Honeymoon cruise Days 3: Cinque Terre, Italia!

The next two days we were in Italy! This is what I was most looking forward to! The first day in Italy we were at a port approximately 2 hours from Pisa and Florence. Many people take the train into Pisa and see the Leaning Tower or head into Florence. We had thought about doing this as well, but when I had read reviews online most people said it wasn't worth the long ride to those cities. There was somewhere else that many people online were recommending to go to instead: Cinque Terre. This is what we decided to do and I am so glad! Cinque Terre was probably my favorite place on the entire trip. I'm really not even sure why... It was a series of small fishing villages on the water. Very traditional, "Old Italy" type villages. And absolutely BEAUTIFUL! Have you ever seen the postcards or pictures of the colorful houses on the water in Italy?? That is Cinque Terre.

We were able to find an excursion in port that had a shuttle bus that took you to three of the five villages for only about 30 euros each (WAY cheaper than the excursion provided by the cruiseline). There was a shuttle bus that transported you to three of the five villages and let you wander around for about an hour before taking you to the next one.

One thing we did not realize in Europe however, is that most vehicles are standard. I'm sure you're thinking "okay, so what?!" Well, let's just say we were driving through the winding (and very narrow) roads on the Italian hillside in a stick shift shuttle bus! And when I say narrow that is not an exaggeration. Most roads are single lane roads. Our bus driver would beep his horn as we were coming up on a corner to signal to other drivers that we were coming (sounds like a head on collision waiting to happen). There were a few times when we would have to stop and back up enough for another car to get through and then continue on. Slightly nerve-wracking, but well worth it!

The pictures really don't do it justice! It was so nice and relaxing. And all of the people we met there were super nice. I would definitely recommend you going there if you ever are in Italy and have the chance. You won't regret it!

One thing we had both said we wanted to do while it Italy was eat! We both wanted to try true Italian pizza, and I really wanted to try gelato! We tried both while in Cinque Terre! The pizza was so good, but surprisingly reminded us of a place from home (Aniello's.. if you're ever in Corning, NY you MUST try)...which would make sense since the original owner was from Italy. The gelato was also amazing and very refreshing since it was about 90 degrees out the day we were there. I also, despite the heat had an amazing cappuccino at a local coffee shop! Coffee, ice cream (sort of), and pizza! All of my favorites in one day!

Honeymoon Day 2: Cannes, France (Can we borrow a towel??)

The first stop on the cruise was to Cannes, France. Some people chose to go to Monte Carlo or to take a tour where they do the Cannes Film Festival; we chose to go to the beach! Prior to going on the cruise we had decided to not spend a whole lot of money on excursions (since we didn't have a whole lot of money anyways). We had also heard that there was a beautiful beach right off the port. I had agreed that a couple relaxing days at the beach throughout the vacation would be a good trade off for Mike, since he had originally wanted to do an all-inclusive resort.

Cannes is one of the ports where people have to "tender" in to port. So basically, the cruise ship anchors and then you go in to port on smaller ferry-like boats because it is too shallow for the cruise ship to pull up to the land. So we got a bag with our swim suits and some water and headed to the 2nd deck where we would tender in to shore. Once we got to shore we quickly realized we had forgotten our towels! It was very hot so drying off wouldn't necessarily be a problem; but it wouldn't be very comfortable lying on the beach without a towel. So we started walking around. We thought maybe we would find a little shop along the beach selling towels that we could purchase to lay on. No luck! But we did spot a Radisson Hotel. Jokingly, I had said that maybe they would let us borrow towels. In the US, this would never happen, but Mike said, "it's worth a shot". We walked over to the hotel and into the front desk and just commonly asked if we could borrow a towel. I thought for sure they would ask our room number (that's what they do on the ship and at hotels in the US in case you don't bring them back). Nope! Without hesitation the woman looks at us says ok and asks another man working there to grab us towels. So we took the towels and enjoyed a beautiful day laying on the beach! Before we got back on the ship we returned the towels and saw a sign outside the door that we had missed earlier. The sign was directed at cruise ship guests (us..) and stated that the hotel was for hotel guests only, not cruise ship passengers. Oops! Thanks for letting us use your towels anyway!