The Cinque Terre, Rural Italy, and Pisa

After the mountain-town vibes of Ortisei, Chuck and I decided it was time to relax on the beach for a few days. We headed south towards the Italian Cinque Terre, a string of centuries-old seaside villages known for the hand-built terraces marching up the steep slopes from the sea. It's another UNESCO world heritage site.

We decided to stay in Manarola, and were lucky enough to be upgraded to an ocean-view apartment. You can see our view below, but we didn't really take too many pictures. Instead, we spent two full days laying on the beaches in nearby Monterosso, consuming books and beer. There's plenty of hiking to do in the Cinque Terre, but we needed to spend some time being lazy, so lazy we were. But, since Manarola is built into the side of an almost-cliff, it seemed like even the short walk from our apartment to the train was workout enough.

If you want to see pictures of how gorgeous Cinque Terre is, click here. The beauty of this area can't be overstated.

Somehow, we were still pretty exhausted after Manarola, so we decided to head for some peace and quiet (and cheap rent!) in the Italian countryside. We found an AirBNB in the town of Massa e Cozzile on a small olive farm, where we stayed for a few nights. It was idyllic, with a tiny road barely big enough to squeeze the car through to get to the estate. We didn't see anyone other than the woman who lived in the main house and here incredibly friendly dog, Zoe (which made us think of another dog we know named Zoey).

From there, we day tripped to Pisa, enjoying views not only of the famous Leaning Tower of Pisa, but also of tourists sticking hands up into the air to take the iconic photograph everyone seems to have. It seems strange that one of the most famous buildings in the world is famous partially because the builder screwed up so badly. Still, it's pretty cool to see.