When we went to Europe last year for our honeymoon, our biggest complaint was the amount of luggage we brought. (ie: 3 rolling suitcases, 1 duffel bag and 1 garment bag).
I’m happy to report that we learned our lesson and we successfully managed a 2 week vacation in Europe with only 2 rolling suitcases- and both were under the 50lb limit! We still had a backpack and purse that we carried during the day and on the flights, but everything went so much more smoothly with getting on and off the trains.
The trip was also exciting for us because we were traveling with our good friends, Jason and Michelle. (At least I think they’re still our good friends after this trip…) Below are the highlights and photos of each city we visited.
Madrid
For Brad and I, this was our first time visiting the country of Spain. And we loved it! I wasn’t sure I would get used to the idea of eating dinner at 10/11pm at night, but it was incredibly fun to go from one tapas bar to the next, trying various drinks and dishes all in one night. (I’m sure our jetlag and lost sense of time also assisted us in staying up until 2am to eat a bowl of paella!)
Our apartment was super close to Plaza del Sol- which had our favorite bar- Vinotecca. The steak, brie and caramelized onion appetizer was delicious- we ate this both nights we were in Madrid!
{Street Performer}
{Outside the Palace}
This market, Mercardo de San Miguel, was also very cool. You could walk up to any counter and order some meat, cheese, olives, wine- whatever- and then eat it right there at the counter or one of the few barstool tables.
VeniceI know most people think Venice is just too touristy (and it is- just look at all the advertisements covering the historic buildings), however, it’s an incredible cool city to see and experience- even if you only go for a day. We spent one night here and thought that was perfect. We were able to walk around the main piazza- San Marco, take a sunset gondola ride, shop for Murano glass souvenirs and enjoy a bottle of wine on the rooftop of our hotel. Points to Brad for picking an awesome hotel for our stay in Venice.
{Our Hotel}
{Paparazzi}
{hotel's rooftop patio}
{view from hotel room}
{night view - that orange thing is the moon!}
{gondola ride}
Florence
Always my favorite. So much to see, eat and drink! We saw all the usual tourist points- Duomo, San Lorenzo Markets, Piazza Repubblica, Ponte Vecchio, David, etc. Brad even snuck in a photo (or 2) of the David before getting yelled at.
The highlight of this city (at least for me) was a Chianti wine tasting tour. The first winery (Carravaggio) was small, but they gave us such a detailed, behind-the-scenes tour of the wine making business. The second winery was also small and intimate, so they served us an amazing lunch of cold pasta, chicken and dessert while sampling their various wines. The last winery had good wines (we bought 2), but not as friendly as the other wineries. Our tour guide, Rebecca, was the best and we ended up in a group of 8 American tourists- all from California! So, of course, we had a great time!
Our favorite restaurant of the trip was also in Florence- Trattoria Sostanza – more of a local place but with incredible food!
{Ponte Vecchio}
{Duomo}
{Wishing Boar}
{wine tasting}
{BEST cold pasta ever!}
{toasting with grappa- not so tasty}
Positano
It’s always fun to visit small seaside towns in Italy, however, Cinque Terra is still our favorite for that type of location. Positano was beautiful and a nice change of pace for us, yet getting there was no easy feat. It started with a 2 hour train ride (half of it spent sitting on the ground) to Naples, then a rude taxi driver who wouldn’t take us to the docks, followed by a ferry to the Island of Capri. We had an hour and a half layover til our next ferry, so we dragged our luggage to the nearest restaurant for lunch. Then we were back on a boat on our way to Positano. Once there, we then had to climb a million stairs (okay, more like 50 steps) straight up to our hotel. Keep in mind, it’s hot (90 degrees), humid and we’re each carrying 50lb+ in luggage. Michelle’s luggage handle snapped, which actually cut her hand; we had no idea how far up the hotel was and our clothes were soaked with sweat. So far- not so happy with Positano. But eventually we made it to the hotel- with beautiful mountain/ocean views- and spent the next two days lying out at the beach. (FYI- Not a lot of exciting photos due to lying in the sun all day)
{first half of the train ride}
{it's all about presentation...}
Rome
Our final destination was the ancient city of Rome. Our apartment was located near Campo de Fiori- which is a very young and less touristy spot to hang out at night. Brad and I had one of our favorite pastas at the restaurant, Magnolia located in this piazza. We also were very close to Piazza Novona, so we spent a lot of time passing through this area and checking out all the street performers and artists.
More tourist stuff followed- walked through the Colosseum and Roman Forum, took a tour of the Vatican Museum and St. Peter’s Basilica and visited the Trevi Fountain, Pantheon, Spanish Steps and Castle St. Angelo.
Overall, there was a ton of walking, picture taking, gelato and wine consuming done in Rome! A great way to end our trip! Thanks to the Browns for putting up with us for 10 days straight!
{Trevi Fountain}
{total tourists}
{we're an archway - duh}
{Roman Forum}
{St. Peter's Basilica}
{doesn't this statue look like Bill Clinton?!}
