Siena and Beyond

This post is far too late, but I can't miss blogging about any travel i've done thus far, especially when this particular trip involves so many different cities!

Night sky in Siena

After Tom, Andy and Alise flew back to America, Mom and Abby stayed for another week. We rented a car-MUCH smaller than our "living room on wheels"-and mom braved another day of driving in crazy Rome to get us out of the city.

Abby and I in San Gimignano

Our first stop was Siena where we spent a few hours in the cathedral then had an aperitivo in Piazza del Campo, where the Palio horse race is held each year. The city is small enough to see everything in an afternoon or a full day. We stayed at the cutest hotel that night before setting off for San Gimignano the next day.

Abby in Piazza del Campo

San Gimignano was/is my favorite non-sea city in Italy! It's a short 45-minute drive from Siena. San Gimignano is known for their towers, of which they have 14 still standing, whereas in most other italian cities, the towers have been taken down in wars.  Abby and I climbed 300 stairs to the top of one of the towers.

view from the top of the tower in Sam Gimignano

We also enjoyed some of the famous wine from this region, made from the vernaccia grape.

After some hours in San Gimignano, we drove a couple hours to the seaside town of Forte dei Marmi where there is the first ever Sundek store.

Abby at the Sundek store

Our final destination that day was La Spezia in Liguria.  After a bit of difficulty finding our hotel, we finally made it. La Spezia is not a particularly nice city, but we decided to stay there because there is a train that goes to all of the towns in Cinque Terre. Our hotel was located directly next to the train station. It couldn't have been a better location.

The three of us in Corniglia, Cinque Terre

The following day, we took the train to the first of the five Cinque Terre towns, Riomaggiore.

Riomaggiore

It was a hot day so we decided to take a swim before going on to the next town.

Another view of Riomaggiore

We walked the Via dell'amore, which is the path that connects Riomaggiore to the next town, Manarola.

Abby on the Via dell'Amore"

Manarola is the oldest of the five towns dating back to the early 1300's. Manarola is also know for the wine they produce, Sciacchetra. 

 Manarola

We took another swim in this town as well.

water in Manarola

To reach the next town of Corgniglia, you must take the train. The path is closed due to heavy rains last year that caused a mudslide. The town sits atop a promontory. You have the choice to take the bus to the top or do as Abby and I did and walk the 382 steps up. It wasn't as bad as it seems.

Corniglia

There is a beautiful view of the sea and the other cinque terre towns at the top of Corniglia.

view from the top of Corniglia

This day wasn't full enough so we decided to continue on and visit the fourth town, Vernazza.

Vernazza

We arrived in time to eat dinner down by the water and watch the sunset.

sunset in Vernazza

The following day, we got up and took the train to the fifth town, Monterosso al Mare. This town has the least character of the five, but has the largest beach area. We wanted our final day of vacation to be completely relaxed, so we stayed in this town the entire day.

Beach in Monterosso al Mare

That night, we walked into town and had another dinner on the water followed by watching "The festival of the dragon." Everyone dressed up as pirates and marched around town.

Festival of the Dragon

All of Cinque Terre was spectacularly gorgeous.  It was the one place in Italy that I wanted to visit more than anything. I loved all the bright colors of the buildings, the blueness of the sea, and the views of these cities built directly into the mountain.

We got up early the next morning and drove 3 hours to Orvieto, a town in the Umbria region of Italy. Orvieto is known for their underground city where there lies numerous caves. We took a tour of some of the caves and it was neat to see old quarries or where people once kept pigeons to eat, etc.

Inside the caves

We stayed in Orvieto that night and it just so happened to be the "la notte bianca." All the shops stay open through the night and there were various concerts in some of the piazzas.

Abby in Orvieto 

It's suffice to say that we had a fantastic tour of Italy this second week of my mom and sister's stay. I'm so thankful that I got to see all of the cities i've always wanted to. I was so happy to spend more time with my mom and sister and enjoy their company.

Ciao from America!

Well, I'm writing this blog post from America.  I arrived on August 27th.  I had said back in my post on Dublin that I was 95% sure that I was moving back to the states at the end of September because my lease was up in Rome and that I was done teaching at my school. It is true that my lease is up and it's also true that i'm done teaching for my school in Rome, however, I am headed back to Italy this Tuesday, September 11th.

A couple days before Anna and Giuseppe's wedding, I met one of Giuseppe's cousins who happens to have the same name. He lives in a town called Matera that's 30 minutes from Irsina with his wife and 3 sons who are 18, 15 and 5. I was talking to him about how I didn't like Rome and I was going to move back to the US when he offered for me to come live with he and his family in Matera for the fall. Matera has always been one of my favorite cities and I love the close proximity to Irsina and my friends there! The family owns a small apartment on the first floor of their building complete with a bedroom, kitchen and bathroom that I get to live in. They live on the 3rd floor in a much larger and more beautiful apartment.  They have offered for me to stay at their house for free and would like me to speak english to their children.  As of now, I will be tutoring 15 15-year olds in the afternoons and am hoping to find a part-time position for a company in the mornings to keep me busy.

Matera is a town of 60,000 people compared to Rome which has 2.8 residents. Matera is one of the first human establishments in Italy and dates back to 9,000 years ago. It is roughly 5 hours by car from Rome and the closest major city is Bari, only about 1 hour 15 minutes by car.

I'm very excited for this next chapter in my Italian adventure! The family has not asked me to stay for a set-period of time and have said, if I like it, i'm welcome to stay and if not, i'm free to go.  I love this flexibility, but am also fairly confident that I will love living in this city.

All of this means that I will continue to be blogging! I've had the best travel year of my life and I can't promise that my fall will be as exciting as the spring, but i'll definitely keep you posted on my adventures.