Monday, August 8, 2011

Celebrating our 4th anniversary on the Italian Riviera

This year for our anniversary we headed south for a week on the Italian Riviera.  We stayed high in the hills in a small town called Uscio.  Every morning we would take the bus down the long winding road to the bottom of the hills by the sea.  We spent a few days on different beaches swimming in the Ligurian Sea.  Although their beaches are nothing like the ones in New England, we enjoyed our time in the sunshine!  We sunbathed on big flat rocks jutting out into the sea and could jump in and out of the water quite easily.  I had gone grocery shopping before our long drive to Italy and so we were able to bring a little piece of home with us..what's better than eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches at the beach!  Especially in a country where you can't find peanut butter!  One morning, we decided to take the ferry boat to a secluded cove called San Fruttuoso.  There's not much there, but an abbey, but it was a great way to spend the day.  


Cinque Terre
One day we took the train to the explore the Cinque Terre.  We did some hiking of course, along the coast, a must if you find yourself in this area.  Now, Brian and I have been to the Amalfi Coast south of Naples, and we did find that to be much prettier..although people do really rave about the Cinque Terre, we prefer Amalfi.  Having said that, we did enjoy the lovely towns and 
the harbors in each of the five lands.  We took the train home to our B&B after a long day.




We also took a day to explore Portofino and Santa Margherita Ligure.  We caught a boat from  the port near us and took a lovely ride on the water to both of these towns, getting off at each and walking around.  Some gelato and shopping and seafood later, we hopped on the train for the short ride back.  Then onto the bus for the zig zagging ride up the hills to our little B&B!


The dogs enjoyed their time in Italy as well.  The B&B had a nice little garden that they could play in while we ate dinner.  We chose to grill here a few nights and opted for pizza in the little town a couple nights as well.  There was a really nice couple from Sweden staying at the B&B the time we were and we spent almost every day together, going to the beach and exploring the area.  They left Italy a day before us and along their drive up to Sweden, they drove through Germany and came to stay with us for a night.  We had a fun time going out to dinner at our favorite German restaurant!  


All in all, it was a great way to celebrate our 4 years of marriage and 13 years together!  It appears celebrating our anniversary in Italy is getting to be a tradition..three of the four have been in Italy!  Perhaps Sicily next year?  :)