After spending all afternoon in Florence yesterday, today we decided to head out on a day trip using our Eurail passes. We had a really good breakfast at the hotel, then headed to the train station to go to Pisa. After an hour on the train, then a 20 minute walk, we arrived at the leaning tower.
The girls had a ball trying to get the perfect picture. There were thousands of people in the square all trying to do the same thing. After about an hour or so, we headed back to the station then on to La Spezia on the way to Cinque Terre. First stop was Riomagiorre.
It was quite beautiful. We were a little hungry from the traveling, so we went to a bar right on the point looking out over the water. It was so nice and relaxing. Chrissa had her spritz with a tomato and mozzarella salad. I had a beer with bruschetta. The twins had a slushy with their paninis.
We then got back on the train and headed north to the northernmost town of Monterosso. This is a much bigger town with hundreds of umbrellas and deck chair in a beautiful long beach. Chrissa and Pe went for a swim while Jana and I had a drink at the Stella Marina Beach Bar.
When we finished, we got back on the train and headed south to Vernazza. To me, this was the most beautiful of the towns. It is simply stunning.
We then headed to our last stop, Manarola. Much bigger than Vernazza, Manarola was also quite beautiful.
We stopped at Gelateria Enrica overlooking the harbour and had our gelato, before heading back to the trains for the long 3 hour trip back to Florence.
By now we were exhausted, so we went quickly to dinner before heading home. Dinner was at Trattoria di Guido. Chrissa had a risotto marinara, Jana a spaghetti marinara. Pe had chicken and chips, while I had a pork shank with baked potatoes. It was a really nice meal.
All in all, a really memorable day.