Hellooo Friends!
It’s been a while– almost two years now to be exact (oops).
I’ve had this post in my drafts all this time, and honestly, I’m not sure what stopped me from posting it! What I do know is that these past two years have been quite a wild ride– from transferring schools twice to travelling to some exciting destinations. I’m so excited to share with you all what I’ve been up to, and I suppose I should pick up where I left off…
…SO, without further ado, here’s a recap of my trip to Italy!
Our first destination of the trip was by far my favorite! After landing, we took a road trip to Calabria where I got to visit the town where my grandparents grew up. My grandparents sent us with a list of relatives to visit while there, but they did not have any of their addresses. They kept insisting that, ‘we would find them when we got there’, and the funny thing is that’s exactly what happened! After taking what we thought was a wrong turn into a small down, we decided to stop and ask for directions. It turned out that the woman we asked actually knew our family and she took us to see them! While touring the quaint, colorful streets of Lago, Calabria, we were able to visit the church my grandparents got married in, and we were even able to tour the houses they grew up in!
Our entire stay in Calabria was such a blessing and I can’t wait to visit again someday!
After Calabria, we headed North. We stopped in Naples on the way. Our initial plan was to spend the day in Capri, but the drive took longer that anticipated and we ended up missing the last ferry of the day. Instead, we explored the city and woke up early the next morning to take a tour of Pompeii. After that, we headed off to Rome!
Ok, I’m gonna be honest y’all, I don’t remember much about Rome– and not because it’s been so long, but because by this point in the trip it had been several days since I had last slept (thanks to jet lag). Despite being an actual zombie, I did manage to get a lot of great photos, although it does make me sad looking through them and realizing that I don’t even remember taking any of them. I guess that just goes to show that what you see on social media doesn’t always give you the full picture…
Anyways, zombie or not, I feel incredibly blessed to have been able to visit this beautiful city. Hopefully one day I’ll be able to return again in the right head space.
From Rome, we made our way to Tuscany.
We made a quick stop at the Leaning Tower of Pisa and then we were off to Florence!
Ah Florence…
I honestly fell in love with this city, not only because it looks like something strait out of a fairytale, but also because it was the first city I actually had a full nights sleep in– lol.
Florence was also the one city that we didn’t have a jam-packed schedule for. It was nice to just slow down and spend time getting lost in this city’s beautiful streets (and eating absurd amounts of gelato).
If you are ever in Tuscany, I highly recommend spending a day in San Gimignano (pictured below)! It is the cutest little medieval town tucked away in the rolling green hillsides outside of Florence.
From there, we made our way to our final destination, which was Venice!
On the way we stopped in Verona (not pictured), which is the town Romeo and Juliet is set in. This is a fun spot to hit, especially if you are a fan of Shakespeare. You can even see Juliet’s balcony here (which confused me at the time because I was under the impression that Juliet was only a fictional character but I later learned that it was this spot that gave Shakespeare the inspiration for her character).
Finally we arrived in Venice, and y’all, let me tell ya, I’ve been to the fake Venice in Vegas plenty of times, but the real deal is like nothing I ever could have imagined. This city was tied with Lago as my favorite destination of our trip– but for very different reasons. Venice is confusing in the most wonderful way. Every wrong turn leads you down an alley that’s more beautiful than the last.
Getting to ride a gondola was, of course, the highlight, but I also loved walking around some of the outdoor markets. Another highlight was going to the top of T Fondaco, where get the most incredible view of the whole city (pictured below).
Honestly, I can go on and on about how amazing Venice is, but I would still never be able to do it justice. If there is one destination that needs to be added to your bucket list, THIS IS IT!!
If you’ve made it this far, thank you for coming along on this VERY belated recap! I’m excited to get back into blogging, and will hopefully be back to share about some more adventures very soon!
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