We began day 2 nice and early , we had a tour booked for about 2pm but we wanted to explore some places on our own before the tour. After a quick coffee and sandwich for breakfast we headed to Santa Maria del Fiore which is the main cathedral. We didn't actually do inside but the architecture is stunning. It's a bit gothic and the dome is absolutely beautiful. We walked around and explored the leather market, irrespective of what people tell you , the market isn't that great. I mean it could be great quality but I didn't like anything enough to buy. We stopped for lunch and had amazing spaghetti. It was time for our tour, our first stop was the Galleria dell Academia , this was one of my biggest reasons to come to Florence. We entered and with just one look at David I was in love! The statue is so much bigger than I thought , I was overwhelmed. The other art pieces were just as good but the star attraction is David. Our tour guide was very sweet and explained everything in detail without making it boring! After a few goofy pics around David it was time to move on with the tour. The tour covered all the important places of Florence some of which we had seen the night before but in the day the crowds are insane. Anywhere you plan to go , I would suggest to book online or there will be at least a 2 hour wait.
After our tour it was time for some (you guessed it) Gelato!
We did a bit more exploring and ate a Chinese meal, you read that right! But it was delicious so oh well. We then headed to this small bar that was highly recommended called the Box, I had house wine for 1 Euro!!!!! They didn't have a full on apperitivo going on but we did get some bruschetta and popcorn. I tired their beer and that was amazing too.After chilling for a while more we headed back and packed up to leave the next day.
Our first official vacation day and I was so excited. I have been dreaming about coming to Italy for over a year now and it feels surreal.
We started off our adventure from a quite train station in Sienna with our destination being Florence. Florence has my heart ♥️, it's my favourite city of all!
We reached Florence and headed straight to our Airbnb which was only a 10 min walk. Reached the place and believe it or not we took a nap! I know I know it seems like a massive waste of time but hey you gotta do what you gotta do!
We woke up and headed out at about 7pm or so. Our first stop was mercato centrale or central market. I had read so much about this market and I was legit buzzing! We started off our culnary journey with roasted beef and fried potatoes served with some homemade bread...simple yet DELICIOUS! Though we had planned on eating alot we were quite full with our meal and decided to explore.
We walked to Piazza Della Repubblica and saw the carousel , it looked stunning all lit up. We then headed to Piazza Della Signora , it's called an open air museum and it is just that. The statues are magnificent! Although I would suggest to research a bit on line to atleast know what you're looking at. We then headed to Ponte Vecchio , the bridge itself didn't really awe me but there were some street performers and tourists who were having a balling time. We were quite tired by this time so after a pit stop for Gelato (I mean how could we not) we headed back to our airbnb and called it a night.
It was our time to leave Florence and head to Venice! Venice looks stunning in pictures and I was quite sure it wouldn't be as beautiful in real life as most pictures are edited right? Well wrong ! Venice is as beautiful as every picture you've seen.
We again headed straight to our Airbnb, now Venice is expensive! Our Airbnb was a bit away from the main attractions called Castello, a homely area. We took a little time in figuring out our transport there and we made a mistake with booking a one way ticket , we should have got a full day pass (which we did later) .
We were ready to start our day, I have seen so many perfect Instagram posts from Burano that I just had to go there, even though we only had one day in Venice.
We headed straight to Burano, got off at the wrong station 🙄. To get to Burano you need to change boats in Murano , we got off at the wrong station and had to walk to get to a station to catch the boat to Burano. Now Burano is a really small island easily walkable. We walked around , explored took millions of pictures and then setteled down to eat. We had a seat food spaghetti and fried mixed sea food. Not going to lie, it was the most expensive meal of our holiday but it was worth every bite. Also not to forget house wine. When people say that wine is cheaper than water in Italy , they are really not lying. After our meal we walked around a bit more bought some souvineers and then gelato. There is this flavour called stracciatella and it's creamy vanilla with choco chips I think, it's delicious!
We took our boat back to Venice, it is almost 2.5 hours so we couldn't really dilly dally.
I had read about this book store in Venice called Libreria Aqua Alta which loosely means water library. It's a very cool space where (I think) most people only go to take pictures. We did find a beautiful cat and everyone was obsessing over it!
Day 4 we headed out to Corrina di Ampezzo. This was the only day in our travels that was planned by my sister. She loves to trek and loves the hills so she decided on Corrina. This day, I gotta say, didn't go as planned. We got off at our station and started walking, now we got lucky, a passerby stopped his car and gave us a lift....it was a 45 min walk uphill!!!!! We reached out Airbnb with noone at home. After trying to speak to them for about half hour we got through and after discussions they let us leave our luggage inside. We went off on a trail but realised that it didn't take us very far. We honestly just roamed around aimlessly all day...it was stunning but with nothing to do. We lay in the grass for a bit took a nap and then headed for lunch. We walked (uphill) atleast 20 mins to get to the restaurant. The food was delicious we had carbonara and pork chops with house wine ofcourse. The meal was really outstanding the best carbonara I have ever had. We made our way back again but still no luck with the hosts, we roamed around aimlessly again then the host said he wouldn't be back before 6pm 🙄
So after another hike (walking uphill) we found this small market area and we sat down for an apperitivo. This was the best of this day...the sun was setting it all looked picture perfect. The snow capped mountains to the green fields we were content sipping our drinks. We finally headed to the aribnb again and this time the host was home. We honestly made some small talk and just went to bed. We were tired from all the aimless walking around and we're dreading the hike uphill with our suitcases.
We woke up really early and got ready to leave. It was Easter and we wanted to just make our bus to make it to our train to reach Venice and then on to Rome. It was a long travel day ahead of us. We started off by missing the bus by seconds, it was early!!! But we were stressed waiting for the next one since this was the only one that could get us in time to make our second bus and trains. The bus driver was quite taken aback with our reaction to seeing the bus...was quite funny in hindsight. Our day of travel commenced , with two buses done we reached Venice and headed straight to the train station. We had our Easter lunch there and it was delicious. We had burrata salad and a simple buffalo mozzarella pizza and some house wine (you see the theme here). It really was one of our best meals in Italy. We made our train and waited to get to Rome. The journey itself was quite nice we had good seats and good snacks. We got to Rome Termini and got our bus almost outside the station. We headed to our Airbnb , our host wasn't in so we had to wait for about 20 mins. We got a nice coffee and then just got our Airbnb. We chilled showered and were ready to celebrate Easter. We walked to this neighborhood called Trasevere and went to this place called Pimm's Good. Pimm's Good is amazing and everyone should visit. Good food, amazing drinks and this awesome band. We really did have a good time, the place was buzzing and we had to wait for a table but it was worth the wait.
This was our first full day in Rome and we had it all planned. We had a tour of the Colosseum! Now this building is just massive, no picture can give you the depth it actually has. Our tour guide was amazing, we booked through @getyourguide and it was the right mix of fun and knowledge. But I do suggest to book the tour we did which gives you access to the arena , the view is just something else. The tour lasted for about 3 hours and we really did have a good time. We headed out of the Colosseum just in time to see a parade go around and the gladiators (Mama Mia) !!
After that we headed to see the Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps. The Trevi Fountain although beautiful was a bit hectic as the crowds were just insane. Everyone was there just for a photo and I didn't really enjoy the vibe. The Spanish Steps as well was so crowded that we didn't even step foot on it. We then headed to the Pantheon, it was amazing. The central hole on the ceiling is mezmarsing. We spent a good 30 mins in there which I didn't expect we would. Then it was time for our second meal disaster , we thought we were far enough to get cought in tourist traps but we were wrong . The food was just not good. Feeling very dissatisfied we roamed around and got more gelato. We then found this place for pizza Al taglio and I thoroughly enjoyed that. We made our way back to our Airbnb and just had a chilled night after all the walking.
This was the day I was waiting for the most. Our day at the Vatican. This was the reason for planning my trip to Italy. We headed to the Vatican and had a tour booked. Our guide was superb and even though we had skip the line tickets we were still in line for about an hour. The Vatican really is just very opulent. I thought I would feel a little bit religious being a roman Catholic but the Vatican museum is just a museum. The only time I felt overwhelmed was in the Sistine chapel. The Sistine chapel is much much smaller than I thought, it's just a room till you look at the ceiling. You're not allowed to speak in there and the you really do feel connected to something spiritual in there. After our tour we made our way to the many shops lining the Vatican and got a few rosaries. We headed to Castell st.Angelo but didn't go in. We then made our way to Janiculum hill . The overlooks the whole city of Rome and the sights are beautiful. We had our gelato there and just soaked in everything. We then made our back to Trasevere for a drink and it looked even prettier in the day. It was our last day in Italy and we didn't want to go back without one last look at the Colosseum. So we grabbed some pizza and beer and just walked to the Colosseum and sat outside and ate our meal with one of the most famous views in the world. It was one of the most fun moments in Italy and it was just that simple. The Colosseum at dusk is something everyone should see, it does make you realise that you're definitely not as important as you think you are.
We headed back to our Airbnb and packed for our journey back home the next morning.
