Our last day in New Jersey was sort of a whirlwind – laundry, packing, running errands, updating our resumes and other “real life” tasks – so after a nine hour flight to Milan, two hour wait in the airport and three hour car ride to Levanto, we were pretty exhausted. Enter a great group of friends, together in Italy to celebrate an amazing wedding, and somehow we managed to power through the day!
First stop: smiles, sun and sand.
Having never been to Levanto before, Alex and I were immediately charmed by the small-town feel, friendly locals and beautiful beaches. Levanto is one town away from the famous Cinque Terre, so it has the same incredible scenery but far fewer tourists. We spent Wednesday afternoon catching up with everyone at the beach before getting cleaned up for a group dinner and welcome drinks with the bride and groom. We had the best time reuniting with our friends but after a few hours the combination of excitement, jetlag and negronis kicked in so we sent ourselves home to rest up for three more days of celebrating.
Great dinner crew for #pregolevanto.
Thursday morning we woke up early and met nearly 100(!) other wedding guests for a ferry ride and hike through the Cinque Terre. Everyone was feeling a little sluggish but the scenic views definitely made up for it.
Really cannot beat these ferry views of the colorful cliffside towns.
View from the ferryboat.
Boats on boats on boats.
Our hiking team!
The stated “one hour” hike we all planned ended up being slightly more difficult than expected but we all patted ourselves on the back for getting some exercise and promptly undid all that effort with more carbs, wine and gelato.
Once back to Levanto and properly refueled, we headed back to the beach for a few hours and then got ready for the rehearsal dinner, which was conveniently located at our hotel’s beautiful courtyard! The homemade oven-baked pizza was delicious, the speeches to Blythe and Cody were funny and heartfelt and the company couldn’t be beat. We headed out to the afterparty in town and continued to toast the happy couple into the early hours.
We – and pretty much everyone else – slept in late Friday morning and moved at a fairly slow pace until it was time to get ready for the wedding. We switched up our usual lunch spot – Roma Café is delicious if you are ever in Levanto! – before heading to the bride’s family’s villa to make flower crowns for the wedding (well I did - Alex hung with the guys and went to the beach). Once it was time for the wedding ceremony to begin, everyone was properly scrubbed, shined and ready to celebrate our amazing friends, Blythe and Cody.
So much happiness and love.
Alex looks pretty dapper without that mountain-man beard!
Just a few Tulane girls in handmade flower crowns for the wedding!
The ceremony was beautiful and touching and Alex and I are so happy for our newly married friends!
From the ceremony, we took a shuttle up the hill to a gorgeous venue for the reception and enjoyed a night of drinking, dancing and eating. The whole night – and previous few days – was so much fun and Alex and I were so happy to be a part of the entire experience.
Pretty great place for a wedding reception!
Sunset over the sea.
Someonelooked a little nervous during the hora...
Can you believe all these beautiful people went to Tulane?
Ending the night at a local bar on the bay.
Many of our friends headed back home – or to other destinations – on Saturday so we said goodbyes, hung out by the beach and took it easy with our remaining gang. For dinner, seven of us took the train to nearby Monterosso and had a delicious dinner overlooking the water at L’ancora della Tortuga.
Walking past the beach in Monterosso.
Me, Zoe and Nicole outside the restaurant.
I spy...Heller!
Cheers to a great time in Levanto!
Tomorrow we take the train to Florence for the start of our next two weeks in Italy (sans friends). This is Alex's first time in Italy and we are both excited for more sightseeing, scenery and carbo-loading!