Travel Adventures- Cinque Terre, Italy

Next stop on the cruise was at Livorno port nearby Florence, Italy. Myself and a couple of my family members had already been to Florence, and so we decided to rather drive up to Cinque Terre, which is only about an hour's drive to the closest port. This was one of the places I was most looking forward to because Cinque Terre has recently become very popular among travellers of all kinds, and I knew a few people who had been and raved about it! It's basically in northern Italy along the west coast, and consists of 5 headlands/capes of rocky land jutting out into the ocean, with these really sweet, pretty little 5 towns located between them. The only way (as far as I could gather) to get between them is by train (through the mountain) or ferry, we opted for both. So we drove up to Porto Venere, which is a cute little city right at the bottom of the cape (and not actually part of Cinque Terre), where we wondered around for a bit. It has a lovely promenade and right at the end there is a church called St. Peter's, which is really beautiful and has the most stunning views out on the water and up in the direction of the Cinque Terre. You can also walk back through the little town from the church and see the cute little authentic shops and colourful buildings forming narrow alleyways. 

From Porto Venere, we caught a ferry up to the top little village of Monterosso. The whole trip was about an hour and really very pretty. Monterosso's beach front is lined with beach chairs and umbrellas all along the cobbled beaches, and was absolutely packed. We could barely find a spot on the beach to put down our stuff, but the swim in the sea was definitely worth it! This region is also meant to be known for their pesto, so we then set out on a mission to find some pesto pasta for lunch. We succeeded, and I can undoubtedly say this was the best pesto I've ever had, yuuum! We wondered along the main beachfront street for a while, looking in at some of the clothes shops, etc. and then headed up to the train station to catch a short train to Riomaggiore. RIomaggiore is so stunning, its right all the way up the steep mountain side and is filled with loads of buildings of all different colours, and steep streets. We wondered up (the walk is a bit of a trek, but definitely manageable and worth it) to get a good look at the view right from the top, which was actually just beyond beautiful! 

We obviously only had a day here, and so could only manage to see two of the 5 "terres", but I've heard that they are all really lovely, and if you stay here for a while, you can also hike between them, which is apparently very cool. So yeah, there' quite bit to do and a ton of beautiful things to see here. Not to mention that Pisa is also pretty close by (maybe like a 45 minute drive or so) as is Florence. 

We all really loved Cinque Terre, it is extremely pretty and had a lot of charm. I will say in mid-summer it was quite touristy and was pretty packed,d but that didn't take away from the experience. 

Portovenere

Monterosso

Riomaggiore

Looking down on Riomaggiore

Travel Adventures: Barcelona, Spain

Barcelona, Spain was the starting city of our cruise and was a place I was really excited to visit because I had heard amazing things about this city and had never been to Spain. Barcelona is a fury of colour, beauty and activity. I think the thing that initially caught my attention the most is that it is very green and filled with nature despite being such a built-up metropolis. Everywhere you go, there are beautiful pavements and promenades lined with stunning green trees, flower beds around every corner, and parks and greenery everywhere you look, making the city absolutely stunning! As we only had one day in Barcelona, we hired a personal tour guide to drive us around to see as much of the city as possible and get a real feel for it. 

One of my favourite places we visited was Park Güell, which is this big park system type thing composed of beautiful gardens, stunning architecture, sculptures and designs. The architectural aspects of the park were designed by a famous architect of the time called Antoni Gaudí. The buildings and spaces are all strange and bizarre and a whole new, different approach to architecture, especially for that time. It was honestly one of the most interesting and beautiful attractions I've been to. I would highly recommend visiting this place, it is just so different and so beautiful, filled with the most amazing colourful mosaics, different designs and arches, and lovely views over the rest of the city. When you walk in there are buildings that look like gingerbread houses dipped in a white frosting of mosaics, and in between the attractions, the park itself is beautiful and filled with blooming flowers. One of my favourite parts was this huge open courtyard/gravel area right at the top, which looks out over Barcelona, and all around the edge/railings of the space is this a mosaic wall/bench that you can sit on, filled with the most beautiful and colourful mosaics all around the huge perimeter. 

Gaudí actually has a lot of other stunning architecture in Barcelona, and that's what we headed to go see next. Sagrada Família is this enormous beautiful church in the middle of Barcelona. Gaudí died in the midst of its consturction and so it is actually still incomplete. But despite this, it is honestly one of the most breath-taking buildings I have ever seen. It's actually quite overwhelming and spans the whole stretch of one block. Gaudí's whole philosophy on architecture was to do stuff differently and introduce shapes and curves into his work, opposing the traditional box-like architecture of most buildings. The basilica is huge and mostly monochrome with occasional bits of colour and shapes. It really isn't very easy to describe, but is undoubtedly worth seeing if you ever get the chance! 

We then drove up past La Vila Olímpica del Poblenou, which is in the Sant Martídistrict of the city. This is the olympic village built for the Summer Olympic Games held there in 1992. Up near this region, we stopped at the most beautiful park and view point, which looked out over the whole city, across the sea, and down at the port. This is also the point of where the cable car system running above Barcelona peaks, and even though we unfortunately didn't get to catch a cable care, I can only imagine how incredible the views would be, and is definitely a must on my list for next time!

Another thing I loved doing in Barcelona was just wondering through the streets, especially La Ramba which is a touristy pedestrian street close to the promenade. The street was bustling with activity, festive music and loads of cute, quirky little shops. All the streets surrounding this area are dotted with touristy shops, galleries and museums, and of course tons of places to grab some cheeky churros whilst wandering around. The Pablo Picasso museum is also quite close to La Ramba, and an enjoyable walk. The promenade was so beautiful and quite modern. It was filled with abstract art sculptures and constructions, and was a lovely place to walk along and get a real feel for central Barcelona. 

Sagrada Familía

I really was so taken by this city, and really hope I can one day return to fully get to know the ins and outs and more about the culture. It feels very young, fun and lively, and was a really wonderful place to begin our adventure.