Florence and the Cinque Terre

Manarola, Italy

During the second part of our family travels, we went to the region of Tuscany. Stopping first in Florence, we were able to do a wine tour, shop for some nice leather, and see Michelangelo’s David. The wine tour was lovely, the views of the Tuscan countryside are exactly how anyone would picture the Italian countryside to be, just so much better in person. We learned a lot about the chianti wine that the region is known for, and were able to sample various types along with some olive oils, meats, and cheeses.

Such a beautiful winery

Views of the Tuscan countryside

For our cultural appreciation part of the trip, we headed off to Galleria dell’ Academica. Michelangelo’s David is massive – I did not expect the statue to be so large. And, even though I’m no sculpture expert, I can appreciate this. It was well worth going to see.

I felt no shame taking this

Aside from those activities, we spent our time in Florence very leisurely, walking and eating and shopping.

Our next stop was the Cinque Terre, a series of 5 towns right on Italy’s northwest coast. I had been looking forward to visiting this place since before I left for Italy, and I was not disappointed. The downside, however, was the 100,000 other tourists who were also crammed into these 5 little towns while we were there. It was a nightmare, but we got through it and just adjusted to being body-to-body with strangers for a couple of days. The views, however, are beautiful and we ate a good amount of great seafood. My mom and I also did an early morning hike between two of the towns which was probably the highlight of my time there. It’s surprisingly agricultural on the hillsides – there are terraced plots for growing many things, primarily grapes and olives. It’s a really beautiful area, however it has recently been overrun with heavy tourism.

Sunset over Florence

Manarola

Monterosso

Vernazza

Walking through the Cinque Terre

And with that, my semester was basically over! Some birthday celebrations, studying, and several finals later and I was back home. I am still processing the end of this year and my travels (for now), but I'll have a final reflective post in the coming weeks!

Assisi, Italy

The beautiful town of Assisi

(Disclaimer - another short post mostly for sharing pictures)

At the end of April I was incredibly lucky to have family come and visit me in Italy! We spent time together in Rome and also traveled outside of the city. Our first trip was a short overnight stay in the small town of Assisi. It is another one of those charming hillside towns that seems too picturesque to be real. All of the buildings are built with a uniform brick stone and there were beautiful flowers everywhere.

We had a relaxed day in the town, spending our time wandering through the streets, climbing up to the city’s old fortress, and exploring the monastery dedicated to St. Francis of Assisi.

Monastery dedicated to St. Francis

We couldn't take pictures inside

Views from the fortress

Fortress

It is a beautiful town and the views we had when we climbed up to the fortress were incredible. The town can certainly be seen in a day, but it's definitely worth a visit! 

Easter Mass at the Vatican

AU girls take Easter Mass at the Vatican!

Over Easter weekend I was lucky to be visited by my friend Kelly from school back in D.C. who is spending her semester abroad in Madrid. She had contacted people awhile back and managed to get 4 tickets for Easter Mass at the Vatican with Pope Francis, and invited me along with two other friends of hers. This will be a short post, mostly just to share a few pictures.

Mass started Sunday morning at 10:15 however we left our apartment at 7:00 am not knowing what to expect. By the time we reached the line to get in around 7:45, there were a good amount of people waiting to get in, but not as bad as I had imagined it to be. After passing through security (you have to do this when you enter the Vatican regardless of the day), we were lucky enough to actually get seats in St. Peter’s Square where mass took place.

In front of us

Behind us

8 am at the Vatican

The most interesting/ surprising thing about mass was that it was conducted in several languages. Though the majority of the service was held in either Latin or Italian, different readings or sections were done in several languages including Greek, French, German, English, Arabic, and Spanish. There was certainly an international crowd present, so I thought that was very inclusive and unique that they would do that. I was also able to take communion (it was quite the process getting thousands of people through at once) and that was a great experience. Afterwards the Pope rode around and blessed the square, and actually passed pretty close to where we were standing.

There were tens of thousands of people there, and it certainly wasn’t a typical Easter, however I am so grateful for such a unique experience and that I was able to spend it with friends.

A Piece of Southern Italy

The program at my university here in Rome planned a weekend trip for us that included visits to Mount Vesuvius, Sorrento, Capri, Pompeii, and Naples, all in one weekend! We were fortunate to have beautiful weather that made our time spent by the water blissful. Below are short descriptions of each of the places we were able to visit.

"Hiking" Mt. Vesuvius

It would have been more fulfilling if the bus hadn't driven most of the way up the volcano and then dropped us off 100 feet from the top, however it was fun nonetheless. After the bus dropped us off, it was a couple of long switchbacks and a few long hills to get to the top (30 mins max). There was smoke coming out of parts of the volcano which was fun to see, but the best part was the view from the top down over Naples and the beach. We spent most of our time just walking the perimeter at the top of the volcano and admiring the views. It would have been nice to have a guide, but it was still worth it to go up and see even without one.

Views of Naples from the volcano

Hangin' at the volcano

Sorrento

Our hotel both nights was in Sorrento, just outside the Amalfi Coast. Like everywhere we visited in southern Italy, its a beautiful town with lemon and orange trees everywhere. We spent our first afternoon in Sorrento walking through its downtown streets, checking out groves full of lemons, and soaking up some afternoon sun on the rocky beach. The town is charming, and like most in the area, built into the side of a hill. It was a relatively relaxed and quiet town, and we enjoyed our time there.

Lemons everywhere!

The streets of Sorrento

The oranges next to these lemons are normal size, if that gives you any scale for
how big the lemons are

Sorrento's coast

Capri

We were able to spend an entire day on the beautiful island of Capri! It's a short (25-30 min) ferry ride from Sorrento, and upon arrival to the island, 9 of us went and found a private boat tour for a couple of hours. It was a gorgeous day, and our tour essentially took us around the entire island of Capri, stopping in 2 spots to let us jump out and swim. We later found out that apparently it's illegal to get out and swim, but no one told us this before and our boat driver made it seem like it was fine. And it ended up being fine, but I guess it was good that we found out later? Anyway, the water was ice cold but so blue and beautiful. The second place we got out to swim there was actually a set of stairs that went up the side of a cliff, and so I got to try cliff jumping for the first time (a rush of adrenaline for sure!) In the afternoon we spent a little time walking around the island and exploring, and then laid out on the small but packed beach for the afternoon.

Capri from the ferry

An icy dip

Boat friends!

Beautiful water

Capri from above

The streets of Capri

Pompeii

I was legitimately surprised by how large and well preserved the ruins of Pompeii are. We were able to have a guided tour of the site, learning about the subtle quirks of the town and how it used to function. It is an impressive city, especially in that it was so well preserved under ash. Side note, it was 70 degrees and sunny while we were there at the beginning of April and I was exhausted after 45 minutes of walking through what felt like 90 degree heat. I can't imagine the tours in the summer.

Naples

Lastly, we were able to stop in Naples on our way back to Rome. We were only there for a couple of hours, essentially time to glance at the city and get some margherita pizza, coffee that's famous because of the warmed cups, and their famous pastry called a sfogliatella . If you didn't know, Naples is considered the "birthplace" of pizza and the margherita is their specialty. It was made to welcome the Queen Margherita when she came to Italy by showcasing the colors of the Italian flag (red, green, and white). We walked down to the beach and had a pizza together, and it was definitely worth the stop. Naples is a huge city, and from my friends that spent more time there it isn't all that exciting, but I'm glad we were able to experience the city's specialties!

Yummy sfogliatella