Greece & Italy

Italy & Greece

This was the first really big trip Dave and I took together in May 2012. It was one of those trips you book with not too much planning but turned out to be one of the best. The reason we chose Italy was because my little brother “Adam” at the time was taking a semester abroad in Milan. I am going to do my best to re- cap the trip city by city from start to end.

Milan: We landed in Milan after about 15 hours of travel time and quickly made our way to our hotel in the center of the city for a quick freshen up and in an effort to kick our jet leg we decided to skip the nap and just get out on the town to explore. Adam met up with us around 4pm and we all explored the town with wine in hand from beautiful parks to castles, the stunning square in Milan was amazing and had a ton of hustle and bustle. It was a very industrial city with an Italian charm to it. I somewhat expected to see models walking around everywhere and people with incredible fashions but try as I may, I don’t think I saw one person that struck me as such. However we did find gelato at least twice that day and it was delicious J we had supper late into the evening and then crawled in to our beds with Venice in our dreams.

Venice: a quick 2 hour train ride with Dave Adam and his girlfriend at the time Brianna and we were in Venice. It was literally everything you think of when you hear about it. Beautiful canals filled with amazing boats and guys ready to take you on a tour at the drop of a hat. For the amazing price of 90 euros for 30 minutes (really a steal of a deal they would tell you). We opted out of the canal boat ride and instead decided to explore the city on foot. I am convinced this is just as beautiful. Over amazing and ancient bridges, weaving through shops filled with all the same trinkets but you have to look anyway and amazing restaurant smells filled the streets every which way you looked. The city was stunning and the morning brought us beautiful sunshine, as the day drew on clouds began to gather and not much later it was time for the city to have a full rain wash with us caught in it we huddled into a restaurant and warmed up with yummy tea until most of the storm blew over. I even bought a Venetian mask while we were waiting for the storm to pass. Around 5pm we decided it was time to head home with a delicious bottle of Bellini in hand our trip back was wonderful and we were back to Milan in no time.

Florence: The next stop on our journey and I think my personal favourite. The train from Milan to Florence took about 3 hours and we really just booked a few things and yabbered about the next sights we would see. Before we knew it the train was pulling in and we had about a 1klm walk to our hotel ( never again will we bring bags with wheels on any sort of cobblestone streets, a struggle but we made it) the hotel room was great. Clean fresh and just off the main street it took us a while to find but soon enough we were settled in and happily out adventuring the beautiful streets of Florence. We crossed by shops and amazing markets filled with jewelry, leathers, furs and every trinket you can possibly dream of. Cured meats, wines, cheeses and breads seemed to overflow out of every store. It was everything we could do not to jump in and try every one of them. Eventually our hunger got the best of us and we wandered into a beautiful restaurant just a few blocks from our hotel. We ordered so many great things that evening and that night’s meal may have been the highlight for Italy. Everything from start to finish was amazing(yummiest wine ever) and we attempted the straight path home hand in hand, probably took a few wrong turns but the evening was perfect.

The following day we toured even more of Florence along with some stunning museums and monuments we filled our day with history and retired for another beautiful meal before heading to Pisa the following morning.

Pisa: the train took only 45 minutes from Florence and we arrived with dark clouds over our heads. We knew they were about to break and quickly raced toward our hotel. We dashed in just in time for the big drops to fall and wow did the skies let loose. It was raining cats and dog and the gutters couldn’t even come close to keeping up. We decided to take a quick nap and try to wait it out… a few hours later nothing had changed and we thought well rain never hurt anyone and we only have one day here so let’s make the best of it.

Off we went into the crazy rain and got ourselves completely soaked. Totally worth it, we climbed the tower of Pisa which gave us incredible views and even a couple minutes of sunshine. Then into a few old historic churches. A massive slice of pizza and mini bottle of wine! What a beautiful city it we loved it!

Rome: Too much to say about this place but to highlight here it goes – The Vatican was just as incredible as the first time I saw it and Dave was in awe. We of course ran to the very top as well and took some great shots of the city.

Then the Sistine chapel and all things museum again amazing and you never feel like you have enough time to explore it all even when you are a full day into it.

The Roman Ruins & the Coliseum, these leave you in a state of awe over just how much people could do so many years ago. Before any machinery just brute strength. Romans were some pretty incredible humans.

Trevi fountain stunning as always and we through are wishes in. let’s just say mine came true and I am still travelling with the man of my dreams J

Last but not least what is Rome without a few amazing castles, churches and to top it all off a tour bus of the city just to solidify everything you saw. It’s a truly incredible city with history and beauty around every corner.

Favourite memory of Rome: an amazing supper up near the Vatican filled with wine and way way to much food then Dave an I stumbling our way into the Vatican before being chased out by the swiss guard and spending the rest of the night just outside of it on steps discussing our dreams and aspirations. A beautiful evening never to be forgotten.

Maiori: After 3 full days in Rome our brains were on overload from history lessons and we were off to the beautiful beach town of Maiori. In just a few hours we were pulling into the Salerno train station and hopping on a bus to our little town of choice. We couldn’t believe how insane the roads were, sheer cliffs with hundreds of feet below us and the bus driver barely blinked. There were literally inches to spare while passing and we could barely look out the windows as we drove. Although at the same time the beauty of the terrain was so incredibly breathtaking that not looking would have been a crime. Stunning ocean lay beneath us with golden beaches and on the hills beside us villas and lemon groves were everywhere. Stunning is the only thing that can describe such a place. About an hour later we arrived in Maiori and we dropped our bags at the hotel before finding our way to the beach in the beautiful late afternoon. We spent the rest of the day soaking up the sun and splashing in the waves as the sun slipped away our hunger got the best of us and Dinner was a high priority.

We found and adorable family owned restaurant that served us lemoncello and delicious food and the waitress was wonderful she even agreed to use Google translate with Dave which made ordering and chatting with her great fun J.

The next day we hiked up the hills and made it to the top to a beautiful old fort which also doubled as a lemon grove. The little old man who tended it took us on a tour which was fabulous and we wended buying a little pottery piece that he sold in his tiny store for about $7 and we still use our little trinket quite often.

Back to town we went for another fabulous dinner and gelato of course. After supper we made our way past the beach and randomly stumbled upon a crazy grotto/ cave before being chased out by a little old man but wow was it cool or what, we felt like explorers or something, it sounds ridiculous but it really was pretty incredible

Crete: Off to Greece we went. We had plans to drop a bag in a locker and only take our light carry on’s turns out the lockers weren’t available and long story short we ended up lugging our massive bag to Greece and locked it in a random bus station locker for the week.

The first thing we noticed about Greece was that they either spoke English really well or not at all. Most of the young people did of course but during dinner in the family owned restaurants a lot of hand gestures were used which always kept you guessing or what might be on your plate in the best way possible of course. We quickly learned as well that when you as for tzatziki dip it does not come with pita bread like in Canada. Crete was stunning we explored all we could for our first day, from stunning harbors, amazing shopping streets and great food we found it all.

The following day we took off on a fast ferry headed for Mikonos.

Mikonos: 3.5 hours later and half the boat had spent the whole trip losing their stomachs of the back. Dave and I were so glad we had remembered to down our gravol pills before leaving dock and drifted off to sleep almost the whole journey over. WE had grand plans of visiting other Greek islands on our week long journey but Mikonos completely captivated us and we never left. We did so much but I will just mention a few highlights and try to keep it brief.

Hotel: beautiful 4 start looking over the ocean for $60 per night

Quad Rental: $15 dollars a day and a total of $7 gas for the week. This was the best decision we ever made. Every day we hopped on our quad and explored the entire island from stunning beaches all to ourselves, off roading in the farm lands, beautiful beach rides and drinks and restaurant hopping. We were free to do whatever we pleased.

Note: at one point we had to back the quad backwards up a hill because while the front gears were completely shot the reverse was great, adventures with Dave & Jess – never a dull moment!

We met an awesome couple on their honeymoon from Egypt on our second day and we were inseparable for the rest of the week. From, restaurants, beach days and quad excursions we had an incredible time with them and have stayed in contact ever since.

Restaurant highlight: one of the evenings we were wandering around the blue & white smurf like town in search of dinner. We saw a cute little restaurant archway and asked the host if they had some room. They looked at us and said yes we actually have room on our patio. The patio we were sat on had room for just us and one other couple. We quickly made ourselves at home as we watched the beautiful yachts dock in the evening and the ocean lapped just under our feet. It wasn’t until about halfway through the best dinner we had in all of Greece that the couple beside asked us how far in advance we had made our reservation? To which we responded we had just walked in. they were shocked as they had made theirs 3 months in advance and told us this was one of the best places in the Greek islands and for us to get a patio spot was apparently amazing. We felt pretty darn lucky after that and to top it off the food was incredible.

Scuba Diving: never do it, everything is dead, nothing to see, that is all. Sunk cost

Summary: Greece was nothing short of stunning we had so many fantastic memories it’s hard to put into words and the same goes for Italy. It was a beautiful trip and Dave and I were lucky to have experienced it together.