After a two week introductory program in the Netherlands, I had a break to do whatever I pleased. My first stop was Pisa, Italy. Getting there was...interesting, and included sleeping on the linoleum floor of a tiny airport in Belgium.
I arrived in Pisa the next day, and spent the afternoon in sweaty delirium. Pisa was desolate and hot. The shutters on all the shops were closed.
Next, I went to Cinque Terre, five linked villages on Italy's western coast. The first day, I swam in the cove leaving to the Ligurian Sea. I walked around the narrow, hilly streets of the town. That night, I drank wine with some girls from the hostel. We stood on a cliff overlooking the sea and talked to an Italian boy who lived in the village. The girls giggled at everything he said. He brought us wine from his cellar. His friend had made it. It tasted like vinegar.
I ate some really delicious food in Italy, including: many cones of gelato (stracciatella is my favorite), gnocchi with tomato, fuscilli with pesto, caprese salad, focaccia with artichoke, focaccia with tomato, grapes, peaches, sciacchetra wine (a specialty of Cinque Terre, a very sweet wine made from raisins).
Highlights of Italy:
1)Swimming in the Mediterranean. The sparkling turquoise water and the many orange umbrellas crowded together on the narrow beach.
2)The Leaning Tower of Pisa and other monuments at the Piazza del Duomo. The whiteness of the large, ornate structures rising from the lush green grass.
3)How warm, juicy, sun-drenched the peaches tasted.
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