Thoughts and Thought Provokers
"You know, I'm sick of following my dreams, man. I'm just going to ask where they're going and hook up with 'em later"
-mitch hedberg
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
cait. studyin in italy. 21. from the 'burbs of chicago. studying earth systems, environment and society and italian. flowers. photography. nature. water. food. half serious. half joking. all crazy.
Items tagged "italy":
-
nonna visit & asiago
On April 18th, my grandmother and her friend Joan came to visit me here in Italy! It was so much fun. The first day, we just got dinner and hung out, because they were a little beat from their flight. The next day, I gave them the customary tour of the Verona city… we saw Piazza Erbe, Piazza Bra, the Arena, Via Mazzini, the works. It started to rain, so we headed towards my new favorite place to get a drink by The Hill. I was soaked to the skin and was freezing, but I managed to survive! We headed back out into the rain and headed to dinner at Osteria Giulietta & Romeo, where I had the same ragu gnocchi that I ordered when the parents were here. It was just as spectacular as before, and very filling. That night we got home and hung out again, but I was sooo sleepy because I was so full.
On the 20th, we headed around mid-afternoon to Asiago for the weekend! The “nonnas” were allowed to come too because there were so many students not going on the trip, so it was wonderful that they got to go for free. We headed out around 3:30 and took the hour and a half drive to the town of Asiago. It. Was. Beautiful. Right away I wanted to get out and take pictures. We were all meeting downstairs for dinner at 7:30, so Alyssa, Lynne and I set out to walk to the store to get some wine and snacks before dinner. Here is the view of our place (our room is the balcony on the top right):
The views along the way were SPECTACULAR. So stunning. So much green, and the clouds seemed so low because we were so high up:
We saw a pig herding two cows along the way… it was adorable!
He had his eye on me for realz:
It started to rain just as we were getting back for dinner, so we had perfect timing. Dinner was very nice, and afterwards everyone was pretty beat, so we stayed in and had a girls night. AND YOU KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS:
That’s right. Huge bottle of wine for €3. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to get over how cheap the wine is here! We had an amazing night… I don’t think that any of the nights here in Italy compare! We played with Claudio’s little dogs too… it was so much fun.
The next day was the thing that I had been most excited for before I came to Verona: THE CHEESE FACTORY.
Us getting talked to by the cheese man:
The grandmas:
We got a tour of the inside of the cheese factory, and got to see how they started with milk and ended with cheese!
Looks delicious right?!
They started with this one giant cheese ball:
And then ended up with two!
One of the most delicious magic tricks I’ve ever seen.
Those ginormous balls of cheese go into casings, and then are stored like this:
Don’t forget the texture on the outside! They use this, and place it around the outside of the cheese:
… so the rind with have a texture!
The cheese and I were very good friends.
GNAM GNAM!
After the actual place where they make the cheese, we saw where they break up the fresher Grana Padana cheese.
And then we got to sample it… from taking it right out of the ginormous tub it was in!
Me and the ginormous tub:
Then we got to see the room where the older cheese is kept for a longer period of time (this room definitely smelled the worst!):
After this room we finally got to taste more cheese. We had a “baby” grana padana, 1 year old and 2 year old. I loved the oldest one! It was sooo good.
Grandma and the 1 year old:
We all got in front of the huge wheel of cheese outside of the factory:
After the cheese factory we headed out to the town of Asiago, where we visited the street market and sat in the square. It wasn’t anything too special, but it was relaxing which was nice.
The best part of this trip into town was right when we were going to get onto the bus, we decided to do a little exploring into the park nearby, and this sight met our eyes:
Just unbelievable.
And on the other side, this view:
I literally could have just laid in the grass there all day. It smelled so amazing and the grass was so green… it’s making me all happy right now just thinking about it again!
Once we got back from our trip into town, it was time for horseback riding. I guess you could say I don’t need to horseback ride again any time soon.
How uncomfortable to I look on that horse?! Pretty uncomfortable, I would say. The best that can be said about that time was that I did not fall off. Yay?
We had dinner again that night all together, and it was so much fun again. We stayed in that night as well, attempted to have another girls night, which we did a little bit, but it was nothing as compared to the night before!
The next morning, it was raining pretty steadily, but for some reason I still decided to go horseback riding out of the pen. It was really beautiful, but my horse did not want to listen, and I was not comfortable trotting, which is all it wanted to do. It was also pretty scary going up and down hills that were slippery rocks. Looking back, I probably shouldn’t have gone! Oh well, I guess. Live and let live.
We had lunch at the hotel, and then afterwards packed up our bags and headed back home. We stopped at a war museum along the way, and it was pretty crazy to see all of the artifacts they had. I slept all the way home on the bus because I was just so exhausted from horseback riding. Once we got home, Jennie, Sarah & I decided to have a potluck style dinner and cook for the grandmothers, and it was wonderful. I was sooo full from dinner, but it was nice to have dinner in versus going out.
The next day, I had class in the afternoon, so the grandmas decided to go to Venice. They apparently had a spectacular time, listening to all of Claudio’s advice about the best places to go. We met up around dinner time, hopped on a bus and went to one of the best pizzerias in Verona, Du De Cope. I had a spectacular pizza with buffalo mozzarella, and I have to say it was definitely one of the best pizzas I’ve had while here! We took the bus home, and hung out in the grandmas room for a while. I left them pretty sad, because they were leaving the next morning at 4 am. I had a wonderful time with them though, and I’m so glad they got to visit! I think they had a really good time too. :)
Tags
#asiago#italy#study abroad#travelling#travel#grandma#cheese#horseback riding#horses#pigs#cows#landscape#scenery#hills#mountains#picturesque#beauty#beautiful#family visits#familyInfo
Notes
There are 1 notes on this item.
-
Mossy wall in the mountains of Giazza, Italy
-
Moss growing on barbed wire
Asiago, Italy
-
pre-alps & lake garda
Last Saturday, a small portion of our cohort headed to the Pre-Alps in Northern Italy to do a little adventuring and hiking!
We drove to the small town of Giazza (circled on the map, Verona is down south) and took a two hour hike into the Pre-Alps that were near the village. IT WAS GORGEOUS! I had been feeling a little funky and sad before this hike, but my release into nature sure did the trick.
We followed the little stream for the majority of the way, but then the climb started to get steeper. We saw some abandoned houses along the way, that I would just love to reinhabit, like, NOW.
More pretty shots along the way up:
The group trekking up the mountain side:
We reached a little plateau where we got to relax a little bit, see the house that was built there,
and get some fresh water straight from the mountain!
It seriously was sooo beautiful and green.
We got told a little about the history of this region at this point, and about the house built there.
Then we continued our trek onward on the side of the mountain; luckily there wasn’t as much uphill anymore.
On the way, we saw a house that was crumbling. This area is different from most places in the world; instead of having people take over and ruin nature, nature has instead taken over where humans used to live. I kinda like that!
At this point in the hike, Lynn and I got separated from the group because we wanted to take a lot of pictures of the abandoned house. No matter! We had a good time traversing the dangerous path downwards. It was super muddy and slippery, so it was a bit scary, but still fun!
Me looking all cute, drenched in rain:
After two hours, we were all pretty beat, muddy, damp and hungry. We headed through the town to the place where we had lunch. I’m in love with this town!
For lunch, we got to try their spaghetti made from vegetable coal, something that is famous in this region. It actually tasted really good! It was kinda like eating a camp fire haha!
After lunch, we had a demonstration of these men who shoot off ancient guns. They were huge, loud and scary. Jason, a boy from our group, got to shoot it off, and I think almost everyone in our cohort had a heart attack.
After a day of high intensity activity, all of us were pretty beat. I know that I personally went home and passed out!
On Sunday, we headed west of Verona towards Lake Garda. We started out the day at the aquarium. While not as amazing as the Shedd Aquarium back in Chicago, it was still pretty cool! We got to pet a star fish (as demonstrated by my friend Sam below):
saw some jellies:
and got to get our faces painted by a mermaid!!!
YAY!
After the aquarium, we headed to a town off of Lake Garda, where we just hung out for a bit, eating gelato. It was raining pretty steadily, so there wasn’t much more we wanted to do at this point. I got dark chocolate and snickers. LITERALLY AMAZING. Top 5 gelatos I have had here for sure!
After the gelato deliciousness, we headed to an arcade place where we could either lasertag or bowl. I chose bowling, and I am proud to say in two games I bowled a 244!! SCORE! Up until this point, we were basically living a 3rd grader’s dream.
After bowling, we headed to the town of Garda for dinner. We had a chance to walk around before dinner, so we did a little shopping and then wanted to see the lake because it wasn’t raining anymore. It was so gorgeous!
Next up was the famous sea food dinner that Claudio had been talking about FOREVER! I tried everything, I’m pleased to say, and discovered that I actually like some of the seafood we tasted! Here are a few samples of what we had:
Because of the endless wine that we were given, the bus ride home was a fun one indeed. We all headed out as a cohort to Art Cafe for the night, and it was one of the more fun nights I have had while here in Verona!
Tags
#study abroad#pre alps#mountains#hiking#scenery#scenic#landscape#italy#giazza#garda#lake guarda#aquarium#seafood#travel#travellingInfo
Notes
There are 0 notes on this item.
-
The small town of Giazza, Italy
Tags
Info
Notes
There are 2 notes on this item.
-
La Marina Piccola, Isla di Capri, Italia
(Small Marina, Isle of Capri, Italy)
photo taken by yours truly, Cait Ireen. no editing needed.
Tags
#marina piccola#capri#isla di capri#isle of capri#italy#beach#water#ocean#beachfront#picturesque#photography#study abroad#travel#travelling#tourism#beauty#beautiful#water#waterfrontInfo
Notes
There are 3 notes on this item.
-
spring break 2012, part 2: sorrento & amalfi
After Pompei, we spent three nights in our hostel in Sorrento. The first full day that we had, we tried to hit the beach. Sorrento is basically built on the edge of cliffs, so there really wasn’t much of a beach to hang out on. We did find a concrete pier to lay out on however, and, after trekking through the cliff side (yes, through), we made it down to the water. We were greeted by this sight right before heading down to the water… it was just beautiful:
Here is the view of Sorrento from the water… you can’t see much because the town center is a little further away from the water:
On Wednesday, we took a day trip to the city of Amalfi.
Waiting for the bus with some of the freshest oranges I have ever tasted:
The ride from Sorrento was to take 1.5 hours, and it was by bus. UGH. The ride was beautiful, from what little I saw of it. The majority of the ride was right on the coastline, which meant that there were several sharp turns and winding roads. Our bus driver was a maniac: he was whipping around every bend, and breaking and starting very suddenly. I got sooo queasy that I didn’t get to take any pictures of the ride, nor did I see a majority of the beautiful sights throughout the drive. Sad day! But, once we got off the bus, it got better. We were dropped off right near the beach, and right next to some beautiful houses on the side of the mountains:
We laid out and tried to tan for a bit, but it got chilly around 3 pm. So we gave up and walked around the ton for a bit, and I found a pin to add to my collection. We got to see the church in Amalfi and it was very beautiful:
The bus ride back wasn’t as bad as the bus ride there, but it still was kinda tough. We made it back to Sorrento in time to catch the sunset, and it was a very nice way to end the day.
This was our last night in Sorrento… the next day we were heading to the Isle of Capri!
Tags
#study abroad#spring break#sorrento#amalfi#italy#scenic#landscape#photography#tourism#touring#water#ocean#picturesqueInfo
Notes
There are 2 notes on this item.
-
Sailboat sailing across the sunset off of the Isle of Capri, Italy
Tags
#sailboat#sailing#sunset#water#ocean#italy#capri#isle of capri#isla di capri#island#scenic#landscapeInfo
Notes
There are 2 notes on this item.
-
Verona Sunset from “the hill”
taken by yours truly, Cait G.
Tags
#verona#italy#italia#sunset#scenic#landscape#beauty#sun#colorful#city#cityscape#sky#study abroad#photography#photoInfo
Notes
There are 4 notes on this item.
-
Vernazza from up high, Italy
photo taken by yours truly, Cait G.
Tags
Info
Notes
There are 0 notes on this item.
-
Boats off the coast of Monterosso, Italy, with other cities of Le Cinque Terre in the background
photo taken by yours truly, Cait G.
Tags
#monterosso#italy#italia#boat#boating#coast#water#ocean#sea#photography#scenic#landscape#cinque terreInfo
Notes
There are 1 notes on this item.
-
Manarola, Cinque Terre, Italy
picture taken by yours truly, Cait G.
Tags
#beauty#cinque terre#coast#italia#italy#landscape#manarola#ocean#photography#towns#water#vacation#vacation spotsInfo
Notes
There are 7 notes on this item.
-
1 day 2 hike with 3 girls 4 recreational purposes: 5 terre
On 3 am, Saturday morning, Fadya, Alyssa and I set out on a series of trains to head to Cinque Terre, also known as the “Italian Riviera”. It is on the western coast of Italy, in Liguria. It is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen!
So we started out at 3 am, leaving from the Verona train station. We got into Bologna around 4:20 am, then had a slight layover until we took a train to Parma that got in around 6 am, then had an hour and a half layover until we took the train to Riomaggiore, the southern most town of Cinque Terre, arriving at 10 am. What a whirlwind of travel it was!! I was a little hesitant to travel this weekend because of the experience of London travel still so fresh, but the trains were definitely reliable.
We made it!!
Right when we got off the train in Riomaggiore, this is what greeted us:
At that point, I wasn’t even the slightest bit sleepy from our train ride anymore. How could I be with the prospect of seeing more beauty like this?! So we headed to a coffee shop to get a little pick-me-up, then we headed to the park office to buy our tickets to the park. It was here that we found out that only 1 of the 4 hiking trails was open because of the landslides that occurred last year. The only one that was open was the one between Riomaggiore and Manarola, which is the easiest of the 4 paths. We were pretty bummed, but we decided to carry onward.
Map of the Cinque Terre
Entrance to the pathway between Riomaggiore and Manarola
We began our hike, and it was pretty easy the whole way. Some hills and steps, but it was all very easy to traverse. We found a few different stairways taht headed down to the water, and thinking that we were daring, we ventured down them. (Turns out they are allowed; there were fishermen and other people down there as well!) I became obsessed with climbing all of the rocks surrounded by water… I’m so obsessed with the ocean!! So, of course, photo shoots ensued:
The first, not quite as daring, trip to the water:
The more dangerous steps down to the water:
Don’t look down!!!
The water was so crisp and clean! I was literally soooo obsessed with just watching the water and taking pictures of it
Pretending to Ariel from the Little Mermaid out on my rock:
I was climbing around like a monkey and literally having the time of my life!
The look back at Riomaggiore from the rock that we hung out on… you can see it a little bit on the right!
As mentioned in previous posts, there are locks EVERYWHERE in Italy, especially on this path because it is called “La Via dell’Amore”, or the path of love.
It was kind of interesting to see how quickly the locks eroded from the sea air… some of them were from 2011 and were already rusting!!
Along the walk the pathway was built into the mountain so it was enclosed:
THE WATER WAS SO BLUE AND BEAUTIFUL. I was so obsessed with the teal that it was in some parts:
At one point, we stopped after traversing down another steep staircase to the water near the end of the pathway. You could just see Manarola from the place we were sitting:
So next we got to Manarola and decided to explore the town a bit before catching the train to Corniglia. This was definitely my favorite town out of the five. It had such colorful houses and looked so beautiful next to the water.
This picture I took is my favorite of the bunch. No edited needed, no nothing. It’s so so naturally beautiful:
We tried to continue on the hiking path to Corniglia, but it was closed off, as was known but hoped wasn’t true. We got some beautiful shots though around the closed path.
So we scooted quickly to the train and went to Corniglia next. Here, we got off the train and had to hike up a huge mountain to get to the actual town itself.
We didn’t actually take these stairs up, but we did take them back down to the train station eventually!! The town was super small and not at all touristy, but we did adventure around a bit and found this beautiful lookout perfect for a myspace style pic:
I can’t get over this blue water:
The hike back down the stairs offered some beautiful views:
Once again, don’t look down!!
We caught the train again towards Vernazza. This is where the towns started to get sad. Vernazza and Monterosso al Mare (the last two towns) were the two most effected by the landslides last year. There is still a ton of evidence of the damage that was done, and it is extremely sad to see how it has effected the locals.
Where it looks like the landslide originated from:
We hiked up a ton of stairs here:
And we were rewarded with some seriously breathtaking views:
So, despite the tragedy that occurred, Vernazza’s coast remains just as beautiful as ever. We headed down to the breakwater (pictured above) and had a photo shoot because the surrounding area was so unbelievable beautiful:
Next we headed to Monterosso al Mare, which was also damaged by the mudslides. It was sad as well, but we didn’t really see a whole lot of damage until Sunday, when we went back. Instead, we walked the beach and explored for a short while.
We were really hungry, so we decided to head to our hostel in Levanto, one town north of Monterosso al Mare and on the same train line that we had been using all day. It was very convenient! We had dinner in town, and turned in early at 10 pm because we were so beat from the day.
On Sunday, we checked out of our hostel and headed to the beach in Levanto once more to take some pictures:
We hopped on the train again (bumming it this time!!) and headed to Monterosso al Mare once more, where our train home was heading out from. We had about 3 hours to kill, and I had seen a huge rock on Saturday that I wanted to conquer. It was huge and super tall, so I was surprised that I even wanted to get up there, being so afraid of heights and all!! Even Alyssa was a little hesitant at first… but it was AWESOME!!
I CONQUERED THE BIG ROCK!! Look how tiny I look hahaha! I really was super high up, but so worth it. After I took a photo shoot up there, Alyssa did it and then Fadya, then we all decided to go up there again just to hang out for a bit. I literally wish I could have lived up there. It was so much fun and the waves were so relaxing to listen to.
I can’t get over this water!!
Soon we departed my beloved rock and headed towards the Old Town of Monterosso al Mare, and to do so we walked on the pathway over the mountain side (the more scenic route). Here we saw a lookout tower from the 16th century (above) and also a bunker that was used in World War II (rounded thing below):
The town was stunning, even though the day was cloudy:
The roadway built high up into the mountains was built in the 1980s, and cost a fortune, but it connected all of the Cinque Terre towns:
Of course, a myspace picture was necessary:
This is the double bar sign that means you were on the path of the Cinque Terre national park that we saw everywhere:
We explored the Old Town a little bit, but, once again, a lot was destroyed by the landslide, so there wasn’t too much to see. It was kind of the same in all towns about touristy stuff: they have tried to retain the traditional parts of the towns and not let it get to touristy and hoity toity, which I actually enjoyed a lot!! After exploring the old town for a bit, we headed back towards the train station to catch our train back home. It truly was a wonderful trip; I recommend everyone to go and see the Cinque Terre it was a beautiful place!!
I LOVED THAT ROCK.
Tags
#cinque terre#italy#italia#coast#water#touring#tourism#landscape#photography#study abroad#travelling#travel#beauty#nature#ocean#sea#beach#coastline#hiking#beautifulInfo
Notes
There are 1 notes on this item.
-
Roaring sea along shore of Cinque Terre, Italy
taken by Cait G.
Tags
Info
Notes
There are 2 notes on this item.
-
Boat in a canale, Venice, Italy
