Manarola - Cinque Terre

Back to Manarola -- the town that we stayed in -- for my last post about our time in Cinque Terre this past June. I love Cinque Terre; I think it is a magical place. I especially love Manarola -- one of the five towns.

The apartment we stayed in is in the midst of these buildings!

(We took a walk through the terraced farming to look back on the town.)

I meeeaaannn...

Stunningly majestic:

Manarolaaaaa!

Mom, Aunt Gail, and I

We had a lot of fun and many laughs!

Mom with her favorite -- brioche con crema!

Mmmhmmm, ready for dinner at Trattoria dal Billy

Le sorelle   : )

Gorgeous ladies. Gorgeous backdrop. 

Le sorelle swimming in the Ligurian Sea:

Mom and Aunt Gail IN ITALY!

Well, it's about time I begin posting about the beginning of my summer vacation! Yikes. How is it already mid-September?!

My mom and her sister, my Aunt Gail, came to visit at the very end of the school year. We had a GREAT time together! I enjoyed calling the two of them le sorelle throughout our travels -- meaning, the sisters.  :P

We had some time in Milan and they went to Lake Como one day (Varenna and Bellagio). Once I finished up the school year, we then had a lovely travel through Italy to: Cinque Terre, Florence, a day-tour to Siena, San Gimignano, and Pisa, as well as a couple nights in Venice.

I'm going to attempt to get caught up this week... so, let's begin with our time in magical CINQUE TERRE!!

We stayed in Manarola. I love, love, love the apartment we had. It is two floors, has two balconies, a sea view, and two bedrooms/bathrooms. It is a quite a hike to get up to the apartment... but worth it.  : )  The views are absolutely incredible:

The view from one of our balconies!

Straight across the narrow street from our front door:

The view while walking down to the main part of town:

Sunset view from the balcony:

Little evening walk gorgeousness:

FAVORITES - Cinque Terre, 2nd round

Some overall favorites from my 2nd weekend in Manarola with wonderful friends  : )

Evening overview of Maaaaanarola!

Jesye and I turn into goofs around one another.

There was an upside painting...

Gooooorgeous scenery along the hike from Manarola to Corniglia!

Walking up and away from Manarola:

Pace / Peace

<-- Manarola

Corniglia -->

COFFEE!

Traditional terraced farming...

AM "Coffee-coffee-coffee-coffee" in an incredible place...

Oh Manarola... see you again soon!

Robert's birthday - Cinque Terre!

Happy birthday to Robert! One of my favorite people and a dear friend. I feel pretty lucky to be able to write that after just a year in Italy with him and Mary. There was a great group of friends from school that went to Manarola to help celebrate with this amazing guy. We all went to dinner at Trattoria dal Billy. Everyone has told me that this is the best restaurant in Manarola... with amazing seafood. The food was amazing and just never stopped! We were served family style and I cannot even begin to count how many different dishes we had. It was all pretty delicious.

Jesye, me, Robert-the-birthday-man...

Sunday morning was Robert's true birthday. We enjoyed some time by the water and then grabbed coffees before climbing back into the Birthday Bus to head back to Milan...

(I mean, really... how is this even real?!)

"Cappuccinos! Capp- capp- uccinos!"

The great weekend wasn't finished yet! We arrived back to Milan... grabbed some birthday gelatos (because dinner the night before apparently wasn't enough - HA!)... and met up again later for pizza at Lo Chalet right in Opera. 

Birthday candle pizza!

Happy birthday to Robert   : )

Hiking... Manarola - Volastra - Corniglia

We went on a hike while in Manarola for Robert's birthday weekend. We walked up and over... from Manarola to Corniglia (the next town over in Cinque Terre)... by way of Volastra. I think the hike took us a little over 3 hours. It was a workout for sure and the views were absolutely incredible.

Hiking UP! Leaving Manarola...

Jesye by an old billboard... now sporting pace (peace)!

A view of Manarola down below... and waaaaaaater!

Robert and Jesye  : )

And then a view of Corniglia! ...Our destination!

Corniglia is the smallest of the five towns making up Cinque Terre. The boat between towns does not even stop at Corniglia but there is a train station (a bit of a walk down from the town).

The hikin' crew in Corniglia! Jesye, Heath, Robert, and Mary...

I like the view shown below. ...Jesye and I were leaving the main part of Corniglia and walking down to the train station to head back to Manarola. Manarola can be seen waaaaay down the line (a clump of houses can somewhat be seen) ...we walked from there!

more than once in a lifetime - YEAH!

Two weeks after going to Cinque Terre with my good friend Julie... I went back again! Robert - a great friend and colleague of mine in Milan - was celebrating his birthday with a weekend in Manarola. Perrrrrfect. Robert and his wife, Mary, have become dear friends of mine... we laugh a ton, have good conversations, and I know that I can go to them for anything.

Other friends from school - Heath and Jesye - and I jumped into the Birthday Bus (as Mary appropriately termed it) with Robert and Mary... and in less than a 3-hour drive... we went from Milan to lovely, amazing Ciiiiiiinque Terrrrrrrre! (AND arrived in time for a gorgeous sunset.)

We were told that the apartment had a grand terrace and sea view... sure did!!!

We'll jump to that!

With Heath... each having a moment   : )

Dinosaur walks for Manarola!

The top two levels of the orange one was ours for the weekend!!!

Manarola FAVORITES

Five years ago I went to Cinque Terre for a day-trip with my family. We loved it and thoroughly enjoyed our time... seeing 3 of the 5 towns. Going back for a long weekend was awesome... and a bit bizarre to see the SAME things/places as 5 years ago. It amazes me that... not only does a place like this really exist... but I live less than 3 hours on an easy train ride from this magic.   : D

Overview of Manarola from the cemetery:

Ahhhhh Manarola. Peaceful. Colorful. Magical.  <3

Dad's comment to this photo: "Nice grapes." Ha!

Monterosso:

along the main street in Manarola: