Thursday, April 28, 2011

Islands, Boats and Rafting adventures.

After a long drive through the night and being  a little delayed me made it to Split, Croatia where the sun was shining and the city was waiting for us. We settled into our Glossy and Bossy Hostel located near the harbor. Shortly after we settled in we headed down to the meeting point to go on our first adventure: Our rafting trip. After driving through the beautiful mountains and seeing the gorgeous cliffs with nothing but pristine blue below we made it to the Cetina River. We suited up in our wet suits and vests and got into our designated rafts, took hold of the rows and were ready to go. Our guide was a soft spoken native who I think delighted in our screams and “girly-ness” Amanda and I jumped for the chance to be at the front of the raft reading to take on any white water that was about to come our way. The first part of a our journey was the easiest but very beautiful. Then we had to get out and let the guides get through the rougher waters while we walked around. We stopped at a waterfall to take a sip of fresh stream water then hopped back into the raft. Shortly after we came across come beautiful waterfalls to our side where our guide led us right under them causing us all, particularly Amanda and I, to get soaked! The next obstacle was a the biggest fall we had faced, it didn’t look as big while we came upon it but going through it the raft submerged almost completely underwater causing us all to get soaked again. It was a beautiful ride with mountains surrounding us and we could not have asked for a better but we were very excited to get out of the uncomfortable wet suits. That night we took part in the pub crawl that they had organized for us, known as “Chad’s Pub Crawl”. The first bar we went to was located in something almost that looked like an apartment made into a bar. It had a lot of neat paintings around the building like the Blues Brothers, Elvis and Frank Sinatra who I enjoyed seeing. It also had a scene from Le Petit Prince, which brought back great memories of French class, around the walls. in that bar we were able to have unlimited drinks for 90 minutes which was a lot of fun. Then we headed to another narrow bar that had seated all along a narrow wall outside of it. We had a great time taking in the Croatian night life and meeting great people. The next day we had to get up pretty early and set out on our Island Hopping Cruise. There were so many people they needed two boats and since we were late, naturally, we had the boat with less people on it which ended up working out in our favor. I had my sun hat on and was ready to go when we saw a guy in matching Hawaiian print shorts and shirt, a sailors hat and a half drank bottle of whiskey. We could not help but laugh at this guy until later I found out that this guy goes to Colorado State which made it even more funny. We had a great time getting to know our little crowd on our boat and were even able to see dolphins swimming near our boat. We stopped at the first island, Brac, We tried to find the famous Dragon horn beach but were running out of time so we stopped at a secluded pier where the water was clearer than I’ve ever seen around it and enjoyed the sunset in our private oasis. We made some mimosas and had some ice cream which made it even more perfect. When we got back on the boat they had lunch ready for us. Lunch consisted of a whole fish and a cabbage salad which was absolutely delish. then we headed to the next island of Solta where we enjoyed the sun and beach for awhile before we headed back. We took in the scenery around us on our way back but were a little exhausted so when we got back to the hostel we needed some time to relax. On Easter Sunday Amanda and Devin did not feel so good so we had a nice breakfast at a nearby cafĂ© and then Devin and I headed out to see the sights. We walked around town and castle then climbed the bell tower to see what kind of views we could get from there. It was a lot more scary than I had expected climbing up there because it was completely open on the inside and there were nothing guarding the space between the pillars. My shaking legs made it eventually and we were able to see all of Split and its seaside. It was a beautiful view with red roofs, cruise ships, and water in our view. The climb down was not much easier but we made it. We came back to get the girls, had some lunch then headed to the beach. We enjoyed a relaxing time soaking up the sun and listening to the waves while reading Chelsea Handler. That night we decided to have a nice Easter Dinner in one of the any squares. I got a delicious past dish of gnocchi with salmon and shrimp. Unfortunately we were never able to find an English speaking mass but were able to have a nice Easter holiday. The next morning we got a few things in town then headed back to the bus to head home. After a long day of travelling we made it back to home sweet home Florence.

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Geared up and ready for our rafting adventure!

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The spring and waterfall

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My two favorite men,next to Dad of course, and the Pub Crawl

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The Cruise!

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Our little spot and lunch

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Sites of Croatia The bell tower we climbed

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Celebrating Easter and views from the Bell Tower

Sunday, April 17, 2011

Bella Vita!

It is a beautiful life indeed.. I have enjoyed these past couple weekends in Italy. This week we were blessed with wonderful weather. Something about Spring time makes everything seem more fresh and delightful. There are more markets around the city and more people out and about.  I already feel as though I running out of time here and trying to take in everything I can. I have been enjoying delicious gelato and Italian cuisine more regularly because I know it will all be gone too soon. My room-mate Hannah was put into the hospital and ended up having pneumonia, they kept running tests on her and keeping her longer and longer. Finally on Friday she made her escape from the dreadful hospital! We went out to dinner and Dante’s to celebrate. At Dante’s students get free endless amounts of wine- this was our favorite part. During the day Friday we had a free trip to Portofino which is a harbor town by Cinque Terre, unfortunately the weather was not too great but the town was very beautiful. We also visited the town that Christopher Columbus was born. Saturday I finally had the chance to sleep in then Elizabeth, Devin and I headed to Lucca! We rented bikes and rode through the town stopping now and then at little markets to enjoy some delicious food and wonderful sights. The bikes were a lot of fun and a great way to see the whole town. I was afraid I would have forgotten how to ride a bike but the expression is true…That night we went out on the town and I finally discovered the “secret bakery” which is where they make delicious treats late at night and sell them at the door, it is secret because they are not paying taxes to be open that late so it is all under the table. Everything is fresh and more delicious! Today Hannah and I took in the sights of the city from Santa Spirito with live music and a market around us and a beautiful sun. Spring has arrived in Florence and I am soaking up this last month!

Here are some pictures I have taken in Italy over these past couple of weeks.

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Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Is that what I think it is?

It sure was, our eyes were not deceiving us we in fact had landed on a nude beach. Yes, you read it right. It was bound to happen sooner or later here in Europe and was something I had been wanting to check off my list, but when things like that happen unexpectedly it is a whole different experience. Let me explain how we can upon this place. Amanda and I had set off for a lovely day in Cinque Terre. Our first of the five lands was Riomaggiore, then we took the lover’s walk to Manarola. We were able to go on the rocks near the water and take in our first glimpse of the beautiful Cinque Terre. It was absolutely breathtaking, I have never seen water so blue and clear. There were so many colorful plants growing along the rocks that I could not stop reminding myself that this was actually real. After Manarola we took the train to Corniglia. We thought that the rest of the trails were closed to we headed up to the town which took about 370 steps to get to. Once we were there we wondered around about taking in the narrow streets and colorful buildings. Then we started seeing signs for Vernazza, the next town we followed the signs and then saw the entrance to the trail we thought was closed. We asked the man at the gate where the nearest beach was and he told us in about twenty minutes we would see signs to go left to the beach. Sure enough a little ways down this trail we saw the signs, the path to the free beach was not easy. We had to first start off by climbing down with a yellow rope because it was so steep, which became much more useful on the way back up. Poor Amanda in her jean shorts and converse shoes was really struggling. Lucky for me I was somewhat trained for this sort of hiking thanks to my Colorado hiking experiences. Once we started making it further down we kept seeing written signs with arrows towards the beach, then the signs began to change- not only did they say beach they said “Nude Beach.” When we saw the first sign and looked at each other with the same expressions and simply said “No way…” After a long way down we found the beach and sure enough everyone on it was nude. We headed down in our hiking clothes and felt out of place in our bathing suits. It was definitely a different experience, we came the the conclusion that this must be a nudest colony of some sort because there were house on the mountains behind the beach. The beach was beautiful and we were able to swim in the Meditteranean Sea which was very exciting. After that we made the dreadful hike up, one of the most difficult hikes I have ever done, and made our way to Varnazza. The trail seemed never ending and the sweat just didn’t seem to stop as I thought how easy it would be to simply disappear in this world and never be found.. Until we finally came upon civilization. The town of Varnazza was beautiful. Throughout the brightly colored buildings we found a place to eat Cinque Terre’s famous Trophie pasta and pesto sauce while watching the sunset. It was definitely the perfect day spent with a friend.

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Along the Lover’s Trail

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The things you see when you take time to look

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Breathtaking

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Varnazza

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