It’s
officially been more than a third of the St Brigid’s College Italy tour,
and we are still enjoying every minute of it and are rearing for more!
Saturday began at 8.30am, when we boarded the bus and headed to a UNESCO world
heritage site, the Cinque Terre.
The Cinque Terre is a national park made up of five small towns, and offered
us the opportunity to spend the day hiking between the towns, and admiring the
view of this beautiful area.
After the rains that have followed us throughout our tour, we were blessed to
have beautiful weather, and even the cool six degree day seemed to warm almost
instantly when we reached our destination.
(Speaking of the rains, we don’t want them here, and have instead been
praying for them to reach Horsham instead to help the farmers out.)
We began our walk to the starting point, the town of Riomaggiore, with ocean
views as our backdrop. There were copious amounts of camera opportunities, and
we utilised all of them, stopping often to take more photos.
We soon reached the train station of Riomaggiore, where the official walk began.
This section was called the Via dell’Amore, or Lovers’ Way, and
it was not hard to understand why – it was easy to imagine a couple declaring
their undying love to each other, with this beautiful and serene ocean view
from the cliffs as the setting.
The walk was easier than we expected, and we made it to the town of Manarola
well under the expected time of 30 minutes. After a short break to admire the
view, take photos, and rehydrate, we began the second section of the walk, to
the village of Corniglia.
Although it was decidedly more difficult than the first section, the walk was
not as hard as we had imagined it to be – until the very end. We were
horrified to be greeted with a large set of stone stairs, extremely steep and
terribly high.
The struggle to reach the top was understood when we finally made it –
a sign explained that we had just successfully tackled 382 stairs! This was
a cause for celebration, but we were too exhausted, and instead sat for several
minutes, trying to catch our breaths.
We explored the small village of Corniglia, trying to imagine living in such
a beautiful, long-standing town. Soon, however, it was time to move onto the
fourth village, Vernazza.
Our earlier victory over the 382 steps had convinced everybody that we deserved
to have a rest, and so we raced to catch the train to Vernazza, rather than
walk there. This four-minute train ride made the journey seem so easy; however,
if we were to have walked there, it would have taken more than an hour.
Vernazza was by far the most scenic, beautiful village we had come across. Water
lapped the edges of the town, the views were exquisite, and they even sold good
gelato, which completed everybody’s day. Yet again, the cameras were out
and amazing moments were captured, mainly involving the sea (we’re just
not used to so much water in one place!)
Alas, the day had to end at some stage, and too soon, we were again on the train,
and then the bus, arriving at our accommodation well and truly ready for dinner.
Sunday morning was a sore point for everybody, literally. While the day before,
after we’d tacked the Cinque Terre, we had felt invincible, today, muscles
were aching in places some didn’t even know existed.
We soon loosened up, though, and boarded the bus with our fantastic bus driver,
Massimo, for the hour-long journey to San Gimignano.
The landscape of Tuscany was just outside our bus windows, and we spent the
hour mesmerised by the beauty displayed in the autumn-coloured countryside.
When we arrived at San Gimignano, the muscles started to complain again as we
started walking uphill to reach the city square. However, they were easier to
ignore this time; the town was amazing, surrounded by the sweeping plains of
Tuscany, and enveloped in a charm all of its own.
We spent a relaxing hour at San Gimignano, enjoying not only the spectacular
views, but also the gelato from a shop that has won the best gelato award for
two years now. Overall, San Gimignano was a fantastic experience.
Our next stop for the day was in yet another beautiful city, this time Siena.
Our base was the Piazza del Campo, home of the most famous palio in Italy, the
Palio di Siena.
We spread out throughout the square and its surrounding streets, delving into
areas that had been around since medieval times.
We were brought back to the present with a great lunch of pizza, before we began
our own version of the Palio, crossed with The Amazing Race.
Separated into our five teams, we were given a photo challenge (for example,
a photo of your group in front of a statue), and the race began. A full circuit
of the Piazza del Campo had to be completed before the team photo could be accepted,
and before you could receive the next of the three photo challenges.
What the Italians must have thought of us, 30 Australian teenagers running at
full speed, yelling to each other and trying to get strangers to snap the photos
for us!
It was quite fun, and each team definitely showed team spirit, and possibly
enough energy to possibly be involved in the Palio di Siena itself!
Team Pavarotti was announced champions in the end, but winners and losers didn’t
matter; the day had been brilliant regardless of team placing.
After the race, we spent a few extra minutes exploring Siena for the last time.
We then headed home, still as exhausted as ever, but also, even more in love
with the country that is Italia.