July 31, 2007 Orvieto
Orvieto was a great place to site see. We started by going down St. Patrick's well. Great views in this area of the town. The well was made in the 16th century when Rome was sacked and the pope needed a place to flea. (My elementary history lesson for you!). The well was built because there wasn't a water source...the town is on top of a hill. It was inspired by a well built in Ireland. It features a double helix stairway pattern- all traffic is one way, so those going down never had to go against traffic.
Next we headed to the Duomo. We admired the beautiful Basilica over a nice gelato.
We also did laundry today at a laundry mat. It was a nice break from hand washing our clothes in the sink! There was an italian man who did the work for us. He gave us tips on where to buy wine. We walked to the New Town, Orvieto where I bought 3 bottles of the Orvieto Classico for less than 1/2 the price it would have been in the Old Town. We bought food for a picnic lunch. We had a nice LONG city walk...we weren't lost, it was totally planned :)
We planned our trip to Rome this evening. Tried to get some sleep because our HUGE task tomorrow is to cover Rome in a DAY! I didn't think it would be a problem getting sleep, except that the MOB was right below us. Well, okay, maybe not, but my imagination got the better of me. This man, who sounded like Andre the Giant, was talking/yelling at these other men...and my imagination could only tell me that it was the mob and they were doing their business! So, what did I do?? #1 Freaked out and #2 took an Ativan (okay #3 took a second Ativan 15 minutes later). Thank you Dr. M for that nice prescription for the airplane ride!
July 30, 2007 Another traveling day...
We headed to Florence and Orvieto today. Since it was Monday, many of the sites were closed in Florence. We decided to skip this city and take the train to Orvieto. We arrived in Orvieto. Found a room. This was a "Bed NO Breakfast." We stayed at Valentina's. I never actually met "Valentina", only her assistant Karmen. We had to barter for the price of this room.
Tonight, we had a feast at Antonico Bucchero's Restorante. Our meal was delicious!
Antipasti: Bruschetta with tomato, zucchini, deli meats, and a vinagrette/oil
Noodle Dish: Tortelloni in tomato-based sauce
Main Dish: Lamb
and Orvieto wine (my favorite!)
We visited with a couple of Aussie gals during the trip to Orvieto. I quickly became jealous that they were spending 9 weeks in Europe (and had just come from Greece). Jim about died when he heard they were vacationing that long.
July 29, 2007
We woke up later than anticipated today. Our plan was to hike the 5 towns. We quick had breakfast at Cristianna's bar. Jim had a croissant with marmalade and fresh squeezed OJ. I had a creme-filled croissant and cappuccino.
We began our hike in Montorosso (#5)
around 1200. We hiked to Vernazza (#4). This was a bit of a difficult hike and it would have been better to get an earlier start. Needless to say, the views were breathtaking. We had lunch in Vernazza and hiked from Vernazza to Corneglia. This was more difficult. Once we got to Corneglia, we decided to be done and skip the "easy romantic" walk to #2 and #1. We were so exhausted, our legs were shaking.
We spent
the rest of the evening at the beach again. Saw another amazing sunset. And off to sleep...
July 28, 2007
We made it to today! Took the bus to the train station. We didn't pay for the bus (figured we'd paid enough for the taxi last night). Back on the train, we went from Milano to Genova to Monterosso (Cinque Terre town #5). At Monterosso, we took a milk run train to Cornelgia. Then a bus up to town.
The population of Corneglia is 240. It is a small and colorful villiage. Fewer tourists stay in this town compared to the other 4. We headed to Cristianna Ricci's bar and she showed us to our room. The room was very small, but the view was absolutely amazing! Some of the most spectacular views were right outside the window. There are no sand beaches in Cornelgia, only rocks. The sun set behind the mountains as we enjoyed a bottle of the local white wine. Although the travel to this beautiful place was a BIT confusing, we were so happy to enjoy a vacation from our vacation.
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