunch.  (We have a bad habit, hopefully broken, of going to fan$$y restaurants for snacks and it’s something else.)  We played the guess-the-nationality game for awhile in the town square and got our minds blown by some stealth Americans.

From Saint G, we drove up to La Spezia, where we’re staying.  It’s a weird town- half of it is industrial port with the accompanying industrial ugliness, and the other half is a weird party town with pink neon lights and sunglasses at night.  Our b&b hostess is very well-dressed and always ready for a night on the town, which we appreciate.  AND we got terrible pizza for dinner- see below.

BUT I’m kinda lying!  As we were driving to La Spezia, we realized that we were really close to Pisa and we should probably drop in and see how the Pisaians do things.  So we did!  And it was awesome.  I can’t believe we nearly missed the leaningest tower in the world to save twnety minutes on a drive.  It’s very white and it’s surrounded by tourist tschotchkiolos, and it is deserving of it’s own post, which is forthcoming.