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2019 has been a strange year. A year of change, transition, ups, and downs. A year I’m ready to let go, but a year to remember nonetheless. I am hoping 2020 is a little more settled, a little more cheerful, but no less adventurous. Happy New Year.
Italy has a way of pulling us back over and over again. When we saw cheap tickets to Rome for New Year’s, we didn’t even hesitate.
This happened in spite of the fact that many people I know do not care for Rome, for one reason or another. I’m glad I went anyway because my husband and I had a great time admiring the grandiose architecture, eating delicious food, and strolling the narrow cobblestone alleys that were still decorated for Christmas.
We stayed in a lovely guesthouse right in the center of the city from which were able to walk to every major site on our itinerary. We didn’t book the trip far enough in advance to get tickets to the Colosseum or the Vatican, but to be honest, I don’t think it would have been pleasant cramming our way through the crowds. Instead, we chose to enjoy those landmarks from a distance.
One of the highlights for us was stopping at a cafe after walking through the old city and sipping on glasses of Prosecco while we listened to a Reggae band busking with a very hip older gentleman as their backup dancer.
Another highlight was climbing up the Spanish Steps just in time to watch the sun set over the Roman skyline. The weather was seriously gorgeous.
My favorite travel companion.
I am so glad we got to experience one last taste of a European Christmas (and of Italy!). This time next year, we will be spending our winter holiday in the States for the first time in five years!
I just returned from a fabulous week in Sicily with some dear friends of ours and their adorable little girl. I am officially on summer break and I couldn’t think of a better way to kick it off than a week of sunshine, beaches, Mediterranean villages, great food, wine, and good friends.
For such a little island, Sicily has a LOT to offer – easily two weeks’ worth of sightseeing. We didn’t get to see everything, but we saw a lot of great highlights.
Taormina and La Riviera dei Ciclopi
Our first stop was the little beach town of Taormina. Though it is very crowded and full of tourists, it’s not hard to understand way. Idyllic cliffs dotted with colorful Mediterranean houses tower over turquoise water. We browsed the cute boutiques, had an incredibly picturesque picnic, and indulged in some delicious canoli.
From Taormina, we moved on to La Riviera dei Ciclopi (The Riviera of the Cyclopes) where we enjoyed the views of the strange rock formations, enjoyed some cheap beers on the marina, and listened to a local band festival.
Mount Etna
On our second day, we decided to head up to hike Mount Etna, an active volcano. It was a little rainy, but stunning nonetheless; however, we had not expected it to be so cold. We all showed up in our shorts and t-shirts only to be met with wintry temperatures. Still, the views were spectacular. It reminded me a lot of our honeymoon in Iceland!
Siricusa
Siracusa (Syracuse) is a lovely coastal town surrounded by ridiculously blue water, white marble architecture, and loads of sunshine.
I pretty much went from freezing to sunburnt in the matter of a day!
Cefalu
Cefalu was a lot like Siricusa, but with more laid back beach vibes. There was a ton of public beach space and the view from the sea was magnificent surrounded by cute houses and big, green mountains. Drinking cheap summer shandy while floating in the water didn’t hurt either.
This past school year was incredibly rough. I’m so grateful to have spent such a wonderful time with my husband and good friends and to have started summer on a much more positive note. Italy is ridiculously good.
For the first time since we’ve moved abroad, we were both off on New Year’s and the weekend before, so we decided to get off campus and celebrate properly somewhere; the question was where.
As usual, we let Skyscanner decide and the cheapest flights outside of Turkey were to Bologna. The times were perfect and the price was right, but we wondered if perhaps we shouldn’t look elsewhere because we had already been to Italy twice before and there are so many places nearby we haven’t seen yet.
But c’mon. It’s Italy.
The more we talked about it, the more I loved the idea of wandering through narrow streets, eating amazing food, and drinking good wine. After all, since we had already done the whole tourist thing a couple of times, we figured there would be no pressure to check off a list of sights to see and places to go; we could simply sit back and enjoy la bella vita.
So. Freaking. Good.
We rented an adorable apartment from Airbnb (If you haven’t tried it yet, you should! You can get $23 off your first stay here.) and hung out like the locals for a few days. Of course, we did some sightseeing, but we also balanced that with trips to the local cafes for cappuccino or aperitivo (wine and appetizers) or strolling through the streets and window shopping. We even went to a local grocery store one night and bought all kinds of tasty ingredients to see if we could make our own delicious Italian dinner since our apartment had a kitchen – it was one of the highlights of the trip for me!
Once New Year’s Eve rolled around, we were ready to go out and see the annual fire in Piazza Maggiore. Yes, fire. They spend the days leading up to New Year’s building a paper sculpture in the middle of the square, and at exactly midnight on New Year’s Eve, they light it on fire and everyone watches it burn. It was incredibly strange and incredibly awesome all at the same time.
11:59
12:00
Moral of the story: Italy is always a good idea.
The aftermath of a great party
Sad story: We lost our camera in Venice. It was a hot, miserable day and our hotel was out in the middle of nowhere. It took us 3 hours to find it, which meant we had to take a few breaks because the heat was so unbearable…it just so happens that on one of those breaks, I stupidly set the camera down and forgot to pick it back up. Not a great start to our trip.
After we got to our hotel, I was feeling so shitty about it that I didn’t even bother to go out into the city our first night, but I decided that one night of sulking was enough. Camera or no camera, we had come to see Venice.
It was hot, crowded, and beautiful. I did my best to capture it with some grainy Kindle Fire shots, but of course, they don’t do it any justice. We arrived with no itinerary and we definitely didn’t want to fork out the cash for an overpriced gondola ride – especially since we now had a camera to replace. Instead, we simply wandered through the alleys, stopping for the occasional gelato to try and beat the heat.
So where to begin with Venice… It’s a tourist trap for sure, albeit a beautiful one. It’s also possible that my experience was a little tainted due to having lost our camera. I definitely couldn’t imagine spending more than a couple days there, but I certainly don’t regret going…especially when considering it may not be around much longer. My advice? Don’t go in July. Wait for the off-season to avoid the crowds and the sweltering heat.
January
February
March
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April
May
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July
August
September
October
November
December
What an incredible year I’ve had! Looking back at each month made me realize how unbelievable it’s all been. It also made me realize how quickly time is going by. How has it already been another year? How?
Here’s to hoping for an amazing 2017 for us all!
Don’t forget dessert.
I still can’t stop thinking about Italian food, so I gave in and broke into a few of the things we brought back. It was a little taste of heaven and just what we needed to perk us up mid-week.
After a lovely few days in Cinque Terre, we spent one day in Milan before catching our flight back to Turkey. The visit was quite short, so we didn’t do too much, but we had a great time walking around the main squares and getting our last few bites of Italian food.
The architecture in Milan is stunning and it’s crowning jewel is the Duomo Cathedral. It was enormous and beautiful, as was the whole of Piazza Duomo!
I absolutely loved listening to this man play music on the bottles! He was brilliant!
We were both starving after the long stint on the train, but we were having trouble finding something that wasn’t ridiculously overpriced in the main square. We stumbled upon a little cart selling gelato popsicles and the rest is history. This almond was superb.
Our “Last Supper” involved two very large and very delicious pizzas. Speaking of which…
…we missed out on seeing the original Last Supper, which is housed in Milan. It was a bummer because I find Leonardo da Vinci very fascinating and would have loved to see some of his work while we were there. We did, however, manage to see this statue of him. I guess that just means we’ll have to go back to Milan to do it properly…
We loved you, Italy! Italy is one of those places I know in my heart that I’ll see again. I went into it with a mix of expectations based on differing opinions and was pleasantly surprised by how laid back, relaxing, and beautiful it was. Until next time!
**WARNING** This post may contain picture overload.
My husband and I just returned from spending a few days in the beautiful, colorful string of villages on the Italian Riviera known as Cinque Terre. We decided we wanted to do something relaxing before school started and this place fit the bill: beautiful geography, lovely architecture, fantastic food, hiking, beaches, and great wine. My dad visited Cinque Terre a few years back and still talks about it, so we had to see what it was all about.
We based ourselves out of the southernmost village of the five, Riomaggiore. When we stepped off the train from Milan, we were instantly greeted with the stacks of colorful houses, blue water, boats, and the prettiest sunset. I knew then we were in for a treat.
The first order of business was to get our hands on some FOOD! I tried out this Riomaggiore pizza with shrimp, artichokes, spicy oil, and basil. My husband ordered gnocchi Bolognese.
Italian food is FLAWLESS. I mean it. I have never been somewhere that has so consistently exceeded my foodie expectations. EVERYTHING I ate there was good. Every. Single. Thing. Also, it was surprisingly affordable. 5 Euro pizzas and pastas were abundant and no less delicious than any of the more expensive meals.
After stuffing ourselves beyond capacity, we settled in for a good night’s rest before a long day of hiking the five villages.
We decided to hike from North to South since the trails from Riomaggiore to Corniglia are currently closed. We purchased all day hike and train passes for 16 Euro each and took the train up to Monterosso al Mare, about a 15 minute ride.
Since you can’t start a hike without a good breakfast, we stopped for espresso and bruschetta after a walk on the beach. Who says you can’t have anchovies and pesto for breakfast?
The weather could not have been more perfect, albeit a little hot, and the views along the trail were stunning. It was reminiscent of our hike on the Fira Trail, but more lush and colorful (and way more uphill!)
How awesome is this? This guy set up a little lemon/orange juice stand right on the trail between Monterosso and Vernazza. Yes, please!
The second village, Vernazza, ultimately ended up being my favorite! It was so charming and colorful and the food there was fabulous, especially the gelato! We were hot and sweaty after hiking for two hours (again, mostly uphill), so we were thrilled to see the little beach down below!
Some food and a dip in the water was exactly what we needed before our next leg of the journey!
The walk to Corniglia was much easier than the walk to Vernazza had been. It was also a bit shorter. We were surprised to see quite a few cars in this village as many of the villages have strict restrictions on vehicles. We stopped for a fantastic dinner of grilled focacia sandwiches (prosciutto and pesto!) and I indulged in a glass of prosecco. Seriously, why is Italy so delicious?
Since the walking routes were closed, we took the train over to Manarola, where a whole bunch of kids were celebrating a birthday on the marina and playing soccer. What a birthday party!
I discovered this lovely thing called a marocchino and my life will never be the same. Espresso and chocolate are a match made in heaven. One place even added nutella!
Also, panna cotta and strawberries.
Exhausted, full, and sunburnt, we made it back to Riomaggiore in time for another spectacular sunset!
We went back to Monterosso for a relaxing beach day the next morning. The water was perfect!
After swimming and lunch, we wandered the the village and picked up a few souvenirs to take back with us, mostly food-related! Also, because my husband loves the song Postcards from Italy by Beirut, he bought a post card from every village!
We also stopped on a different beach for a little bit of reading in the sunshine!
It was so hard to leave! As the sun was going down, we rode back to Riomaggiore, stopped for some take away pasta (think Chipotle, except with pasta!), a last glass of wine, and then turned in to pack our things for our early train ride out.
It was a lovely, lovely, lovely way to kick off our travels for this year! Bring it on, 2016-17!
Going Groundless 