This morning we said arrivederci to bella Roma and we were reunited with Peter and our bus. We were off to the Cinque Terre, which I was highly anticipating. Rome was a lot of hustle and bustle and I was looking forward to a bit of a slower pace. Before we arrived at our seaside paradise, we had a stop to explore Orvieto, a traditional Italian hilltown.
To get to Orvieto, we drove the bus to the parking lot below the town. There, we picked up the funicular to bring us to the town walls on the hill. At the funicular station we then boarded a bus that would take us right to the main square and the Duomo. Paul oriented us to the town and gave us a meeting time to be back at the funicular station.
We explored the Duomo first, then did a little shopping. There were so many ceramic stores and stores selling olive wood products. It's definitely a good stop to pick up gifts if you're so inclined. We then had the somewhat challenging task of finding a place for lunch. It was a little early and not many restaurants were open yet. We found one, thankfully, and a large chunk of our group enjoyed a pasta lunch together.
Pigeon is one of Orvieto's specialties, but our restaurant didn't have it. Add it to the next time list!
Before we knew it, we had arrived in Levanto where we would pick up the train to take into Monterosso. This is another time on this trip where I was glad I had fit everything into a carry on! We arrived in Monterosso a short few minutes later. We took a ten minute walk from the train station to our hotel and passed the ever important laundromat along the way. After we got our room assignments, there was just enough time to head back to the laundromat before meeting up with the group for dinner.
This group dinner was another one of my favorites. We had the seafood amphora which not only tasted delicious but the presentation was stunning as well. In addition, we enjoyed caprese salad, pasta with pesto, and the wine flowed freely. We enjoyed each other's company long after the meal ended and then enjoyed a late night swim. This is definitely what life is about!