Italy: Chapter 3: la Dotta, la Grassa, la Rossa

Goodbye Manarola! 

Four more trains and our first Freccia (fast train) - I think we might have figured out the train system?... maybe

 So many vineyards

The view from our hotel room in Bologna, Italy of the Margherita gardens dating back to the 1800's

So much orange and warm colors - la rossa 

The Basilica Di San Petronio, a gothic basilica with 22 side chapels, the 15th largest church, was started in 1390 and planned to be the biggest church of the time, but construction was halted when the Pope found out, hence the half completed facade:

A cabinet of relics:

Look down: a meridian line designed by Giovanni Domenico Cassini, who was teaching astronomy at the University. It's one of the largest astronomical instruments in the world:

And an awesome buffet style spread at a divey college bar for dinner - la grossa

The next day was a day at Bologna's centers of education - la Dotta.

The Orto Botanico founded in 1568 as the university's main garden for botony:

And the biggest rhododendron trunk I've ever seen- for those of you not familiar with this plant, it's considered a shrub, not a tree:

Next, into the university's museum of some real things:

Some fake things:

And some very cool things:

The first "electrical cord"

Gorgeous wood cutouts of fort structures

Ancient maps:

A huge library:

With some huge books:

Then to the zoological museum where they had at least one of everything stuffed:

I was a little tired of dead things so we climbed up the Torr towers in the center of the old city. They are two leaning towers that are taller than the tower of Pisa.

So narrow you had to squeeze into the corner at each landing to let people pass:

And now all the way back down:

We deserved a true la grossa lunch in a meat and cheese shop in the old city food market. 

Why didn't we schedule a whole afternoon to sit around and eat this tortellini?!?

Italy: Chapter 2: Cinque Terre

For our second day in Manarola we took a train to Monterrosso and hiked to Vernazza on the only part of the costal hiking trail that was open. It was busy but the sights, views, and tastes were worth it!

At the top of the hardest climb we stopped and enjoyed some fresh lemonade that the local lemon orchard was selling and enjoyed the view of Monterrosso:

We continued on to Vernazza

We passed many streams and waterfalls rushing from the mountains to the ocean:

And David got attacked by an alien life form:

Down into the village:

In the center of town there was  a huge rock face - through the tunnel - to a beach:

Vernazza is one of the few towns with a fort. Here's the view of the whole town from the top:

Back down the tower:

To the ferry back to Manarola:

 A beautiful sunset for our last day in Manarola:

After a diner of fresh sauteed anchovies, pasta, and tiramisu we went down to Manarola's small harbor for some night shots.

While we were there two little boys with plastic bags ran past us to the end of the dock. It looked like they were feeding bread to the fish. And then I realized that they were using the bread to catch the fish with their bare hands - lying flat on their bellies out over the water and quickly reaching in to pull out each fish!  

Italy: Chapter 1: Arrivato

We got to the airport on Thursday for our red eye flight on Swiss Airlines (who were awesome and gave us as many drinks and chocolate as we wanted!)

The Alps were breathtaking:

We landed in Milano on Friday morning and proceeded to figure out the Italian train system (NOT very straigtforward!) and take our 5 different local trains (the new fast trains were all sold out due to the Easter Holiday). 

Finally we arrived at Manarola - a little, quaint town in the Cinque Terre. This is the view from the train platform:

We rented the cutest little flat from Airbnb. Here's the walk up to our place:

Here's the view out our window:

The first night we ate the best ravioli in a butter-sage sauce. We sat outside in a little heated tent where we got front row seats to the Easter procession with chanting church leaders, locals, and life-sized coffin!

Our first morning was rainy but we explored the town and the local vineyards  that rose up around it:

We ate squid ink pasta with peppers and fresh seafood for lunch and watched the sun come out. Although most of the famous hiking trails were closed, we hiked to the next town, Riomiggore, on the local foot paths. Up through the vineyards:

And still farther up through the wild sage and heather bushes:

To the top:

And down the other side through more vineyards:

And lemon trees full of fruit:

Wild Calla Lilies:

Riomiggiore, a bigger, touristy town:

Here's the view from our dinner table where we had wonderful aperitifs and well deserved sandwiches:

We took the train back to Manarola and enjoyed some gelato, fresh strawberries, and the locally made limoncello: