mediterranean cruise - part 4

yep, i'm dragging this trip review along.

sorry!

our 4th day we were in la spezia, italy.

after stretch class and breakfast, we tendered to the port.

our boat was so big that we couldn't dock, so we had to hop on a smaller boat to actually get to land.

i wish on this day especially that we had made our way off the boat earlier, because we just ran out of time to see what we wanted to see.

it was hard to find the balance of relaxing andsightseeing.

and after i say that i realize what a brat i sound like!

like the decisions i had to make on VACATION were so hard!

anyway... we walked from the port through a quaint little town to the train station.

it was totally what you picture italy as, pedestrian only allys, old men riding bikes with baskets, tree lined streets with sidewalk cafes, everybody EVERYBODY smoking *cough, gasp*.

when we saw that we had about 45 minutes to wait for our train, we decided rather than waiting in the station, we'd sit at a nearby cafe.

well.... somehow we missed our train, so we had to wait for another bit.

and by missing our train, i mean we got on the right train, second guessed ourselves, got off, watched the train leave, then realized it WAS the right one.

of course, we passed the time playing cards, talking about the kids, setting goals.

our train was set for cinque terra, which i think means 5 towns, because there is a stretch of the coastline that has 5 very quaint little towns that are stacked on the steep hillside down to the ocean.

my parents had visited there a few years ago and it was a must-see on their list.

we went first to monterosso, which was i think actually one town north of cinque terra, but still very worth the stop.

it had a great boardwalk, very well kept and beautiful coastline, with pebble beaches again - ouch!

these were pay beaches and had all these cute little changing rooms behind the umbrella lined beaches.

we stayed there for lunch then hopped back on the train to vernazza.

we layed out on the beach there, took a little nap, waded in the water, walked through some of the shops - 

i could tell sean was very relaxed because he kept asking if i wanted to go into shops the whole trip, not his usual cup of tea - very sweet!

not sure why, but i loved seeing the laundry hanging outside everyone's windows!

if you have plenty of time to do it, you can actually walk from town to town, but some of the walks took 4 hours or so, and we didn't have time to risk it.

next time, right?

next we went to romagiorre for a quick 10 minutes, just to take a peak.

there is a famous "pathway of love" there, but of course you had to pay for it.

we got back on the train to head back to la spezia.

and we got a ticket on the train!

apparently, you are supposed to validate your tickets at the station, and we didn't realize that - oops!

the sleepy town we had walked through in the morning was now bustling with locals - quite different than our morning walk.

we headed back to the boat, hung out by the pool for awhile, passed by a castle on a tiny island, watched the sunset, had dinner and finally went to bed early (probably about 11:30).

our room attendant loved making little towel creatures for us - we thought they were hilarious!

most nights we were going to bed at at least 1a.m. because our dinner time wasn't until 9 each night so we'd finish dinner at about 11, then hang out for awhile after that.

'cause we're crazy like that.

-lindsey