I am currently sitting at the desk in my hostel in Genova, Italy, drinking a Peroni and looking out onto the Italian Riviera... life is good. Danny and I arrived in Italy late this morning. We wanted to go straight to Cinque Terre, but there is only one hostel in the area and it was booked, so here we are in Genova.
Leaving Nice, France this morning was not easy. We had the most wonderful time at such a relaxing hostel. We arrived in Nice late on the 4th and the man at the front desk upgraded us to a private room for free. The room was air conditioned, had towels, soap, a TV- hostel heaven. That night we caught up on sleep and started the next day bright and early with a trip to the beach. Instead of sand, the beach was covered in little pebbles. The water was around 70 degrees, very salty, and turquoise blue. We relaxed for about an hour, got some groceries for our hostel, and then headed out to explore the city.
This was when I fell in love with Nice. Wandering through the city, we saw so many detailed statues and squares filled with families enjoying an ice cream, little allies with shops and colorful clothes hanging from windows to dry- getting lost was one of the most rewarding parts of the day.
We eventually made our way up to Chateau de Nice, a castle that was abandoned in the 1600s and almost completely broken down by the 1700s. On our way up, we stopped in the cemetery, which was beautiful. Even though cemeteries typically have a creepy vibe, the view of the ocean and all of the statues made it quite the opposite. From there we made the the hike up to the top of the castle. Right before the top there was a roaring waterfall where we stopped to enjoy the mist after our long walk up. Finally, we arrived at the top of the castle, and the time we spent up there was indescribable. Up in the castle we were surrounded by oak and pine trees, a nice break from the cigarette smoke of the city. The ocean breeze was perfect after the long hike up, and we could see the entire city: the houses built into the hills, a full spectrum of blue in the water, tourists parasailing and sunbathing- it was the highlight of the trip so far.
That evening our hostel, Hotel Bacarrat, hosted a free champagne party for all of the guests. As if free champagne wasn't cool enough, we met a ton of other backpackers. We ended up hanging out with two Australian guys, Harry and Marcus, and went out with them and a big group to the bar, Wayne's. Wayne's was filled with backpackers and had an awesome live band that everyone was dancing too. After the band stopped playing, we ended up hanging out with them for the rest of the night, drinking Stellas and swapping travel stories. We eventually called it quits and ended the night with some drunchies- needless to say it was a night to remember.
The next day was spent recovering- basking on the beach and swimming in the Mediterranean. We decided to splurge for lunch and eat in one of the adorable squares we came across the day before. We enjoyed a little pitcher of white wine, some authentic French food, and very entertaining people watching. We were probably there for two hours.
Later that evening, we went to our hostel's pasta party, which was only three euros for white wine and delicious pasta with the other hotel guests. I can easily say that hostel Baccarat was the best hostel I've ever stayed at. Although it was hard saying goodbye to Nice, I look forward to what Cinque Terra has in store for us tomorrow!
No comments:
Post a Comment