(119) Days of Florence: Day 67

--Nikki, Cassie, and I took a day trip to Cinque Terre, which are "five towns/lands" (the Italian translation) on the coast of Italy. We first went to Riomaggiore, and i was in love. It was a beautiful place that resembles Greece, with it's beautiful water, staggered buildings on the hill sides, and the narrow steps. The water was stunning.

The girls and I walked from the Riomaggiore to Manarola, the second town. The walk between these two towns is along Via dell'Amore, which translated to "path" or "by the way of" amore, love. With the sea to my left and cliffs on our right, we were surrounded by hundreds, probably thousands of locks of lovers. The idea of the lover's locks is that two lovers will go to Via dell'Amore (or other locations such as the Ponte Vecchio). The couple usually goes as a newly wed celebration and tradition. They either write or engrave their names on the lock, and sometimes the date. The lock is locked on a gate, or even another lock, and the key is thrown into the ocean.

I have never seen so many lovers locks in my entire life. So wonderful.

We went to the fifth town, Monterosso, which had a wonderful beach. We picked rocks like flowers and wandered up for a beautiful view near a monastery. And lastly, we went to the fourth town, Venazza, which has the worst damage from the flood back in October. It was really sad to see, as the town was still quite abandoned and damanged, but construction is still going on and you can tell that it was and is a beauty. Overall, we made it to three of the four terre, and it was such a grand day trip.