Venice, Italy

When we arrived in Venice, it was 10:30pm we had just spent 10 hours in a car.  I knew Zack was fading, but this was the last night we had with Mel, Keaton and Caiti, so we wanted to explore the city a bit.  Though we were all running on little energy, we trekked into the city.  I have to admit, there's nothing quite like strolling the streets of Venice at midnight.  The weather was still warm but not scorching, and the streetlights light up the canals making them glisten in the moonlight.  The void of cars and other vehicles create such a quiet intimacy as well.  This was the perfect start to our stay in Venice.

I know this might be ignorant, but before coming here I had no idea that the city of Venice is an island (to be exact, it's made up of 177 islands... all linked together by numerous small bridges and water canals.  The city is an island made up of islands!).  I also had a picture in my mind of the beautiful canals, but really thought it would be crowded and way too hot (which I thought would take away from the "romantic feel" of the city).  But to my surprise, we found ourselves loving Venice.  We stayed at a campground located off the island (on the mainland, everything becomes a lot cheaper) called "Village Jolly".  And what a jolly little village it was!  We had made these arrangements kind of last minute, and really did not know what to expect.  Arriving late at night, we were worried we'd have to set up a tent in the dark (which would have sucked.  We were exhausted from our time in Croatia) but to our surprise, the tents they rented out were more like small cabins with fabric walls, and included two single beds!  Now, this is glamorous camping!  Village Jolly also had an outdoor pool and a great breakfast buffet which we made use of every morning.  We took the bus into Venice in the afternoon each day and were able to walk around Venice in the evening, which in our opinion is the best time to stroll.

We're stuck in Bari!

Bari was never a part of our itinerary.  The plan was to leave Rome on Sunday, take a long train ride to Bari and catch a night ferry headed to Dubrovnik, Croatia.  We were super excited to get to Croatia.  Not only had we heard that in Croatia we'd find some of the most beautiful beaches on the Adriatic, but we were meeting up with friends from home!  Mel, Keaton and Caiti would plan to arrive in Dubrovnik just one day after us.  Little did we know, Croatia was not to be in the plan just yet...

Rome, Italy

When in Rome... We found ourselves saying that a lot during our stay here.  Should we get gelato? When in Rome!  Splurge on a gourmet pizza? When in Rome!  Should we rent a scooter? When in Rome!  Haha, it  seemed like that was our "excuse" for everything.  We started thinking about why "when in Rome" actually originated in the first place.  We discovered that the complete saying would actually be: when in Rome, do as the Romans do.  So, we'd tried to live up to that while we were here, and that is mainly why we felt we MUST rent a scooter!  We may have spent a little more money than we had planned, so we tried to seek out only the "free admission" touristy things.  And we couldn't have been any happier with that desicion.  In our opinion, there is no better way to see Rome than zipping around the city on a scooter, amongst the many other local (of course) scootering Romans.  

We arrived in Rome late in the evening and made our way to our air bnb.  The apartment was in an excellent location (very close to the city centre, only a 30 minute walk from the colluseum) so immediately we felt the excitement of the city.  To be honest, even  though I looked forward to seeing the sights of Rome, I had been a bit weary about visiting such a busy, touristy spot during probably the hottest time of the year.  We had also been warned many times of pick pockets and theives that seek out tourists.  However, despite the crowds, we found Rome to be a great city to explore even if you have to do most by foot.  The city includes some gorgeous cobblestone pedestrian areas but also has the excitement of a very "happening" city.  The first day we did completely by foot and were able to visit the Vatican City ( we went first thing in the morning to avoid line ups. Had to wait just 10 minutes) and also many other stunning churches.  What struck us about Rome was that you'd be walking down the street, and find that many of the exteriors of the churches would not do justice to wHat you would see inside.  Stepping inside the Pantheon, and walking around the old Roman ruins was even better than we had imagined.  

Lucca & Chianti, Italy

Ahh Tuscany, we're finally here!  It's been months since the beginning of planning for this trip, and Tuscany was always top on our list when it came to our itinerary.  We even named this blog after how excited we were about Tuscany!  So was Tuscany all we dreamed of?  We would have to say yes and no.  We had a great experience, just with a few ups and downs (but mostly ups!).

We arrived in Lucca late in the evening and were picked up at the train station by our host, Giuseppe.  Despite his lack of English, we found him to be an extremely welcoming host.  We stayed at his family's house, 5 km outside the walled city of Lucca.  We enjoyed being in the countryside and they had a couple of bikes for us to use, which we used to ride into the city.  The area was a little different than we had imagined... instead of rolling hills of manicured vineyards, there were unruly wild gardens growing corn, and the bumpy streets were lined with old, weathered looking buildings.  The bikes we rode had rusty old chains and breaks that squeeked (I'm pretty sure the bike that I rode belonged to a child, haha).  The weather was not the greatest either, raining for half of our stay.  I ended up being attacked by mosquitos during the night and woke up to red, swollen bites all over my body. I would post a picture of my face in the morning, but it's a little too embarrassing... haha.  Our host family was not around for the first day and a half though, so it was nice to have some quiet time to ourselves at their house.  The second night we were there, they invited us to join them for dinner and we indulged in Giuseppe's home made pizza.  We enjoyed their company so much and we felt that we were able to experience some true Italian family time!  

Cinque Terre, Italy

I am excited to say we've made our way into Italy.  The air is warmer, the water is saltier, and our foreheads are little sweatier.  We came from Switzerland, where all the log cabin homes looked picture perfect and into Northwest Italy where the colourful concrete buildings look ancient and worn down.  After a long train ride we finally made it to La Spezia, a city just in land from Cinque Terre National Park.  We took a (slightly scary) bus ride up the mountain to our hostel in the very small town of Biassa.  The next couple days we spent exploring Cinque Terre National Park, a huge park that runs along the coast of the Medditeranean Sea.  Here you'll find five colourful villages built right into the cliffs.  There are hiking paths that run inbetween each city (or if hiking isn't your thing, you can take a train).  The first day we did the hike in between the towns which turned out to be a LOT of climbing up and down the steep terrain.  Though our calves were in pain the next day, the views we discovered during the hike made it well worth it.  On the second day, we gave our legs a break and took the train... which was an experience in itself.  Can't say I've ever felt so suffocated in a train before.  Being peak season, unfortunately we found ourselves squished into the train rubbing up against a dozen other sweaty tourists.  If you ever get the chance to vist Cinque Terre, we would highly reccomend waiting until at least September so the crowds aren't so herendous.  But despite the crowds, our experience here seemed a bit surreal.  Wandering through these towns we would find the smallest of pathways in between buildings, ancient looking but colourful architecture,  amazing seafood and of course many quaint restaurants selling pizza, pasta, and other amazing Italian dishes.  I'll never forget when we were making our way down into the second small village (we had just decended down from one of the wooded, cliffside hiking paths) and an Italian waiter swiftly passed us along the cobblestone pathway carrying at least three Italian pasta dishes.  The smell that wafted past us was to die for!  It doesn't get more Italian than that.  Where did he even come from? Haha. Oh how I love Italian cooking.