Hipskind European Adventure: Florence, Tuscany, and Cinque Terre

A week and a half ago I met my mom and step-dad, Steve, in Florence in the middle of their European adventure.  They had already been to Rome and spent some time in Tuscany before I met up with them.  Also traveling with them was another couple, Greg and Cheryl, whom we have known for a long time from Dallas.  I took the train all the way down from Zurich to Florence, which was about 5.5 hours.  The scenery during the whole train ride was beautiful and I had a good book to read, so the time flew by.  To be honest, I was a bit nervous traveling by train to a country I had never been to without the ability to get in touch with my parents who were meeting me at the train station.  Then I remembered that we used to meet people all the time without cell phones just 15 years ago and people managed just fine, so it would all work out. Luckily my train was on time and Mom and Steve found me easily, so the worry was for nothing.

I arrived at 1 pm, so we only had a half-day to explore the city of Florence, but we tried to fit in as much as we could.  It was only the end of May and the temperature was already at 90 degrees that day we were in Florence.  For a country without air-conditioning, I can't imagine how they handle the heat during the summer. We met up with Greg and Cheryl at the Galleria dell' Accademia, which is a museum famous for housing Michelangelo's giant 17-foot statue of the biblical hero David.  No pictures were allowed inside, but I'm sure everyone is familiar with what the statue looks like.  Besides the famous statue, the museum was rather disappointing.  The museum layout was disorganized, with some rooms housing works of art without adequate labeling and some art was just not that interesting or unique with what you can see at other museums.  But I guess the point is you pay to see the statue of David.

After that we went to the Santa Croce, which is a Gothic cathedral built in the 13th century.  Mom had wanted to see the authentic Italian leather school that was attached to the cathedral.  The leather school has been hand-producing leather goods for 70 years.

The outside of the Santa Croce cathedral

Not only was the leather school really interesting, but the cathedral itself is a resting place for some famous Florentines.  You can see pictures I took of some of the famous tombs or memorials that are inside the cathedral below.

The resting place of the famous author of The Inferno

Tomb of Michelangelo with figures representing painting, sculpture, and architecture

Galileo was reburied here 100 years after he died because the Pope had labeled him a heretic

A memorial to the Nobel Prize-winning physicist who helped create the atomic bomb

After seeing the church, we did some shopping and stopped at the most famous square in Florence, Piazza della Signoria, for a snack and to enjoy the scenery. I must confess that I did not take many pictures in Italy because I was busy navigating for everyone.  Maybe I'll post ones that other people took when they send them to me.

Steve, Mom, Cheryl, and Greg at the Piazza della Signoria

We decided to have dinner out in Tuscany, which I was all in favor for so that I could see some of the countryside in daylight.  We drove along scenic Tuscan roads and stopped on a hill near where we were staying in Tuscany to take pictures during sunset.

We stayed at the renovated castle on top of the hill in this picture, which is part of a winery

A Tuscan sunset

The sweet Fiat we cruised around in

That night, we had a fantastic meal at little family-owned restaurant in the cute town of Greve in Chianti.  All the dishes were simple, but fresh and full of flavor, without being expensive.  After dinner, we headed back to the winery to get some sleep.  I don't really have any good pictures of the castle we stayed in because we were always coming home late and leaving early.  It was a very beautiful and peaceful location though; just what you would expect from Tuscany.

On Thursday, we visited part of the Italian Riviera called Cinque Terre, meaning five villages.  These five villages sit on the rocky Italian coast, overlooking the clear Ligurian Sea.  The steep cliffs make it near impossible to get to the towns by car, but luckily, a great train system runs between each village.  We drove to the large city of La Spezia and took a train into the first town of Riomaggiore.

Looking out to the water from the train station at Riomaggiore

We walked over to the main street of Riomaggiore and had a great breakfast while enjoying the blue skies, the brightly-colored, picturesque buildings, and all the beautiful potted flowers in windowsills.  We didn't go to any museums or learn much history that day, rather the majority of our time in Cinque Terre was spent just walking up and down streets while admiring all the beauty.

Brightly-colored buildings in Riomaggiore

Adorable restaurant on the main street of Riomaggiore

In addition to all the towns being connected by train (and ferry), pathways have also been constructed so that you can walk between each town.  Some parts of the trail are easy, while others are strenuous, so we did a combination of train and walking to see some of the villages.  The pathway between Riomaggiore and Manarola (the first and second villages) is an easy and beautiful 20-minute walk.  For some reason, the trail is called Lovers' Lane and the tradition is to secure a lock somewhere along the trail to bring good luck to your relationship.

Mom and Steve underneath the entrance to Via dell'Amore

 I think this is looking back at Riomaggiore on the way to Manarola

On the way to Manarola on Via dell'Amore

Since we had a scheduled dinner with the owner of the winery that night, we couldn't stay in Cinque Terre too late, so we were only able to see three of the five towns.  The third village we visited was Corniglia, which sits way up on a hill because the coastline geography.  So we hiked up the 400 steps to get from the train station to the village center.  It was a bit of a workout, but the reward was a great ocean breeze at the top that cooled us down.  We ate a late lunch at a another great restaurant and even had a great laugh with the waitress, which I'll tell you about if you ask me some time.

The square where we ate lunch

Looking out to Manarola from the top of Coniglia

After that, we sadly headed out of Cinque Terre to go back to the winery, but then had a wonderful and informative meal with the winery owner.  Usually I am not a fan of really drawn-out dinners, but the owner had so many interesting things to say that the time just flew by.  After a long day, we finally went up to get some sleep.