Tuesday- "The Bikini Hike"

We read an article online talking about this secret/private beach near the village of Corniglia (Cinque Terre is actually five little villages along the coast) called Guvano Beach. So of course, tip-top priority the first day was to find said beach. Here is what the article said:

"Take the quick regional train to Corniglia. Forgo the 365-step climb to its tourist-filled center. Instead take the road much less traveled, to the clothing-optional private beach, Guvano, that only locals seem to know about. It's not easy to find: above and to the right of the train platform head down a narrow flight of stairs, follow a brick coastal wall and turn right, until you come to an industrial tunnel with a metal gate. Ring the bell to the left. Someone on the other end will buzz you in. Walk through the 10-minute-long path to a private vineyard overlooking two phenomenal beaches. Pay the gatekeeper 5 euros for your little slice of sunbathing heaven."

Sounds dreamy right? We thought so too.

Here's Katie with our train tickets and Jill... shushing her water babies.

Could these be the narrow stairs??

Could this be the stone wall path? The secret tunnel??

Alas, it was not. We followed a handful of people down some stairs to a lovely and quiet, albeit rocky, beach which apparently disappears at high tide.

It was really nice and I told the girls it reminded me of the beach at Lyme from Jane Austen's Persuasion. However there was no Captain Wentworth, and Louisa Musgrove did NOT fall and hit her head... (we will leave the falling up to our very own Bridget on Wednesday).

After our swimming and sunning we climbed the bajillion stairs to Corniglia.

It was HOT, thus the reason we refer to it as "the bikini hike"... because we hiked in our swimsuits! Actually its 380-something stairs but you HAVE to climb them to get to/from the train station. (Which we ended up doing... more times than is necessary for any sane person.)

Then we needed a little snack. When I woke up Tuesday morning, my throat was a little sore and I thought, "oh it's probably just dehydration from traveling, etc" but by this point in the day, the sore throat had settled in as well as some body aches. I said "Guys, I'm really not feeling so great..." and Katie said "You DO look a little pale... tan, but pale..."

We drank our Coke Light and had a snack and then thought we would attempt the 90-minute hike from Corniglia to Vernazza. So we searched and searched for the beginning of the trail and after about seventeen people's wrong directions, we found it. And then, in Jill's hilarious words:
"some lady at the beginning of the trail (who, ahem, was not exactly in shape) told us, "Oh no, girls. You better have good shoes on. I mean, it's really treacherous." So being the angels we are, we didn't mock that word AT ALL in the next few days."

Just trying to FIND the trail in the heat had us pretty wiped so we decided to shower and rest and attempt the hike another day.

So once we were rested and clean, we headed out on the town for dinner.

and, of course, gelado.

Several of the nights, Jill read us a "bedtime story" which consisted of reading dumb things people post on the internet and providing her very own witty commentary on their lives and grammar.

Monday-Travel Day

And so begins our vacation. Sunday we picked Katie up at the airport at 7:40 a.m. (at one point, while we were waiting, I catch Jill swinging her hair singing, "I whip my hair back and forth..." and I just stared at her and she said, "What? It's early and I'm bored!").

We had a little breakfast in Sol...

We packed and re-packed and weighed our bags and re-packed to organize everything just-so because Ryanair is VERY particular about weight limits.

Then we slept for about 5 minutes and were out the door at 3:45 a.m. to catch our 6am flight. Here are the girls looking really tough about their suitcases outside Madrid Barajas Terminal... not the one we wanted. (Except Jill perhaps just looks a little sick)

We got to Milan something-or-another small airport and took a bus shuttle to the train station, where we found a corner and shuffled stuff around to fit bags into bags.

Katie made packets for each place with all our tickets and travel/hotel information. They were very helpful. :)

We ate an interesting panini and then hopped on the train which took us to...

Monterosso!

We took the shuttle up the mounain to our beautiful hotel. After we checked in, Jill's version of events goes something like this:
"Katie and Ashley shoved me in the 'lift' with the luggage and the lady who didn't speak English. Did I mention I have a huge fear of elevators and this one I'm pretty sure wasn't electric...some gnome or troll was in the basement using a pulley system. Claustrophobia doesn't even begin to describe it. So that was fun."

Seems a bit melodramatic to me... :) BUT then we got in our room to discover we had a balcony with an amazing view!!

Then we had a lovely dinner by the sea.

and peaked around the cute little town of Monterosso.

coming soon...

vacation pictures!

My body decided that it would be a good idea to get sick the first day of vacation. Thanks immune system! Regardless, we had a really great week and now I think I will create some posts about each day to document our adventures, partially for my own benefit. :)

black and white favorites

{this picture of Bobbi and I is probably my favorite picture of us. So happy and so excited to be driving to Chicago to the Harry Potter Exhibition. :) And I love her so much.}

Dalek knitting project

It begins with a simple cast-on... :)

I got about this far while on vacation before I ran out of yarn.

This picture is pretty terrible, but I finished it tonight! yay! :)

Finca La Estacada

Jill and I took a little pre-vacation vacation. :) We wanted to do something while she was here and looked into about a million different options (including renting a car and driving to the French side of the Pyrenees Mountains). Really what we wanted was to lay by the pool, have quiet and relax (and let's be honest, after six months of city life, I was dying to be out in the country)... so settled on a vineyard just southeast of Madrid.

On Monday we purchased our bus tickets...

...and on Tuesday morning we loaded up our bags...

...on the Madrid to Cuenca bus...

...and we were off!

It only took about an hour to get to the little one-horse town of Tarancón.

We called a taxi...

...and he drove us to the vineyard!

We checked in, a little bit in awe of how beautiful it was, unpacked our bags, and went to the pool straightaway.

This was the view from the pool. I mean really. {sigh}

These smelled amazing.

We had some diet coke and olives, read our books and waited for dinner.

One of the things I love about Spain is that almost every restaurant has a "menu del día" at lunch time, which typically consists of two courses, beverage, and dessert. This place had a dinner "menu" for hotel guests that was a steal. The food was incredible. I about died of excitement that one of the options was grilled vegetables.

The terrace was a perfect place to enjoy the morning (or afternoon, or evening...), read and spend time with Jesus :)
Breakfast was included, and it was also amazing.

{coffee! yay!}

Oh yes, I knitted by the pool.

It was delightful. {More on that project when it's finished.}

{Can you spy Jill in this picture?}

ALSO included in our booking was a trip to the spa through the relaxing water circuit (whirlpools, saunas, aromatherapy, etc).

Obviously, many hours were wiled away at the pool and reading our fantasy novels. (If you like the fantasy genre, The Name of the Wind is really good.)

Friday we packed up and I went down to check out and ask the girl at the front desk to call a taxi for us. She called, and called someone else, and someone else... and about 10 phone calls, and no luck later, she suggested that either they have the Guardia Civil gentlemen drive us, or she would take us herself. Ha! As it turned out, she had some nice young man (some sort of relation to the vineyard? who knows) run us to town in his BMW. So we enjoyed a little more sunshine while we waited for the bus.

It was seriously the most perfect few days. The benefits of traveling with your best friend of a decade include, good conversation, lots of laughing, an no expectations except to relax and do whatever in the world we wanted.