After leaving beautiful Valle d'Aosta we drove south to Bolano, a small village in the hills just outside of La Spezia.  I spent 7 months of my year in Italy living in Bolano.  Most exchange students don't change regions or schools during their year abroad, but the situation with the crazy lady was so horrific that Intercultura found me a wonderful family in Bolano.  I feel very privileged to have lived both in the Alps and on the Mediterranean.  And again, I was so excited to have Lee meet the Espositos and visit my favorite places along the coast.

When we arrived, the Espositos had my all-time favorite Ligurian dish waiting for me - pasta al pesto with a little bit of potato.  Yum! And since it was Easter weekend, everyone was home.  Giovanni has learned a bit of English over the last few years and was really cute trying to talk with Lee.  We had a few very enjoyable evenings hanging out with the family and extended family and catching up.

Our first night there we experienced a thunderstorm like never before.  The windows rattled, the house shook and even though the shutters were closed (as were our eyes), we could still see flashes of lightening.  It was crazy!  The following day was Easter and I took Lee into Bolano to walk around and then we had an authentic, delicious, Easter dinner with the entire family.  Lee got to experience the multi-course real deal.  It was awesome.  He also got his first Pasqua Egg.  In Italy, instead of hunting for Easter eggs and receiving an Easter basked, you gift chocolate eggs (large ones) that have gifts/surprises inside.  It's a fun tradition.

That evening we decided to drive down to Porto Venere so Lee could see the church and the little town.  The rain stopped right as we arrived and the skies cleared and it was absolutely gorgeous.  We decided to return there the following morning to take a boat to the Cinque Terre.   When I lived in Italy I went to Monterosso several times a week in the summer and hiked the trail between all five villages multiple times.  Twenty years ago, it was one of my favorite places on earth.  Unfortunately, so many tourists have discovered them that it doesn't quite have the same appeal.  And, sadly enough, the region experienced horrific flooding and landslides last fall that destroyed Vernazza, parts of Monterosso and several of the trails between the villages.  You could still see the devastation when we were there. We planned to get dropped off by the boat at Riomaggiore, walk the Via d'amore to Manarola and then pick up the boat again to Vernazza and hike the distance to Monterosso.  But, the sea was too rough and we ended up training it from Riomaggiore to all the towns, returning by boat from Monterosso to Porto Venere.   It was a cloudy, overcast day and we didn't have as much time as we had planned on (boat company changed the last available boat back), but we enjoyed being outside and I was happy to share this place with Lee.

We didn't have nearly as much time in Bolano as we would have liked (3 nights and 2.5 days) and the days flew by.  Our last evening the Espositos made us pizza in their outdoor brick oven and all the cousins and their kids came to visit.  It was total Italian chaos and I loved every minute.  They are such a wonderful family and I'm grateful for the experiences I had with them 18 years ago and to continue those relationships today.  I'm grateful to Lee for wanting to visit them with me and seeing where I lived.

Pictures of our days in La Spezia/Bolano are in the gallery.