Pescosolido - Italy Farm Stay

Italy has the WORST public transportation system. It is standard for trains to be over an hour late, if they decide to arrive at all. They are also frequently on strike. We finally caught a ride to the farm from Naples after three trains failed to run! It was probably one of the most terrible feelings - I already have terrible anxieties.

The world's biggest train! Haha. It got us there though.

Sora. The larger (I use that adjective loosely) town outside of Pescosolido.

Sora

The farm was completely organic, and had an irrigation system setup with water from the mountains. All of the vegetation was amazing and you could eat it right off of the vine or tree.

 Pomegranates. We were told they are in season in December.

Mountains of the Abruzzi National Park.

Most of the time, menus were strictly in Italian. I was recommended this lovely dish for my second plate. I am not kidding when I say that the meat was green.

We turned this...

Into this...

Into this. Delicious! The sauce needed more garlic. The Italians are curiously stingy with garlic.

Naples

We were pretty banged up by the time we reached Naples (I briefly mentioned my encounter in Cinque Terre). Unfortunately, that meant that we could not explore the city in its entirety. However, I only regret not being able to see Pompeii. The rest of the city was quite dirty, and it was the first place where people tried to blatantly rip us off!

Hand-painted tambourines can be found all through the markets in the streets.

A portrait of Kristina.

Expect to be ambushed by musicians just about anywhere you go in Naples. They are not shy about holding their hands out in your face.

They use cones as spoons. This was probably the best gelato we found in Italy.

Expect to find one of these every two city blocks.

The best pizza in all of Western Europe... for only five euros!

Cinque Terre - Monterosso

Monterosso is incredibly touristy; thus, it was my least favorite. The beaches are composed completely of rock, so do not even try to get in the water without water shoes. Also, the public beach is about [no joke] 30 feet long, and the rest is private, which requires you to rent a chair. No thanks!

Cinque Terre - Vernazza

Cinque Terre - Corniglia

This is the machine they use to pick grapes and other fruit growing on the hillside.

An amazing sampling of pestos.

This was almost the site of my grave. I jumped in the water and swam with the monster waves, which was amazing. However, I sat on the boardwalk next to that ladder, when a huge wave came and swept me in.

Cinque Terre - Lovers' Walk and Manarola

These pictures are from the "Lovers' Walk," which is the trail from Riomaggiore to Manarola, and from Manarola. I should point out that you can actually hike from village-to-village (approximately a five-hour hike), though one of the legs of the trail was closed. We hiked a few of them, but it was much more efficient to take the regional train. I started with 20 pictures for this post, and decided to edit them down to 15. When I went through the editing process, I actually added eight pictures. One final point to mention: I am going to retire here.

Grapes and just about every other type of fruit you can imagine grow here.

The starter to probably the best meal we had in Italy.