The Luck of the Irish

One of the best parts about being abroad is being able to visit other friends wherever they chose to study. One of those types of trips was to visit one of my closest friends from high school, Brittany, in Ireland. Of course when you tell people you’re going somewhere they haven’t visited yet, they’re likely to join in the fun, so for this trip my friends Michelle, Marisa, and Chrissy joined me.

Since Italians don’t exactly celebrate Thanksgiving, we flew to Dublin that night. From Dublin, we took a bus ride up to Northern Ireland to the city of Belfast. The hostel we stayed in was a cozy remodeled house that we absolutely adored.

The next morning we woke up early and took a bus tour farther up the coast to visit a World Heritage Site, The Giant’s Causeway. It causeway is made up of hexagonal columns that form stepping-stones that extend of the cliff into the sea. The legend behind the columns is that the columns are the remnants of a causeway built by the Irish giant Finn to battle a Scottish giant. When Finn goes to fight the Scottish giant and realizes his size, he quickly retreats home. Finn’s wife then disguises him as a baby and the Scottish giant is fooled into thinking that Finn must be huge if his baby is already this large. The Scottish giant flees and destroys the causeway as he goes.

After our trip and a fantastic lunch of Irish stew, we returned back to Belfast to explore the city. As it was late November, the Belfast Christmas Market was in full swing, full of crafts, food, and holiday cheer. In order to warm up again before we adventured out again we stopped and ate more Irish stew before venturing to the pub, where we learned how to Irish jig with the locals.

The next morning we headed back to Dublin to explore the city. Our first stop was to the Guinness factory where we learned how Guinness was made and how to pour the perfect pint. That night we explored the shops and pubs of Dublin, ending our Irish adventure.

Under the Tuscan Sun

My love for Brunello di Montalcino started on the hills of Tuscany on a day trip from Rome. The Tuscan countryside is one of the world’s most lush regions and home to top-notch wines and produce, rolling hills, medieval villages, and sprawling vineyards. Our trip took us to the town of Montepulciano where we had snacks and wine tasting at Winery Gattevecchi and to Montalcino, and the Altesino Vineyard.

Montepulciano is a small town on top of a large hill, creating breathtaking views. For the Twilight fans out there, the scene in New Moon where Bella runs through the square to Edward before he steps into the sun was filmed in a square in the town. The fountain in the movie was built just for the movie. Although a movie was filmed in Montepulciano, the town still has a small sleepy town feel. We spent the morning popping into various shops and exploring small alleys that led to incredible views. Once done exploring, we went to Gattevecchi for a wine tasting and snacks of bread, olive oil, cold cuts, and cheese. From there we departed for Montalcino.

Once in Montalcino we headed straight to the Altesino winery. On our tour of the vineyard we learned how wine is made, from picking grapes, to the different aging processes, to bottling and labeling. With our new found knowledge it was time to taste wine, which was when I was first introduced to Brunello di Montalcino a wine made entire from Sangiovese grapes that have been aged 3 or more years in large oak casks. We sipped wine and looks out on the sprawling hills of the Tuscan countryside, completing our perfect day under the Tuscan sun.

When Life Gives You Lemons, Make Limoncello

Although I might bias, there is no better coastline than that of Italy’s Amalfi Coast. Bright colored houses are stacked like a game of Jenga right up on the beach. The visibility is amazing, and the blue ocean spans on for miles and miles. My trip to Sorrento on Italy’s Amalfi Coast took place my second weekend studying abroad in Rome, and was our first unforgettable trip of the semester.

The majority of the semester we traveled via a travel company, Bus2Alps. The bus trip to Sorrento was about four hours, which felt like no time at all with how excited we all were. That night we checked into our hotel and enjoyed a drink on the rooftop bar before heading to bed early for the exciting day ahead.

        Friday morning we woke up and took a ferry ride to the island of Capri. Once there we explored the Blue Grotto, one of the seven natural wonders of Europe, which depending on conditions glows neon blue. Once awestruck, we took a boat tour around the rest of the island. After disembarking the boat, we walked into the town of Capri and enjoyed lemon slushes and Limoncello, as Capri is famous for their lemons. From there we piled into buses and headed to Anacapri, the highest part of the island.

In Anacapri our first stop was to Canfora, an Italian sandal maker who made shoes for Jackie Kennedy. After a reassurance that our custom sandals would be dropped off at our hotel, we rode the chairlift to the top of Mount Solaro for incredible views of the whole island. We spent the afternoon eating lemon gelato on the beach and then headed back to Sorrento for dinner, for the best gnocchi alla Sorrentina I’ve ever had.

          Saturday we spent the day at the beach in the town of Positano. The little town is incredibly colorful with black sand beaches. On our walk down to the beach we passed multiple couples taking wedding pictures due to the beauty of the location. Also along our walk we stopped at Vini e Panini for the best sandwiches on the Amalfi coast. After relaxing on the beach, we went cliff jumping and cave diving. That night, we went back to the rooftop bar for our final night on the Amalfi Coast.