Ciao dear readers! Casey came to visit for a lovely two weeks and we spent our time galavanting (correction: dragging, considering the amount of pizza and pasta we ate) around Italy! I'll do a quick summary of our trip here...
We spent most of our time walking around new neighborhoods but we tried to hit all the major attractions and museums. We relied on HostelWorld to find the best hostels, Trip Advisor for grubbing, and most importantly, Lonely Planet Encounter Guides (thanks Mom and Dad!) for sightseeing! These pocket sized books cover a city and its surrounding area. The maps and suggestions are practical and precise. Best of all, the books weigh next to nothing and can be easily popped into a bag!
We began in Milan where we stayed in an AirBnB apartment. I highly recommend using AirBnB when traveling. You get to meet locals, see a typical apartment (obviously this really appeals to my blatant nosiness), get insider tips on what to do, and it's more comfortable than a hostel and less expensive than a hotel! Our AirBnB hostess in Milan was away for the weekend but her friend kindly picked us up from the train station and took us to dinner and drinks!
Milan is beautiful. The Duomo dominates the downtown area and is staggering to see amidst the posh and modern shops from Prada to Pucci. Milan's the economic center of and has banks galore. Luckily, it was Sunday and the shops were closed. Otherwise, Day 2 of our trip would have entailed far too much time spent at their ATMs.
We then took the train to Venice, which looks like a Hollywood set (how American am I?!). Casey and I have never felt so lucky to be able to swim (which, luckily, wasn't necessary). Despite being an incredibly inconvenient place to roll suitcases given the fact that there are bridges to everywhere, Venice is architecturally stunning - bright colors abound. San Marco's square was a sight to see. The vibe is convivial and energetic. Our favorite part of Venice were their "aperitivos" and "cicheti". They serve cheap and light drinks and snacks (sandwiches, meatballs, salads, spreads, veggies, you name it!) from about 6pm on. We learned to make the rounds at the best places and so we had fabulous Italian-style tapas dinners every night!
Florence was next and we loved it. We did the museums round and Casey took hilarious pictures of the David. It was warm and sunny and we walked around for hours. We had one of our favorite dishes from the trip at Trattoria La Casalinga: rabbit-sauce tortellini.
From Florence we trained through Tuscany and went to Siena. Siena definitely has the most old world feel of all the places we visited and we had a great time exploring the churches and squares.
The quietness of Siena was soon gone as we headed to Rome. Rome is loud. There is a deafening amount museums, squares, parks, monuments, and galleries to visit - we were overwhelmed! We snuck into the Vatican and got to see the Museums (just wow!) and the Sistine Chapel a day before it closed - talk about the luck of the Irish. The ancient Roman sites were incredible - we wished we'd brushed up on our Roman history before visiting them, though. Our favorite part were the Borghese Galleries. Not only is the chateau itself a work of art, but the collection is awe-inspiring. Five days wasn't nearly enough time in Rome! We had a great trip overall and can't wait to explore more of Italy!
No comments:
Post a Comment