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Published: October 23rd 2007
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David
Technically I wasn't even supposed to photograph him - hence the dark, hazy, private-eye style photo. Getting to Florence was a nice short trip, and once again we were staying in a camping grounds just out of town.
The first evening we decided to organise a group dinner with the people who were on the bus that day. The busabout guide knew a place that offered group discounts and a decent happy hour. The meal was a real Italian-styled four course feed - Bruschetta, pasta, chicken and ice cream - and it was great. After dinner we all wandered down to the next door bar where we enjoyed a night of darts, quiz machines and karaoke!
The next day was dedicated to exploring the lovely town of Firenze (Florence). Florence is all about the art. There were statues and sculptures everywhere and a museum around every corner. After a little bit of time spent orientating myself, I wandered on down to Galleria del Accademia. The line was a little off-putting, but after the Vatican it really didn't seem that bad. Within the hour I was inside and staring at the most famous statue in the world, Michelangelo's David. It really was magnificent. Michelangelo was only 29 when he finished it, and the two years of work he
Duomo
The huge, colourful church in the main plaza. put into it clearly come across in every vein and bulging muscle. Supposedly David is striking a meditative pose, just after he killed Goliath - and I have no idea how Michelangelo managed to give him such a realistic expression. I could of stared at him for ages (and I did), but after a while I moved off to check out the rest of the exhibits the gallery had to offer. David really did overshadow everything else, but there was still plenty of art to soak up another hour´s worth of browsing.
The rest of the day and the day after I spent looking in and around Florence´s many churches and piazzas. The Duomo (a 15th century church in Florence´s main piazza) was breathtaking. It was enormous, and was packed full of huge paintings and stained glass windows by legendary artists like Donatello. I also spent some time just wandering along the river and eating plenty of gelati (my favourite was the nutella flavour).
From Florence I jumped on the bus to a small coastal town called La Spezia, but before we arrived me made a pit stop to the town of Pisa. After the hundreads of photos I've seen
Pisa Tower
Luckily there's always hundreads of Japanese people taking photos of themselves with their fingers holding it up, or else it might really fall down. of the "world's most famous" tower I didn't expect to be suprised at all, yet I just couldn't get over just how far over it leans. It just seems to defy gravity, and what's more is it's been doing it for hundreads of years! Apparently the magnitude of the 'lean' is around 15°. They now carry out stability tests daily, and everyday it is cleaned with a laser to ensure the bricks don't decay.
After the Pisa pit stop it was off to La Spezia. La Spezia was the gateway to Cinque Terre (literally: five villages) - an up and coming tourist hot spot. The five villages: Riomajjore, Manorolla, Corniglia, Vernazza and Monterosso (I have no idea how accurately I remembered how to spell them) are 5 old fishing villages located within 9km of each other on the Mediterranean coast. The 9km walking trail connecting them is now a UNESCO world heritage site, and offers some of the most amazing views I´ve seen on this trip.
I ended up renting an apartment with 3 other people for the four days I spent there. We stayed in the first village, Riomajjore, in a top-storey apartment that even had a balcony with
Riomajjore
The colourful buildings of the village I called home for 4 days. a slither of ocean view. The first afternoon I caught the train to the last village, Monterosso, because it was the only village with sand on its beaches. The next two days were very similar, except I spent 5 hours before the beach doing the 9km hike along the coast, and through all 5 villages. The walk was amazing, looking out over the flat, sparkling mediterranean and the rugged coast line. The villages are all perched up on a cliff or rock outcrop and all boast colourful little buildings that add to the scenery. And just to complement the amazing views, the actual effort put into the walk itself made you feel like you were earning it. On both days, by the time I made it to Monterosso I jumped into the water and spent the afternoon lying around the beach.
Each village had it´s own identity and something to offer, and there was so much to do that I spent very little time in the apartment. The weather decided to be very kind to us, and we had beautiful sunny days the whole time I was there - so I spent alot of time swimming. One afternoon, another guy
Corniglia
Looking back down the coast at the third village, Corniglia. and I decided we´d swim across the small harbour to the cliffs on the otherside to jump off some rocks. After swimming across, taking note of how deep the water was and figuring out where the submerged rocks were, we spotted a bit of a ledge jutting out. Normally I don´t get nervous of hights until I´m actually up there and can see how far down it really is, but this ledge was high enough that I was actually nervous before I even started climbing up! By the time I did get up there and peered down to the jagged rocks below I was more than just a little nervous. But after the other guy (a big kiwi bloke named Marty) ran and jumped, I gathered up the courage and took the plunge. It was such an adrenaline rush, I climbed straight back up and did it again.
I was sad to leave Cinque Terre, but it turned out to be overcast on the morning of our departure - so I was glad when I found out I´d be following the good weather to the French Riveria.
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murphy
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i like florence