Liz and Erin arrived Monday evening and we set out for a fancy evening at the orchestra with Luca, Anna and a couple of the students. We saw the worlds best viola player from Russia, and he did not disappoint!

Two apertivos is better than one:

Tuesday we spent the day in Genova to see the sights. When we found out that Cristina was making pesto for lunch we split our trip in half, making our way back to the villa for lunch. Of course in the morning we stopped by Mangini for hot chocolates and wandered through the major piazzas of Genova. 

After our delicious pesto lunch, we set out for Strada Nuova. We headed up to the 360 degree lookout above Palazzo Rosso, and then down to the port for apertivo número uno! One of the students fiancé is in town so she joined us on our afternoon tour. We then had plans to meet up with Giudi later that evening for what was apertivo número due! We had a fun evening with Giudi and laughed our butts off, of course we did, we were with Giudi.

Barfing to Bikes (not at the same time):

Wednesday morning we had plans to head out for a day in Cinque Terra, but unfortunately Erin was not feeling well. So while she slept in for a little bit hoping to feel better Liz and I climbed up to Righi to enjoy the views of Genova from above. What a great morning though, I got hit on by an elderly man (or so Liz thinks this is what was happening) and I met a new friend who asked if we could meet up and chat so that she could practice her English. 

After heading back to the villa picking up Erin we headed to Santa Margherita, which ended up being such an amazing afternoon. We found out that we could utilize their bike share program and bike to Portofino, thanks to Erin for the brilliant idea! Needless to say since this is not peak season many places in Portofino were closed, but not to worry we got ourselves an €8 hot chocolate (pretty sure that man knew we were tourists and ripped us off)! Had I known it was that much I would have never gotten it, but it sure did taste good, and warmed us up for at least a little while!

Our ride back to Santa Margherita was quite chilly, but what a day with even more amazing views. Once we returned our bikes we stopped into a bar in the town square for apertivo. We deserved a glass of wine after our adventure. The best part of the day though was finding out that our bikes were electric, with one small pedal we were off. It was amazing!

Liz peddling to Portofino

PORTOFINO

A quiet afternoon in Portofino

Apertivo in St. Margherita

Cinque Terra… and then some!

What a day, this is my second time out to Cinque Terra in the past few weeks and I have to say this time around was a lot different then the last. First off we hiked all five! And this time around there was a lot more shops open, making the area a little more desirable. We had a great lunch at a restaurant in Vernazza, Il Pirate, which is run by two twin brothers.  My eggplant parmesan was so delicious and perfect considering we had a lot further to go on our adventures.

No words…

Eggplant parmesan in Vernazza

After our delicious lunch, complete with champagne, as we were celebrating Liz passing her final architecture exam, we set out to conquer the remaining three villages. Little did we know that the next pathway was washed out halfway through and we would have to scale the side of a mountain where a rock slide occurred. Might be one of the scariest things I’ve ever done, next to quitting my job and moving to Italy 😉

Scaling the washed out mountainside

Whoops!

After we scaled the mountain side we came to the end of the path where there was a closed gate, we then had to climb over a railing, around the scary pointy things that keep you out and off the mountainside, as there was no way we were turning back!

Too bad this sign wasn’t on the other side…

If these warning signs were only on the other side of the trail!

We knew that the path between four and five was closed, but not ALL paths were closed, just the one for “normal” tourists, but we are in no way “normal”! We ran into two ladies that just hiked it and they gave us tips for a successful trip, this after we had already followed the directions of the lady at the info station, which were completely wrong! While probably the hardest part our hike all day because it was literally straight up the mountain and straight back down, the views were breathtaking! The thought of how amazing our legs and bums would look kept us going.

What a wonderful, fun day, shared with two great girls. One who is OLD, but we won’t hold that against her! 

Happy 30th Birthday Liz 🎁!

Our last climb to the end

Last village!

Riomaggiore

Needless to say we were pretty exhausted and while we had planned to celebrate Liz’s big day with a nice dinner in centro, we ended up having pizza delivered from Re Mida and enjoying a couple bottles of wine while watching silly videos, of course Liz and Nick laughing the whole time. It was perfect, it felt like the good ole’ days, our life in Charlotte, just transplanted temporarily in Italy. I was very sad to see these two girls leave, but know it will only be a few short months until we are reunited again, this time drinking craft beer instead of vino!

Thanks so much to Liz and Erin for assisting me with the titles for this blog post 😉