The next segment of euro tour 2008 was Cinque Terre. For those of you who aren't familiar, Cinque Terre (which literally means five lands) is a National Park in the northwest part of Italy. It is beautiful and famous because five towns of brightly coloured buildings are just plopped into mountains along the coast. People go there to hike the 12 km stretch between the little villages. Being the 'Alberta girl' that I am....I was very excited to be in NATURE! As were Kate and Sarah. We all agreed that it was nice to be out of a city for a change.
I had been getting comments before this trip started that to 'truly' backpack you have to arrive in a destination not knowing where you will be sleeping that night. Well, our Cinque Terre experience began that way so I guess we are real backpackers now! Thursday morning we woke up and realized that we better get searching for a place to stay since we had a five hour train ride ahead of us and didnt want to end up in rural italy sleeping in the woods. After a few frantic website searches we started to get serious and phoned people. After a few failed attempts...I reached Nicoletta. Now, Nicoletta spoke about two words of english. I speak about three words of Italian. This...was very interesting. This was another moment on the trip that a simple small handbook with phrases and words in a language I do not speak came in handy. I suppose it sounded quite hilarious to Sarah and Kate who were listening, but I surmised from our little....very little chat that Nicoletta indeed had a place we could rent for the night (maybe) and we should call her number when we arrived. We had to run to get on a waterbus to catch our train and the day was already off to an adventurous start! After three trains and five hours we arrived in Manarola...the small village we would be calling home for the next four days. We went out in search of a phone and dialed Nicolettas number....only to be told in Italian that Nicoletta was not available. Hmmmmmm. Ok, no need to panic, we'll just go use the internet to see if there are any other options. Hmmmm again. No internet in Manarola, only in Riomagorre which is a ten minute train ride away and the internet spot there might not be open. We went back to the phone to give Nicoletta one last chance....and luckily she came through! Not only did she show up to meet us and show us her lovely little apartment we were renting, but she gave us a discount because "I have two children...I know money problem". After getting the grand tour she proceeded to take us to her basement and give us a hearty portion of her homade wine(which was very potent!). She is quite the character. She recommended her friends restaurant down the road (the only one open) and after depositing our belongings we headed out for an amazing feast of lobster ravioli, homeade gnocchi and pesto and some fabulous wine. We definitley treated oursevles that night. I guess we were proud that we had pulled this off.
We spent the next two days hiking, and enjoying the amazing scenery around the park. Some of the hikes were challenging but it was so nice to be active and outside that it was worth it. The views of the ocean, the vineyards, olive groves and the signature multicoloured buildings of the area were spectacluar. It was very rejeuvanating to be in that environment. We also enjoyed waking up and going to the market for fresh food for the day, cooking for ourselves and even indugling in music from the cd player Nicoletta provided. We were really in heaven. We hiked every single path except for one that was closed because it had rained before we arrived and this path was particularly damp and I guess dangerous. However, we lucked out with the weather and didnt have any rain at all while we were there (a trend that would not last later in the trip). We visisted every small little town and even reviseted Vernazza because we found a cute little lunch place we liked (which also had internet and babely italian boys). We finished each day by watching the amazing sunsets on the Mediterranean. Each time it was nice to just take a deep breath and realize how lucky we were to be witnessing this! All in all the Cinque Terre segment of the euroshow was a must-see and a highlight for everyone! It was just what we needed.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
48 hours in Venice
it is hard to explain just how excited kate, katherine and i were for our adventure to begin in italy. waking up last tuesday in barcelona felt a little bit like christmas morning. we boarded a shuttle bus headed for the remote barcelona airport, and braced ourselves for our next ryanair experience. turns out we were much more relaxed this time, and nearly missed our flight because the board said "west midlands" instead of "venice". needless to say, when we heard "last call for venice", we became a little flustered. all this aside, we made it! our arrival in venice that evening was just a little unwelcoming... it began to lightly rain. we boarded the venice public transport... water buses to navigate through the canals, (somewhat like a subway line) and hoped for the best. then it began to really rain. then it began to piss rain. we got off at our stop, with all of our worldly possessions on our backs, and no sweet clue where our hostel was. it was a bad scene. we were absolutely soaking wet within seconds, and and all we could do was burst into laughter. katherine kept saying "this is an adventure guys!!", and really, all we could do was accept our fate, and try and figure out where our hostel was. we finally found it (after fifteen full minutes in the pouring rain), and we could not have been happier! we had a little hotel room on our hands, HAIR DRYER INCLUDED! this was very exciting after weeks of limp locks. we unpacked our gross bags, and kate and i had to hang up almost all items of clothing to dry. being the alberta girl that she is, katherine had brought a camping pack, and none of her stuff was wet. lucky her. after a change of clothes and a good laugh, we ventured out to have our first italian meal in italy. we have been trying very diligently to eat the cuisine of the country we are in on this trip. it was important to us to get a taste of the local food. FINALLY we were in a place where pizza and pasta WAS the local food!! we called it a night pretty early, knowing that we had a big day on our hands on wednesday.
we awoke on our first full day in venice to... sunshine! we deserved it after the night we had. we also were treated to a breakfast tray in our room... what service! by the time we wandered down to the reception desk to get davide, our host, to help us plan our day, we were dying to know the results of the american election. he enthusiastically said "OBAMA!" and we all celebrated for a moment. throughout our trip, we have politely corrected those around us who call us americans, firmly saying that we are in fact, proud canadians. we found it really interesting and really quite neat that people all over venice were celebrating, so enthusiastically, such a monumental day in american history. suddenly, being confused with americans was not so bad, and the win was certainly a conversation piece all over town. after finding out that happy result, we got down to business planning our day. davide told us that the only way to really see venice was to get lost within the tiny labrinth of streets and canals, and that we did. we checked out san marco and the rialto bridge first, and after the major sights, we just wandered around. it was a fantastic day. in the afternoon, after a pannini break of course, we hopped on the water bus headed for murano, to explore the little island known for its blown glass craftsmanship. it was definately a highlight, and we appreciated seeing a different area of venice during our short stay. for supper, davide sent us to this little restuarant that his friend owned in st. toma square, a short water bus trip away from our hostel. it was a great little dinner, and we made it home in time to enjoy the 1.70 euro bottle of wine that we had purchased earlier. to bring you up to speed, we made a deal early on in the trip to try and buy the cheapest wine we could find in each country we visited. we must have hit the jackpot in madrid, because the 99 cent bottles there were amazing. this, on the other hand, reminded me of vinegar, and we decided that maybe springing for a 3 euro bottle next time might make all the difference. although our time in venice was very short, we really appreciated the chance to see such a unique and beautiful city. there really is no other place in the world like it, and before we went to bed on wednesday night, we traded cameras to look through each others photos of our great little trip to venezia!
we awoke on our first full day in venice to... sunshine! we deserved it after the night we had. we also were treated to a breakfast tray in our room... what service! by the time we wandered down to the reception desk to get davide, our host, to help us plan our day, we were dying to know the results of the american election. he enthusiastically said "OBAMA!" and we all celebrated for a moment. throughout our trip, we have politely corrected those around us who call us americans, firmly saying that we are in fact, proud canadians. we found it really interesting and really quite neat that people all over venice were celebrating, so enthusiastically, such a monumental day in american history. suddenly, being confused with americans was not so bad, and the win was certainly a conversation piece all over town. after finding out that happy result, we got down to business planning our day. davide told us that the only way to really see venice was to get lost within the tiny labrinth of streets and canals, and that we did. we checked out san marco and the rialto bridge first, and after the major sights, we just wandered around. it was a fantastic day. in the afternoon, after a pannini break of course, we hopped on the water bus headed for murano, to explore the little island known for its blown glass craftsmanship. it was definately a highlight, and we appreciated seeing a different area of venice during our short stay. for supper, davide sent us to this little restuarant that his friend owned in st. toma square, a short water bus trip away from our hostel. it was a great little dinner, and we made it home in time to enjoy the 1.70 euro bottle of wine that we had purchased earlier. to bring you up to speed, we made a deal early on in the trip to try and buy the cheapest wine we could find in each country we visited. we must have hit the jackpot in madrid, because the 99 cent bottles there were amazing. this, on the other hand, reminded me of vinegar, and we decided that maybe springing for a 3 euro bottle next time might make all the difference. although our time in venice was very short, we really appreciated the chance to see such a unique and beautiful city. there really is no other place in the world like it, and before we went to bed on wednesday night, we traded cameras to look through each others photos of our great little trip to venezia!
Monday, November 3, 2008
From Barcelona with love!
We arrive in Barcelona on Halloween day and were very surprised/kind of scared by what we found. We found our hostel right away on the same street as two of Gaudi`s famous buildings included La Pedrera. We moved into our first Shared (6 bed dorm) and found our new Australian roommate dressed in a revealing Oktoberfest outfit and covered in fake blood. She told us about a Halloween party that the hostel was putting on in the lounge so we got a quick supper and a bottle of wine to share and headed to the "party". The party turned out to be a bunch of first time halloweener´s dressed in very strange outfits and a band that might have been one of the worst I've ever heard. They played their instruments and then at random times would yell into the microphone HALLOWEEN! So needless to say we finished our bottle of wine and headed out to a tapas bar for a tamer Halloween, where we ordered lots of great tapas and another bottle of wine! It turned out to be a really fun night and just what we were in the mood for. Unfortunately, our Oktoberfest clad roommate was a snorer and so our sleep was not the best of the trip.
On Saturday we woke up to another rainy day in Spain but made the best of it and headed down to the Gothic area of Barcelona where we wandered around and happened to stumble across many of the major sights we were trying to find. We walked down La Rambla, went to the Barcelona Cathedral, saw the Palau musica de Catalonia, and had a great little Mexican lunch. We got back to the hostel and met our new Australian roommate Drew, who turned out to be awesome and we had nice Tapas dinner with him and a few of his friends. After a few bottles of wine our night got a little crazy and it ended with playing drinking games in the hostel room.
Sunday was a pretty low key day but we did end up going to the Picasso Museum with our new friends which was really cool (and cultural!). After the museum we were pretty hungry so we went to a noodle bar which turned out to be really good!! Asian food has been a trend so far. After a long night, we took a much needed siesta and relaxed for a little while until we decided to be very Spanish and went out to a Tapas restaurant that had been highly suggested by a friend of Sarah´s . We were really happy we went because we really enjoyed the food and also the American man at the next table told us it was the best tapas bar in Barcelona and ordered us an amazing Spanish dessert! We went to bed early and were very happy to have the 6 bed dorm room all to ourselves!
We made a big day out of our last full day in Barcelona! We went to the Sagrada Familia, Gaudi's amazing cathdral, which is still under construction even though it was started in 1886 and is now projected to be finished by 2030. It was amazing and we were really glad we went to see it. After that we walked down La Rambla again and got to the really neat St. Josef´s Market which Sarah had been waiting for all weekend. We got some baguettes, cheese, some fruit and a few other treats and took it down the the waterfront and had picnic lunch by the pier. From there we walked to the Barcelona city beach which I'm sure in the summer is packed with people but today was just lovely! It was a little too cold to swim in (at least for us, but we did see one man swimming!) but Katherine put her feet in and I think that was enough for all of us. We sat on the beach for awhile and took in the view until it started to cool off and we decided to head back to the hostel. On our last night in Spain, we had some more tapas and wine for a late dinner and were going to call it a night early so we are well rested for our travel day tomorrow!
We all had an amazing time in Barcelona, it's a beautiful city with some amazing things to see but we are also all extremely excited for Italy and Venice tomorrow!!!
On Saturday we woke up to another rainy day in Spain but made the best of it and headed down to the Gothic area of Barcelona where we wandered around and happened to stumble across many of the major sights we were trying to find. We walked down La Rambla, went to the Barcelona Cathedral, saw the Palau musica de Catalonia, and had a great little Mexican lunch. We got back to the hostel and met our new Australian roommate Drew, who turned out to be awesome and we had nice Tapas dinner with him and a few of his friends. After a few bottles of wine our night got a little crazy and it ended with playing drinking games in the hostel room.
Sunday was a pretty low key day but we did end up going to the Picasso Museum with our new friends which was really cool (and cultural!). After the museum we were pretty hungry so we went to a noodle bar which turned out to be really good!! Asian food has been a trend so far. After a long night, we took a much needed siesta and relaxed for a little while until we decided to be very Spanish and went out to a Tapas restaurant that had been highly suggested by a friend of Sarah´s . We were really happy we went because we really enjoyed the food and also the American man at the next table told us it was the best tapas bar in Barcelona and ordered us an amazing Spanish dessert! We went to bed early and were very happy to have the 6 bed dorm room all to ourselves!
We made a big day out of our last full day in Barcelona! We went to the Sagrada Familia, Gaudi's amazing cathdral, which is still under construction even though it was started in 1886 and is now projected to be finished by 2030. It was amazing and we were really glad we went to see it. After that we walked down La Rambla again and got to the really neat St. Josef´s Market which Sarah had been waiting for all weekend. We got some baguettes, cheese, some fruit and a few other treats and took it down the the waterfront and had picnic lunch by the pier. From there we walked to the Barcelona city beach which I'm sure in the summer is packed with people but today was just lovely! It was a little too cold to swim in (at least for us, but we did see one man swimming!) but Katherine put her feet in and I think that was enough for all of us. We sat on the beach for awhile and took in the view until it started to cool off and we decided to head back to the hostel. On our last night in Spain, we had some more tapas and wine for a late dinner and were going to call it a night early so we are well rested for our travel day tomorrow!
We all had an amazing time in Barcelona, it's a beautiful city with some amazing things to see but we are also all extremely excited for Italy and Venice tomorrow!!!
Sunday, November 2, 2008
On a train to Spain....
We left Lisbon on a night train to Madrid and were prepped to get some serious shut-eye as we were exhausted from our previous night out in Lisboa...we stepped onto this train only to discover six eighteen year old Canadians (fresh out of high school) drinking and playing "shake that ass" on their loudspeakers. We were NOT pleased...to say the least. Not only were these characters on the train, we also noticed a cross-stitching man beside them who we thought would be harmless (I named him cross-stitch Kathy) however what we didnt realise was that in his spare time, he was also a cross dresser. He proceeded to pull out his wigs, and give us a show. We had to laugh. Hysterically. However, the novelty wore off (as it always does) and after an hour and a half we decided to pay the fee and be moved to a sleeping car...with beds. This....was a great idea. We went to sleep and woke up in Spain...somewhat rested.
When we arrived in Madrid we had to meet Kevin´s co-worker to give us the keys to Marie and Kevins apartment. Once we had these....we felt a lot better knowing we had our own place to call home in Madrid. That day we explored the city and found the gem that is Retiro park. I was in tree heaven as the leaves were changing and we had a lovely picnic in the park followed by rowboating on the pond. I had been telling the girls since before the trip that I thought their blonde beautiful locks might draw some extra attention....and it turns out I was right. The spanish word for blonde is RUBIA and we have heard many men yelling this in our direction since we arrived in Spain, including our lovely rowboat dude. We took advantage of a kitchen that night and made Kates favourite meal....fajitas! We settled in and watched love actually as well....it was nice to relax a little. Our first whole day in Madrid was wet and cold as it rained all day. However, we still set out to explore and went to all the major sightseeing hotspots...Palacio Real, Plaza Mayor and the Museo Del Prado. That evening we met up with Laura and Jon (a friend of Sarahs from Ridley) for a night on the town. We went to Laura and Jonathans favourite restaurant and then for Sangria (copious amounts) and Mojitos. It was a very fun evening. The next day we went to Toledo....which came highly recommended by Ryan. It was very cool, and full of amazing history. We went to a few beautiful cathedrals, Museo El Greco (this is where the artist "El Greco" lived) and to a jewish heritage museum in the jewish quarter. We took a train back to Madrid and came back to make yet another tasty meal for ourselves. On Thursday we explored the Latin quarter and Old Madrid...both of which were amazing. That evening we went for another few pitchers of Sangria and to the oldest restaurant in the world....Casa Botin (this was also a fave of Hemmingways and was in his book, the Sun Also Rises). There, we ordered their specialty "Suckling Pig" (which I even ate!) and some other tasty dishes. This was a great conclusion to our Madridian experience. That night we came back to the apartment and I went to turn on the light and blew a fuse. I felt great about this. We went to bed and hoped to wake up to electricity in the morning. Unfortunately things dont fix themselves and we were still without power the next morning. I got my Spanish translation book (thanks Dan!) and headed downstairs to get some help. I knocked on a random door and using broken Spanish asked the man who answered if he had "electricidad". He did, and using hand gestures and a few spanish words he understood what our issue was. He was on his way to work but sent his son upstairs to help us. He fixed it almost immediately and Sarah was so happy...she hugged him. I am not sure he knew what to do, so he just left. That afternoon we took a train to Barcelona, our new favourite city!
When we arrived in Madrid we had to meet Kevin´s co-worker to give us the keys to Marie and Kevins apartment. Once we had these....we felt a lot better knowing we had our own place to call home in Madrid. That day we explored the city and found the gem that is Retiro park. I was in tree heaven as the leaves were changing and we had a lovely picnic in the park followed by rowboating on the pond. I had been telling the girls since before the trip that I thought their blonde beautiful locks might draw some extra attention....and it turns out I was right. The spanish word for blonde is RUBIA and we have heard many men yelling this in our direction since we arrived in Spain, including our lovely rowboat dude. We took advantage of a kitchen that night and made Kates favourite meal....fajitas! We settled in and watched love actually as well....it was nice to relax a little. Our first whole day in Madrid was wet and cold as it rained all day. However, we still set out to explore and went to all the major sightseeing hotspots...Palacio Real, Plaza Mayor and the Museo Del Prado. That evening we met up with Laura and Jon (a friend of Sarahs from Ridley) for a night on the town. We went to Laura and Jonathans favourite restaurant and then for Sangria (copious amounts) and Mojitos. It was a very fun evening. The next day we went to Toledo....which came highly recommended by Ryan. It was very cool, and full of amazing history. We went to a few beautiful cathedrals, Museo El Greco (this is where the artist "El Greco" lived) and to a jewish heritage museum in the jewish quarter. We took a train back to Madrid and came back to make yet another tasty meal for ourselves. On Thursday we explored the Latin quarter and Old Madrid...both of which were amazing. That evening we went for another few pitchers of Sangria and to the oldest restaurant in the world....Casa Botin (this was also a fave of Hemmingways and was in his book, the Sun Also Rises). There, we ordered their specialty "Suckling Pig" (which I even ate!) and some other tasty dishes. This was a great conclusion to our Madridian experience. That night we came back to the apartment and I went to turn on the light and blew a fuse. I felt great about this. We went to bed and hoped to wake up to electricity in the morning. Unfortunately things dont fix themselves and we were still without power the next morning. I got my Spanish translation book (thanks Dan!) and headed downstairs to get some help. I knocked on a random door and using broken Spanish asked the man who answered if he had "electricidad". He did, and using hand gestures and a few spanish words he understood what our issue was. He was on his way to work but sent his son upstairs to help us. He fixed it almost immediately and Sarah was so happy...she hugged him. I am not sure he knew what to do, so he just left. That afternoon we took a train to Barcelona, our new favourite city!
remember that time we have not updated our blog for over a week?
greetings, avid blog readers. we would like to issue a formal apology for our lack of blogging activity lately. i guess we have just been having SO MUCH FUN that time has literally escaped us. after our days in porto with toby, we packed up and got on a train to lisbon for the weekend. we checked into a hostel that was a little slice of heaven. the lisbon poet´s hostel was fabulous, and it really made our experience there great. it was painted bright colours, had big beanbag chairs in the lounge, and we got a 6 bed dorm room to ourselves all weekend, which was a huge perk. we spent our first evening in lisbon at this little restaurant we found up the street from the hostel, where i possibly had the best meal of the whole trip. from what we gathered, and from what the waiter told us, it was a collection of portugese, italian and english food... but we are pretty sure it was italian. kate and i dipped into the rose wine, after a week long hiatus since our south of france experience, and we had a great first night on the town. on friday we ventured out to the district of belem, where we visited the exploration monument, the tower of belem, which is a UNESCO world heritage site (a theme on this trip, we are slowly realizing), and had a great picnic lunch in a park in the sunshine. crossing the street, we ended up inside this beautiful monastary, and took a moment to enjoy the beauty of our surroundings. we have been spending a lot of time in churches so far, and this one was a highlight. we headed back to our hostel and hooked up with jonathan and laura sousa, friends of mine from our summer cottage who happened to be visiting relatives in lisbon while we were there. laura is studying in madrid this semester, and jonathan, her brother, came to visit. what luck! jonathan, who had been to lisbon before, led us on an adventure up every single stair in lisbon, and we ended up at the st. jorge castle, overlooking the city. it had great views, and we took some beautiful photos. that night we
met up with our german host, toby, who was visiting lisbon that weekend with his exchange friends for a traditional portugese dinner at a beer hall. we knew it would be good because we had to wait to get in, and it proved to be worth it. our hostel is conveniently located in the nightlife district, and we just had to see for ourselves... it was part of the cultural experience, right? katherine introduced toby to the jagerbomb, apparently a canadian specialty, and we ended up having a fantastic night in the streets of lisboa... we were almost locals. saturday was our best day in lisbon, as we ventured out of the city and toward the palacial town of sintra. we are so glad we did this! the views were spectacular, and the palace community so beautiful. we wish we could share our photos. while kate and katherine explored the palace, jonathan, laura and i also hiked to the moorish castle, which was fantastic. the terrain was rough, and laura sprained her ankle, but was a real trooper and didn´t really tell us how much pain she was in until that evening. after we got home from sintra, we split up for the night, and i went out for dinner with jonathan and laura and their relatives just outside of lisbon´s city center. they are portugese, and they had warned me that there would not be much english spoken, but it was great, and really fun to meet their family. katherine and kate went out with toby and his exchange friends for an authentic sushi boat experience (?), and eventually ended up in a cool area on the water with lots of bars lining the harbour. sunday was really a very lazy day, we had to pack up and check out but we were not leaving for spain until the evening, so we wandered around the city and visited a park we found on our first night in the day time which was a highlight. lisbon was certainly a great destination for us, and we were really sad to leave, but looked forward to our night train to spain....
sarah
met up with our german host, toby, who was visiting lisbon that weekend with his exchange friends for a traditional portugese dinner at a beer hall. we knew it would be good because we had to wait to get in, and it proved to be worth it. our hostel is conveniently located in the nightlife district, and we just had to see for ourselves... it was part of the cultural experience, right? katherine introduced toby to the jagerbomb, apparently a canadian specialty, and we ended up having a fantastic night in the streets of lisboa... we were almost locals. saturday was our best day in lisbon, as we ventured out of the city and toward the palacial town of sintra. we are so glad we did this! the views were spectacular, and the palace community so beautiful. we wish we could share our photos. while kate and katherine explored the palace, jonathan, laura and i also hiked to the moorish castle, which was fantastic. the terrain was rough, and laura sprained her ankle, but was a real trooper and didn´t really tell us how much pain she was in until that evening. after we got home from sintra, we split up for the night, and i went out for dinner with jonathan and laura and their relatives just outside of lisbon´s city center. they are portugese, and they had warned me that there would not be much english spoken, but it was great, and really fun to meet their family. katherine and kate went out with toby and his exchange friends for an authentic sushi boat experience (?), and eventually ended up in a cool area on the water with lots of bars lining the harbour. sunday was really a very lazy day, we had to pack up and check out but we were not leaving for spain until the evening, so we wandered around the city and visited a park we found on our first night in the day time which was a highlight. lisbon was certainly a great destination for us, and we were really sad to leave, but looked forward to our night train to spain....
sarah
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