My Tour of Italy (Eataly)

Better late than never is how the saying goes right? This post should have been published two weeks ago but I have been so busy since I returned to Luxembourg. Nonetheless, my week in Italy was an absolute dream. It still doesn’t feel real, none of my travels do.

Friday morning Heather and I took a bus to the Hahn airport in Germany because that was the cheapest flight we could find to Venice from our area. When we touched down in Venice, we had to take another bus to get close to the island we were staying on. When we arrived there we had to take a water bus around all the islands to get to our side. It took over an hour, but we got a nice little tour of all the islands in Venice. We had booked a really cool hostel there; it was built in the middle ages and it was an old monastery. How cool to be staying in a building that was around and used in both world wars? The neighborhood was perfect because it was quiet but we could walk five minutes and find a square bustling with people and excitement. Venice was so beautiful and vibrant during the day. It was so calming to walk around and look at all the canals. When night fell, the entire city was silent and walking down the shockingly narrow streets was eerie.

After a day and a half in Venice, we hopped on a train to Florence. It was a short ride, and I have really grown to love trains. They are relaxing and allow time for reflection. I wish we had more in America, it is such a great mode of transportation. Florence was probably my favorite city in Italy. The food was just unbelievable. I won’t comment on how much gelato we ate because it was absurd. We also ate so much truffle, I think we had some at every meal, I was in heaven. We went to a huge food market to try black truffle pasta and we came back for seconds the next day because it was that good. I also loved it because the food wasn’t too expensive (aside from that pasta). We had so many yummy sandwiches. They were huge and they had truffle cream and prosciutto, rocket salad, and fresh cheese, what more could you want on a sandwich that costs 5 euro? One night we took our sandwiches and a bottle of wine to Pointe Vecchio and watched the sunset. It looked fake, the sunset was just breathtaking. This was one of my most favorite moments on my trip. Heather and I reflected on our travels together and how thankful we were to be doing all this at such a young age, to be doing it at any age. I am so thankful to have a friend like Heather to travel with, I truly could not ask for anyone better. Our Airbnb in Florence was in a similar neighborhood to Venice but we were right above an Irish Pub so it got pretty loud after midnight. The funny thing is that we ended up hanging out there both the nights we were there. It was less than a step from our apartment and provided great hospitality (and wifi).

Again, after a day and a half we got on another train. This time it was taking us to Rome and this time we were only staying for a day, but we were doing it bigger and better. We stayed in an unbelievable Airbnb that was literally overlooking the Trevi Fountain. I threw a coin from our apartment window into the fountain, we were that close. The apartment itself was absolutely breath taking. After we got settled in we walked around the city for a while, we went to see the colosseum. We decided to cook dinner in the apartment so that we could enjoy our only night there.

The next morning, we took a train to the Amalfi Coast, it was the longest ride, almost 4 hours long. When we arrived to Salerno we got on two more buses and finally arrived at our Airbnb that was down about 7 flights of stairs. We didn’t realize it while walking down but they were going to kill us on the way back up. Every time we went into Amalfi, we had to climb those stairs and it was then that I realized how out of shape I was. It was on a mountain so they were steep and there were a lot of them. One morning in Amalfi, we bought a ferry ticket that would take us to Positano and back. We spent the entire day there and it was so beautiful, I liked it more than Amalfi. We ended our day in Positano on the beach, laying in the sun. It was a perfect day.

I have gotten so comfortable with traveling around because I have been doing so much of it. My Uncle Tony texted me and reminded me not to let my guard down. This advice resonated with me because I had in fact let my guard down. Since I had become a slightly experienced traveler, I became so comfortable with going through the motions. I can’t believe November is halfway over. I leave on Friday for over a week and when I get back I have only two weeks left here. I am growing more and more homesick as the days pass and more Christmas decorations are put up. But I won’t let that keep me from enjoying the last few weeks I have here. I know I am going to miss it when I am gone!

Allie