The two towns surrounded by water bodies, they definitely have their very own beauty. We stop by both towns for one day each to finish our second country stretch in Italy!
Cinque Terre
The journey from Greve in Chianti to Riomaggiore is about 5 hours traveling to Florence, Pisa, La Spitza and finally Riomaggiore! We took the chance to blog a little about our trip and then research about the scenic photo spots. We were glad that the trip to Rio is smooth and not much delay was encountered except the last train that runs from La Spitza through CT. A gentle advice is to reach the train stations as early as you can and to book your tickets early so you can have them at a lower rate! Rumors about train conductors not checking the tickets are indeed true for some routes but you wont know which ones they are, so its good to play safe and purchase them dutifully!
After checking in, we rested for a short while, charged our batteries and went to the Rocky split to recce for our sunset shot. When we reached, we were taken by a surprise. It is a rocky beach and to walk around the area, we needed to ‘boulder’ around the rocks. It would be easy but we were carrying our cameras and bags and wearing slippers, while trying not to get wet! So after much struggle, we got to the centre area where many angmohs were suntanning and we sat there for awhile. The sun is amazing for a good tan and we just bathe in the sun for awhile while testing out some shots.
Subsequently we climbed back and grab some dinner (calamari and focaccia) and we went back to our photo spot to set up for the shots. Picnic at these rocks is simply amazing because its so CHILL! Loving the life there haha, and also the calamari and focaccia are cheap and delicious(we paid 7 euros for both because we had discount card). Oh just a note to not bring so many loose items with you such as your phones and sunglasses. You may want to leave them in your backpack so they dont slip off and drop into the sea!
Now let me warn you first, getting back to the shore in the night is quite a challenge because you cannot really see the rocks conditions and you may risk slipping, so remember to be careful if you intend to do what we did! To get a nice long exposure shot, it is also advisable to bring along a tripod or you have to make do with a makeshift one with your camera bags, slippers and whatever you can find!
After reaching back, we had a good night rest and we woke up to even more hospitality when the host prepared us a buffet of focaccia and coffee and orane juice haha! Its damn good supposedly we paid 86 for the night(for 2 peeps)!
Venice
The second town built in close proximity to water bodies, I always expected it to be one of the most preserved town in Italy, having read about the history of it in social studies. To my surprise, Venice is actually more modernised than the capital Rome itself. I envisioned a petit town with bridges, ancient buildings and a river filled with Gondolas, but we were greeted by a huge ass glass bridge, central bus terminus and cruise ships that sailed the grand canal. In other words, this place surprised me well😂
Crossing three bridges and turning left, we reached our accommodation and even though our host was out, he had responsibly made arrangement for us to check in the building. Thankfully! When we opened the door to the airbnb room, we are delighted by the hotelish setting! The bed, the bathroom, the kitchen! The airbnb just gets better and better! Hahaha! Oh and the host even gave us a £17.50 travel guide for free, OMG RIGHT?
Soon after, we got out of the house and went to the main square to look for dinner. It was a pain scouting for affordable food cause Venice is a touristy place and everything is in italian🙄 eventually we shared some tourist menu for one person but it has three items. Turned out they tasted quite well and it kinda make us feel abit better haha. We could even go for gelato afterwards!
After dinner, we saw the blue light and we began taking long exposure shots of it! Of course, xinyi got a much better shot than I did! We were so satisfied with the shots that we kept talking about them till the point we were about to sleep, waiting for sunrise.
Turned out… The night was horrible, thanks to some fucking mosquitos that kept bugging us and we ended up sleeping really little:/ being unable to sleep, we woke up before 5am and we travelled down to St Mark Square by 6.30am for the sunrise. The sunrise was really magical and we got to see Venice in a new light even though it was partly cloudy. The daybreak was simply gorgeous and we saw a couple taking their bridal shots there and a model taking professional shots at the square itself. It seems that St Mark Square is a popular destination for weddings after all, but its obviously expensive like what xinglai said haha! Anyway, here are the shots from the day😁
And finally, we got to try out the Venetian coffee Macchiatone. Its basically espresso with a splash of milk! Well, my verdict on it? It tasted like espresso, like really espresso😒
Overall the past 2 days have been really different and we finally got a taste of what is autumn gonna be like (Venice is colddddddd) would highly recommend everyone going Italy to stop by these two places, of course, Venice will be better if you have >1 day. You can actually island hop around:)
CinqeMinte 
