669. Day 17 of 28 | Hike to Vernazza and Riomaggiore

The next day, we decided to hike to Vernazza. At first I didn't know it would be an actual hike like that. I thought it would be more like a 1-hour walk over on nicely paved roads. However that was not the case. It ended up being about 2.5 hours and some parts were pretty difficult to walk. It was extremely exhausting but worth it in the end.

We started off the day by having breakfast at a focacceria. Actually this was our 2nd breakfast of the morning since the first one was pretty bad lol.




Then began the hike..

Most of the route looked like this. Very narrow and you had to be careful not to lose your balance. Also there's only space for one person so sometimes you'd have to wait to the side while the people in the other direction passed (and vice versa)


The first encounter: an accordion player


The second encounter: a man selling lemon juice, fresh from his farm.

The third encounter: an old man we got orange juice from. He didn't speak a word to us but was really nice and friendly and used hand gestures. I kind of felt like I was in some kind of video game. Like on a journey somewhere and making our way to each rest stop/drink place to replenish our energy lol.


Nice views along the way..

Then we finally made it to Vernazza. We walked a bit around the village (which was very small), had a drink and gelato, and bought some souvenirs.



After Vernazza, we took a train to Riomaggiore (~10min ride or so)



In the evening, we went back to Monterosso for dinner beside the sea. It was forecasted to storm the following day and the waves were incredibly strong. We ate here with the sound of crashing waves. It was pretty cool.

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668. Day 16 of 28 | Arriving in Monterosso, Cinque Terre

After Pisa, we went to Cinque Terre. It was a destination thats been on my list for a long time and I was excited to finally be there. The place consists of 5 different villages, built on the edge of cliffs and full of colourful little houses. We stayed here for three nights in total. The first day, we arrived in the early evening. The place we stayed at was in Monterosso. At first I wanted to stay in Riomaggiore or Vernazza (as those are known to be the most beautiful villages) but I'm really glad we ended up at Monterosso instead. It's the most easily accessible and largest village (even though it's still super small) with the most restaurant options, beaches, etc. & it was the most "walkable" which is convenient when you are a traveller with luggage. At the other places you'd have to carry your luggage up and down staircases and the buildings seemed older. I really loved Cinque Terre overall. I loved literally every place we visited during the trip but the three days here were a few of the most memorable for me.

The weather wasn't looking that good when we arrived. It was forecasted to rain/thunderstorm all of the days we were there..but we ended up getting super lucky because it was hot and sunny each day instead. Literally the opposite of what the forecast had said. Cinque Terre is definitely best enjoyed without the rain (as with most places..but especially here hahha).



We stayed at a place called MiaChi which was really really nice. I highly recommend it if you are visited Cinque Terre. I loved the blue and white interiors of the room. It was only a quick ~7min walk from the train station.

After checking in, we headed out again to the old town in search of dinner. The place we stayed at was on one end of the village and the old town part is on the opposite end. Since it is such a small place, it only takes about 15min to walk from end to end.






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667. Day 15 of 28 | Pisa and Lucca

The next day, we were in Pisa. I guess the main reason Pisa was on our itinerary was because it was the closest "big" city to Cinque Terre, our next destination. We only spent a day in Pisa. It's a pretty quiet city and there isn't much else to do besides seeing the Leaning Tower. Since Lucca was a quick half hour train ride away, we decided to go there for the evening. I LOVED Lucca! It's a very charming and cozy little town. I really liked the atmosphere there. (The photo above is from Lucca by the way)

Lunch in Pisa. I ordered an "Aperol" which tasted like orange cough syrup. I never had it before (only aperol spritz) and didn't know that it was alcoholic..the effects of that hit me pretty hard hahah.


After lunch we continued on our walk to the Leaning Tower


The gelato shop on the left corner here is very popular. It was my favourite gelato from the whole trip!




Then we went to Lucca..


The city center of Lucca is walled-in and filled with narrow alleyways and cobblestone streets. We wandered around a bit then reached Piazza dell'Anfiteatro which was the coolest "square" I've ever seen as it's actually completely round like an oval. The area was filled with restaurants. We had dinner here, then gelato, before heading back to our hotel in Pisa. I really love Tuscany. Would love to go back and explore more of the countrysides someday.





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666. Day 13 & 14 of 28 | Malta: Valletta and Mdina

After a few days in Barcelona, we went to Malta! Unfortunately due to the scheduling of flights we were only able to be there for 1 day. We arrived late at night, had a late dinner and slept, then had the next day to explore..after the second night we had an early morning flight to Italy already. It was my first time in Malta and I really loved it. Really wish we could have had an extra day or two there to explore the rest of the island. I really like the style of the buildings and everything.


Our hotel there was a really cool design boutique hotel called Hugos.



Walking around Valletta. All the buildings were very old.






Mdina is the former capital city of Malta. It's a fortified village also known as the Silent City. I really liked wandering the quiet narrow streets here.


For lunch we ate at a restaurant named Cockney's (first pic). We had freshly caught sea bass.



In the evening, we had dinner at the hotel lobby and sat there to work for a few hours. Then we went out to a nearby bar (our hotel is pretty centrally situated for nightlife) for a few drinks.



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