One Last Adventure In Torino

Hello!

After flying back to the US and getting back in the swing of life in California, I have completely fallen behind on my last couple blog posts from my summer abroad! So to catch up where I left off..

After me and my dad flew back to Torino from Croatia, we had one more full day left in Italy until we were scheduled to fly home. We decided to take a train about 30 minutes out of Torino to an incredible monastery on top of a mountain known as Saint Michael’s Abbey. The grueling hike to the top of the mountain took an hour and a half. After we reached the top we met a new friend named Fillipo. Meeting Filipo was the highlight of our day. He loved practicing his English with me and my dad so he gave us a personal tour of the monastery and another castle down the hill. He shared  history behind the building and all kinds of fun random facts about living in Torino. Meeting Fillipo is a memory I will never forget!

{The beginnging of our climb}
{Trails}{Absolutely incredible views!} {Ruins of the monastary}{One last adventure in Torino}{One last adventure in Torino}
{Zodiac Arch}{Saint Michael’s Abbey} {Wanderlust} {Zodiac Arch}{My Dad and I}{Butterfly arches}{The ruins of St. Michaels Abbey}{My dad and Fillipo pointing to where we will visit next time we visit!}{St. Micheal’s Abbey}

Dubrovnik, Part 2.

{Main Street of Dubrovnik}

No visit to Dubrovnik would be complete without walking the Ancient City Walls! The views overlooking the town and the sea were absolutely breathtaking! Mine and my Dad’s leisurely walk along the walls was definitely a highlight of our stay in Dubrovnik. I’m missing this beautiful city already!

{Walking the Ancient City Walls!}{Spectacular views}{Beautiful, sunny day}{Views of Old Town}{Lots of stairs to climb}{Dubrovnik, Croatia}{Beautifully designed buildings}{Views of Old Town}{Views of Old Town}
{Beautiful Dubrovnik}
{Dad and me!}{View from Fort Lovrijenac}{Cool hallway}

Dubrovnik, Part 1.

{Room with a view}

Ending  my summer abroad in Dubrovnik was one me and my dad’s better ideas.

The memories I made during the final leg of our trip to Croatia will last me a lifetime… from walking the ancient city walls… swimming in the salty but warm Adriatic Sea.. laying on the white pebble beaches of Banje, my dad’s cliff jumping experience, kayaking around Lokrum Island.. It was truly the trip of a lifetime. Here is a photo diary from my three days exploring Dubrovnik, Croatia:

{Old City of Dubrovnik, Croatia}{Banje Beach}{Pretty fleurs}{Cool design}{Entrance to the Old City}{Quiet streets}{Part of the city walls}
{Eating Gelato all summer long 🙂 }{Dubrovnik at sunset}{Gorgeous red-roofed houses}{So many cats everywhere!}{View from Fort Lovrijenac}{So in love with this place}{The beginning of our kayak adventure}{We went around Lokrum Island…}{And ended at this cave}{Street art}{Racked up a $70 beer tab.. It’s okay, we are on vacation}{Dad jumped off this rock!}{This cliff side bar had awesome views}

The Island Of Korčula

Korčula is Croatia’s hidden gem.

From our first stop in Vella Luka my dad and I took a bus to the Old City Of Korčula where we spent the remainder of our weekend. There we met our new Croatian friends, Marco and his family. We stayed in one of their apartments called the “Apartments Blue House”.  Because we were their guests, Marco and his parents treated us like royalty! During the day they chartered us around in their personal boat and took us to the secluded island of Badija, which was the highlight of our weekend! There we laid out in the warm sun, drank Croatian beer, and swam around in the turquoise water of the Andriatic Sea. I can now say my life is complete.We also spent some time wandering around The Old City. I fell in love with the  towns beautifully designed buildings, narrow stone streets and gorgeous red-roofed houses.

{Korčula, Croatia}{Badija Island}{The Old City Of  Korčula}{A Franciscan Monastery built in 14th century}{Would love to have a teal boat just like this one}{Medieval Korčula}{Beautiful Croatia!}{Alley ways of Korčula}{A medieval tower remade into a bar.. so cool!}{Harbor}{Window views of the city}{The Cathedral of St Mark}{Climbed to the top of the cathedral’s bell tower!}{Views from high places}{The Cathedral of St Mark’s Bell Tower}
{Croatia, you are perfection}{Window views}{My dad and I}

Croatian Vacation

{Croatian Vacation}

Friday marked the first day of my post-study abroad travel with my dad, and let’s just say so far it’s been an adventure. From almost missing our flight to Split (completely my fault), to randomly getting on the first ferry to the island of Korčula and ending up in the town of Vella Luka. I couldn’t be happier with how our trip is going. Here are some highlights from the first two days of our 8 day “Croatian Vacation!” 🙂

{Waiting for our Ferry to Korčula with our new favorite beer}{Split ferry port}{Dad loves Croatia already!}
{Mapping out our trip}{Our ferry ride was just a tad windy!}
{Sunsets are prettier over the Adriatic Sea}{Goodmorning from Vella Luka!}{Shrines are set up alongside the coast for fisherman to pray at when bad weather hits}{Port of Vella Luka}{Pretty villas lining the streets}{A lovely church we passed by}{Our mode of transportation}

Endless Summer

{Dubrovnik}

Why do the summer months pass by so quickly?! It seems like just yesterday I flew into the Torino airport to begin my study abroad journey and now I am down to my final week here! These past 10 weeks have gone by in a flash. My study abroad program ends on Friday and (lucky me) I get to to end my summer with one last exciting adventure: Croatia.

My Dad is flying over Thursday afternoon (Yay!) and we will begin our journey exploring the Croatian coast on Friday! Some places we hope to hit are Split, Dubrovnik, Hvar, Korcula, Pelijesac, Mjljet and maybe pop over to Bosnia for a day. We aren’t planning anything (hotels, transportation, etc.) so we have the freedom to do what we want, whenever we went!

I can hardly contain my excitement!! Looking through pictures makes me have a serious case of wanderlust for this place. I cannot wait to experience all it’s beauty for myself.

On a side note: If you have traveled to Croatia before I would love any can’t-miss spots or recommendations of places to go/things to see. 🙂

{Krka National Park}
{Beach, sun, sand..}{Korcula}

Munich

Why did I wake up at 2 am to catch a bus to the airport for the second week in a row?? Because this time I am going to Munich! The land of beer and pretzels bigger than your face. My weekend in Deutschland made it clear that I will most definitely be making a trip back in the near future.

One of the reasons why Melissa and me decided to visit Munich was for the location. We had so much to do each day! During the two full days we were there, we made day trips to The Dachau Concentration Camp and Neuschwanstein’s Castle. Both sites I have wanted to visit for the longest time and I am so happy we had time to do both! After our day trips we would spend our evenings walking around Munich’s city center Marienplatz, and would find ourselves ending our nights at Hofbräuhaus (one of Munich’s largest beer gardens) drinking massive beers and eating an obscene amounts of pretzels. (Literally obscene, I was in food heaven.)

One of the things that made our trip so memorable was the people we met! On our second evening in Munich, Me and Melissa were having an enjoyable evening of bratwurst and beers at one of Munich’s beer halls when a group of lederhosen dressed men asked if they could join our table. They turned out to a group of locals from Cologne and we ended up having the best time with them! They taught us German drinking songs, German words, and traditional German dances. We called it a night of American- German friendship! It was a trip for the books! I can’t wait to come back and visit Germany again. Maybe next time for Oktoberfest?? Who knows! Prost! (Translation: Cheers!)

{Hofbräuhaus}{The lovely Hofgarten tempel}
{Dachau Concentration Camp}{Visiting Dachau was a truly humbling experience, impossible to put into words}{Grave of many thousands unknown}{Dachau Concentration Camp}{A memorial statue}{Dachau Concentration Camp}
{Munich’s city center Marienplatz}{Pretty homes in Munich}{Englischer Garten}{The ducks posed for me!}{Random surfing on the river in Englischers Garten}{Hiking our way up to Neuschwanstein!}{The town of Hohenschwangau}{Neuschwanstein’s Castle}{Neuschwanstein’s Castle}{The view below us.. Yikes!}{Neuschwanstein’s Castle}

The Cliffs Of Moher

For the 4th of July, Nicole and I decided to spend our day traveling to the other side of the country to the Cliffs of Moher! The Cliffs of Moher are located along the western coast of Ireland and are the highest cliffs in Europe! When we arrived, the cliffs were completely covered in fog, but thankfully the wind blew the fog over and we were given incredible views of the ocean waves crashing up against the side of the cliffs. It was amazing! Me and Nicole got really  rebellious and walked really close to the edge, that is a LONG way down! Afterwards we got back on the bus headed to the town called Galloway and ate their famous fish and chips! Nicole and I had a wonderful time.  We got back to our hostel around 8 pm and grabbed some pints of Guinness in the Temple Bar area where we watched the Brazil vs. Colombia game! Not the most patriotic 4th of July but it will be one I will always remember!

{The Cliffs of Moher} {The trail to O’Brien’s Tower}{Me and the infamous cliffs}
{The Cliffs of Moher}{Getting pretty close to the edge!} {That’s a long way down…} {Views of the Atlantic}{The sun finally came out at the end of our visit}

Hiking The Cinque Terre

{Cinque Terre}

Saturday morning we woke up early to hike the infamous Cinque Terre! We purchased a 1-day “Cinque Terre” National Park card (10 Euros) at the Levanto train station, which enabled us to take an unlimited amount of train journeys along the stretch of the Cinque Terre for 24 hours. The card also gave us access to the hiking trails connecting each of the towns. Only one of the four trails was open, so we started at the last village Riomaggiore and worked our way backwards taking the train to each of the villages. We visited all 5 of the villages: Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza, and Monterosso. From Vernazza we hiked to Monterosso. The trail was steep with hundreds of stairs, and the weather was abnormally hot and humid. It was a struggle but an hour and a half later, the 8 of us finally made it! The hike was my favorite part of the weekend. When we finally reached Monterosso we got drinks and pizza, checked out the shops, and laid on the beach looking for sea glass. I have never felt so surrounded by beauty before.

It was a wonderful day with an awesome  group of girls. When we were sitting on the beach it started to rain, and then it started to pour and then it started to thunder and lightening! We found refuge in a restaurant close by, where we ate another delicious sea food meal. Afterwards we were forced to sprint in the pouring rain to catch our train- meanwhile almost getting hit by a car and twerking on various buildings we finally reached our home in Levanto at Midnight. It was a night to remember and a day I will never forget.

All 5 of the towns of the Cinque Terre were so picturesque and perfect. I think it has been my favorite place I have visited so far. One day when I come back to vacation in Italy, I hope to visit the Cinque Terre again and hike all 5 of the trails!

CIAO. xoxo

{1-day Cinque Terre National Park card}{I wouldn’t mind living in that red house..}{The perfect fisherman’s village}{Adventuring in Riomaggiore}{Manarola}{Perspective}{Posin’ with Manarola}
{Backpackin’}
{The Group! Melissa, Kelly, Lauren, Lauren, Erica, Nicole, Me, Bree}{Vernazza}{Our journey began here!}{Vernazza- even more perfect in person}{L O V E}{Taking a pit stop}{Views from our hike}{Ciao Monterossa!}{We made it!}{The private beaches here look so dreamy}
{Well deserved pizza snack}{Wedding in Monterossa}{The calm before the storm}{Searching for sea glass}