La Ciotat & Les Calanques

La CiotatI went to a little city called La Ciotat today with my friend Laura and a group of study abroad students. This is where the Lumiere brothers filmed the first movie and thus invented the cinema. It was gorgeous weather and the sea looked so calm. It was just a great day to be outside.

A tropical-looking park we walked through on our way to a view of the Mediterranean Sea.


There were scuba divers and snorkelers down there somwhere!

The white sand at the bottom made the water look green here and it was so pretty!

Les Calanques
We did some pretty intense hiking along these cliffs, called les calanques, in between La Ciotat and another little city, Cassis. We were up so high - it was just incredible.

You can't even tell where the water ends and the sky begins.

Me and my friend Laura. We hiked for over two hours straight today, at times going up at a really high incline.

What a view, right?

Winter vacation!

Barcelona

Our first stop on this trip was Barcelona, Spain. I didn't expect it to be such a cool city, but it was amazing! We visited the Park Guell, where these columns are located. It's really a magical place.

This is Park Guell too. The friends I traveled with, Celina and Laura, and I found a secluded area in this park with a playground and we sat there and ate our lunch of Subway sandwiches..haha. You gotta make sacrifices sometimes when you're traveling on a tight budget!

There were mosaics like this one everywhere in the park. Gorgeous!

The Gaudi cathedral, Sagrada Familia.

This is the other side of the building.

Venice
(a.k.a. the most amazing city in the world!)

On the water buses in Venice.

Me and my friends, Laura (left) and Celina (right) on San Marco island. It was Carnevale that week so everyone was dressed up in masks and costumes. Lots of fun, but sooo many people!

Piazza San Marco, the main square on this island. It was packed!

Again, really crowded. But so much fun!

Us with our friend Maria from Spain. She was staying at the same hostel we were, so we spent our two days in Venice together. She was so sweet! She didn't speak much English, though, so communicating was a challenge.

For some reason, there were still Christmas decorations up everywhere. They were pretty, though!

One of my favorites. We all bought masks for Carnevale!

Our hostel was right on the water. This is our view!

The last day of the festival, actually I think it was the day of Mardi Gras, there was a special surprise event in the square. It turned out to be cover bands for the Beatles and Abba! It was SO much fun!

Florence

This was our hostel, called the Archi Rossi (Red Arch). It was such a neat place. There were murals like this on all the walls, and people wrote their names/notes all over the place too after staying here.

Il duomo, the huge cathedral that everyone comes here to see. I love the sun and the shadows in this pic.

The front of the Duomo.

Il Ponte Vecchio (The old bridge) : )

The view from the Piazza Michelangelo was absolutely gorgeous! I have a million more pics, so just email me if you want to see some more!