Three Hours, Three Countries

Hey everyone, sorry about the lack of updates from the road - internet has been terrible and almost nonexistent. Since the last post, things have been greatly improved as we’ve been traveling along the coast of France and into Italy. 

In the morning in Nice we hiked up a giant hill around an old Roman castle to see the coast and it was insanely beautiful. Nice is a bustling little town with a lot of busy streets and markets. We were surprised at how busy it was during the “off season” and couldn’t imagine it in the summer months. 

Town north of Nice, France

Roman castle on Nice

After the morning we hopped on the (free) regional trains that hug the coast of France and Italy to head to Monaco. Hallie did not like Monaco. These photos and words can not describe the opulence that filled the streets. As we trotted around with our giant packs and sweat from the hike in Nice, everyone else passing us on the street were dressed nicer than Hollywood’s finest. The harbor was filled with over 100 yachts and the parking lots filled with dozens of Lamborghinis, Ferraris, Bentleys and Rolls Royces. Needless to say, the EuroSavers did not belong here. All of this upset Hallie very much, which I found hilarious. 

Near the harbor in Monaco

If I could only have one of these cars to pay off my entire student loan debt...

Next stop after gorgeous sweeping panoramas from the train windows was Ventimiglia where we hopped off to grab dinner. As soon as we crossed the border from France to Italy, everything was immediately different. Language, architecture, people - everything. When we got off the train we walked two blocks to the water where we saw one of the most amazing sunsets. Ciao Bella! This was a brief stop as we had only 1.5 hours until we needed to board to Genoa. 

No caption needed. 

Genoa was a ... not so beautiful place. There was an odd ghost town feeling as we walked a mile to our hotel as everything was closed and a bit unkept. Everything (but our hotel). On the walk to the hotel, an old woman that had been digging in a dumpster with her umbrella handle followed us 100 yard through a crooked alley with a creepy and raspy voice speaking Italian. When she figured out we didn’t speak Italian, she spoke more. Common theme around these parts. When we finally ditched our alley cat friend and checked in, I asked the lady at the front desk why everything was closed. She looked absolutely flabbergasted and extremely offended. “NO!! EVERYTHING IS OPEN!” she exclaimed. Hallie looked extremely confused as, no, literally everything in this city was closed. Not one shop, bar, restaurant, or market was open. We were looking to get out of town as soon as possible the next day anyway as we had a long hiking day ahead of us. As we were checking out, the same woman had the exact same response to me when I asked how much their breakfast was. “NO!! IT IS OPEN! THE BREAKFAST IS OPEN!!”. Same disgusted look by her, same confused looks by us. Luckily the breakfast was free and, of course, included salami. 

As we hit the train on our way to Cinque Terre, a collection of five old world Italian fishing villages tuckered into cliffs along the western Italian coast, we were lucky enough to have the same amazing views of the Mediterranean Sea from the train ride. We hiked from the first village to the second which took about two hours and granted us with some of the most amazing views we’ve ever seen. The hike was pretty strenuous and at times a little dangerous, especially with our giant packs. Luckily the weather was perfect and the best we’ve had all trip. We took trains in between the other villages and perfectly pulled into the last one right at sunset. There are not a lot of words to describe how amazing this region is so we will leave you will a little collage of photos from there to do it the slight bit of justice (some wouldn't upload!). 

Typical view from our hike

At Vernazza - Backdrop familiar? (Hint: look at our blog background)

Typical path on our hike

Manarola, Italy

Fresh pasta with pesto made from basil grown in local mountain tops

Riomaggiore, Italy at night

Current background on my computer

Riomaggiore, Italy

Next update: Quick stay in Pisa and then off to Rome.

P.S. New train friends include:

• Man who had headphones on and sang every song for us with a combination of “doodlie doo doodlie de de doo deedle deedle doo beep doo doo”’s. 
• Lady who was sick (dying?) and nearly coughing blood out of a window with her companion screaming at her in Italian the whole time. We changed cars. 
• Little children speaking Italian sounding hilarious saying “Mama Mia!!!”
• Woman with little ugly and hairy dog that fell on top of, and sat on, Hallie.
• A clan of intimidating men who I had an intense staring match with.

Grazie  for following! Ciao!