While staying in Levanto (near Cinque Terre), I did a day trip to Lucca, Tuscany. What a cute city! First I rented a bike, and rode it around the ramparts enclosing the old part of town. It was so beautiful biking through rows of trees lining the ramparts, while looking down into the historical streets of Levanto. The breeze from biking was a very welcome addition to a hot day.
After my one-hour bicycle rental was up, I wandered around town enjoying the quirky, curvy streets. I wish I had my wide angle lens with me to take a good shoot of the city center which was a big circle with all of the buildings bending to create the shape. Lucca was a lovely sidestep on my trip.
Now that wedding season is over, I’ll be doing more blog posts from my trips to Italy this past year. Some colour for the winter months! : )
Cinque Terre…. definitely one of my top three favourite places in Italy. This was my third time that I’ve been to Cinque Terre and I’m sure I’ll be back. Cinque Terre is made up of 5 small seaside villages: Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza and Monterosso. The name “Cinque Terre” fittingly translates to “five lands.” Set on the Ligurian coast, Cinque Terre is so special it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. No cars are allowed inside, giving you a feeling of being slightly separated from the outside world, in your own lovely little Italian reality. : ) You can get from town to town via train, passenger ferry, or walking the amazing trails. A couple of the main trails were closed due to maintenance, for one, and a mudslide for the other but I hiked the trails on previous trips and it’s an awesome experience! The first trail between Riomaggiore and Manarola is the shortest, and easiest, even being wheelchair accessible. It’s called “Via Dell’ Amore,” which I doubt I need to translate. : ) It’s lit up at night and is a really nice amble. It’s fun getting a train day pass as well! I spent one day beach/cove hopping and went swimming first in the Riomaggiore marina area, then the cute cove in Manarola (my personal favourite swim spot in Cinque Terre), and finally the small triangular beach in Vernazza. Corniglia is up higher and doesn’t have an easily accessible beach but is quite charming. Monterosso, the last town, is the only town of the five with a large beach but it has a more resort feel and isn’t as unique so I generally skip that town. I stayed just past Monterosso in the town of Levanto which is not technically part of Cinque Terre but is included in the Cinque Terre day passes, being so close to Monterosso. I did a separate post on Levanto. : )
How to get there: The easiest way to get to Cinque Terre is to take a train to La Spezia and from there, there are trains that leave super frequently to the other towns.
Where to stay: You can either stay in any of the towns within Cinque Terre (Manarola and Vernazza would be my first choices but Manarola is cheaper of the two) or you can do like I did on this trip and stay just outside of Cinque Terre in Levanto. It’s so close to the last town of Cinque Terre (Monterosso) that they include it in the Cinque Terre train passes which is great! Levanto is super awesome in itself ( I loved the abundance of bicycles and the nice big bay) but I do admit I love staying in the Cinque Terre towns best as no cars are allowed inside and it’s fun to get immersed in that bubble. Here is my post on Levanto with details of where I stayed.
I also did a post on the beautiful nearby town of Portofino, which you don’t want to miss!
Below are some photos from my 3 favourite towns in Cinque Terre; Riomaggiore, Manarola and Vernazza.
Pinch me. I still can’t believe I got to photograph a wedding in Italy. It’s one place I can never stay away from for long so when Serena left a sweet comment on one of my blog posts saying how she was from Italy, getting married in September and loved my work, I contacted her straight away to ask her if she had hired a photographer yet. She happened to be getting married on one of my last dates available for the season and pretty soon I had my flights booked! I knew we were going to get along great the first time I talked to Serena and Marco on Skype and we couldn’t stop laughing. That prediction turned out to be true. Serena and Marco are literally two of the most sincerely kind and generous people I have ever met. The first night I arrived in Italy, Serena said to me, “While you are in Italy, this is your home and we are your family.” She meant it. They, along with their friends and family, embraced me as one of their own for my week in the cute little town of Spoltore in Abruzzo Italy. Serena’s parents had me over for lunch my first day (pesto made by Mimina- buonissimo!) and it didn’t stop there. Friends of Serena and Marco took me on day trips around the area and to awesome restaurants. I’ll be doing a blog post on all that sometime in the coming months, so stay tuned!
The whole wedding was so unique, heartfelt and beautiful. Serena and Marco had their wedding ceremony at an amazing old abbey built in 1007 called San Liberatore a Maiella, in Abruzzo, Italy. The first time we walked in, I was speechless. We had gotten a key, the length of my forearm, from the priest, who was partaking in a festival in a nearby town, and when we walked in, it was completely empty and silent. Amazing. It is the most beautiful setting I have ever photographed a ceremony at, hands down.
We did the wedding portraits in the incredible, magical forest behind the abbey. I have no words for that place. I wanted to stay there all day. It feels like you have stepped into a Renaissance painting when you come into the clearing where we took the photos. If fairies and elves had appeared, I wouldn’t have batted an eye. A crystal clear stream ran through the place that Marco said you can drink from. I really must return there someday and spend a whole day there.
Once our short window for portraits was finished, Serena and Marco hopped in a cute orange VW beetle they had rented, and I, with the videographer, followed behind to the Maria Donata villa where the reception was held. As they pulled up, they were blasted with confetti cannons which set the tone for the fun night ahead. ; ) A big white tent was set up on the grass, with tables underneath and blankets on the outskirts, to encourage a picnic-like atmosphere. Even the wedding favours were cute little picnic baskets with jam and confetti (an edible candy-covered almond, native to the area) inside. There was an amazing buffet lunch with several courses.
It didn’t take long before the dancing started. So fun!! Italians definitely know how to have a good time. When my time for the day had finished, I got to put my camera away and join in the fun. When it got dark, they launched about 30 floating lanterns into the sky. Definitely one of the highlights for me – I had always wanted to witness a floating lantern launch. They floated so high into the sky. One was let go a little early and started to float down towards the roof, but one of the guests saved the day with some mighty strong blowing and it soared up over the roof and into the night. ; )
I can’t thank Serena and Marco and their wonderful family and friends enough for getting to be a part of such an amazing day with such a fantastic group of people. I will never forget it and I know I will remain friends with these two for many many years to come. Serena and Marco have such a special love for each other and it was so touching to photograph them during their ceremony. The whole thing was in Italian and I still cried just because I could see how heartfelt, spiritual and full of love it was for them. Their hearts just shone on their faces. Bellissima. Grazie mille per tutti Serena e Marco!!
“Aiuto” means “help” in Italian. hehe. Cute.
If you look at the bottom left photo you’ll notice that 2 of the caterers (the girl and guy wearing aprons) joined in with the dancing. haha- I love it! I put my camera down and danced as well. fun times. The guy in the maroon apron kicked butt at limbo later.
A floating lantern launch. Oh…my…goodness. It was amazing and beautiful and I loved every second. One of my favourite moments of the whole trip.
Me, feeling the love in a hug sandwich. : )
I have to include a few photos from two days before the wedding when Marco, and friends, surprised Serena at their home at 11:30pm to serenade her. It’s an old Italian tradition that not many people do anymore, but being the romantic that he is, Marco secretly planned the surprise. It was my second night in Italy and despite being jet-lagged, there was no way I was going to miss it! A mandolin player and two guitar players (one of them, Serena’s father, Giovanni) arrived at midnight to join in and take over the music. Neighbours came out of their homes to enjoy the festivities and it was a little celebration in the street. It was beautiful and I was really touched witnessing it all.
