We went to Venice after Florence and although it was a bit stressful arriving and paying 20 E to park for 24 hours we made it okay! We walked into the city and it took a minute to realize that there were no cars anywhere and that we were in Venice!

We checked into our hotel and wandered around the city. We wanted to do a gondola ride but 80 Euros for 25 minutes just didn't seem quite worth it! We opted for a "vaporetto" ride, or the local water taxi. As a tourist you can just make a loop and only 6 euros instead of 80! We thought that was a good idea :) 

And I have to say, still romantic :)

There were so many cool houses and buildings to see on the water I wanted to share a few older ones and more modern ones too!

After our little water tour of the city we went to St. Mark's Cathedral. It is a very different style than most of the other Italian churches we saw since this has a very Eastern style. Still beautiful though!

Then it was time to eat and we decided to splurge for a nice dinner right on the water to watch the sunset. Good pizza and pasta made for the perfect date night in Venice!

As we wandered through the narrow streets of Venice on our way home, I couldn't help but take pictures of how the city sparkled at night.

In our short one day in Venice we could definitely see why people find it enchanting. Life changing? Maybe not, but still a fun place to see even for a few hours! We loved just wandering around to all the bridges and getting lost on dead ends! Often you would try to get somewhere only to end at the water and have to turn around. A nice day adventure and a good place before Lake Como. Since I already blogged about Lake Como that is the end of the Italy part of our trip! So wonderful! 

Next pictures: Mediterranean Cruise

Lake Como

I realized I haven't gone through all the Venice pictures so I am skipping to the next destination: Lake Como. 

Lake Como is in the north-western part of Italy and it's actually where my Dad and Stepmom got married 17 {ish} years ago! 

The name of the lake is Como and lots of little towns are located around it. It really is absolutely stunning. A narrow winding road led up to our hotel and we had a beautiful view of the lake and the lush green mountains surrounding it. Not to mention our hotel was super cheap and absolutely adorable.

The view from our balcony:

 I just loved the greenery there!

 We spent two days in Como just enjoying the gorgeous views, exploring and relaxing. It was wonderful and very romantic :) Our first day we did take a boat ride around the lake to see a few things and wandered around the city.

Then, we had an impromptu photo shoot in this little park since it was such a beautiful day!

We found these old caves and wandering in the forest we felt like we were in a rain forest, complete with lizards, insects and humidity. Jason got to count that as his "nature walk" for the day!

We even made our own caprese in our room and ate lunch on the balcony. 

There wasn't much to it but we loved our days there! If you are looking for a romantic getaway we recommend it!

Florence

Against all recommendations by every travel book and blog, we rented a car in Rome. We weren't gutsy enough, nor was it necessary to have it during our time in Rome but we did have to pick it up in and Rome and navigate our way out of the city. 


As a pedestrian in Rome, you may think to yourself, "Are there any laws here?" or "Wow, I almost just died." 


As a driver in Rome, you may think to yourself, "Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee."


To outsiders, driving in Rome seems like a suicide attempt but Jason described it as "controlled madness." He also said it was fun since it was like driving in a video game [which provided me little comfort at the time, as I braced for dear life because there are no lanes, no speed limits and very few rules at all. People cross streets whenever and cars park literally wherever. 


Jason was a champ driving out of the city and for the next 6 days as we drove from Rome all the way around northern Italy only to return to Rome. 


Driving through the Tuscan countryside was beautiful. Lots of green hills and very tranquil. The red roofed homes were straight out of Under the Tuscan Sun [remember Cortona, our first post? that is where that movie was filmed].


After Cortona we made it to Florence for a gorgeous sunset. This view is from the Piazza Michelangelo at the top of the city.

Needless to say this was a gorgeous night and a great way to start out in Florence. Our bed and breakfast was also so nice. We had a very large room in an old home of a lovely Florentine woman named Carla. She was hilarious and like the Italian grandmother I didn't know I had. We also had a great night with other guests from Turkey discussing American, Turkish, and Italian culture. 


On our next and only full day in Florence we headed out to see the city and of course, the famous Florence Duomo, or cathedral of the city [pictured above and below]. 

It was beautiful outside, but to be honest, not as cool inside as I had imagined, I think its hard to compare other churches to the amazing ones of Rome. The doors above were gorgeous though and again, something I had studied extensively in art history. 

 We spent the rest of the day exploring the city and just enjoying ourselves! 

Then I was lucky enough to spend 4 hours cooking with Carla in her kitchen making four traditional Tuscan dishes. Again, awesome. More will be told about this later on my food blog, The Apron Gal. 

Florence done. Next stop: Venice!

End of Rome

I am condensing the next 2 days of Rome into this final Rome post so I can tell you more about other parts of our trip. Since I am in Morocco right now its hard to focus on going in order when I just want to post current pictures but I am trying to go in order! 


Anyways, the next day in Rome we went to the very cool Campo Di Fiori market where vendors sell spices, fruits, vegetables, olive oils etc. It was a food blogger's dream! 

You better believe I bought some spices right then and there but I bought pasta at the grocery store as that was much more sensible [and cheaper]. 


Then we went to the Roman Forum, the ancient ruins of Rome. It was very cool to imagine the thriving city that was once here with temples, government and law buildings and markets. It requires a lot of imagination but the foundation is there, literally, to help you picture it. 

Needless to say it was cool to see!

After the Roman Forum, we went to the Capuchin crypt where the bones of more than 4,000 monks are arranged into artwork. It was very moving, fascinating, and sad all at one time. 

You aren't allowed to take photographs but here is one from the internet to give you an idea. 

Then we headed to the Pantheon. An awesome building to behold and really makes you understand the size of the Roman forum if it were still standing in all its glory today. 

On our last day we went to the Roman Catacombs. They take you on a tour several stories underground and it is very interesting, again, no pictures. But it was cool to get out of the city a little bit and to see the respect that was shown for all the Christian martyrs then and today. 

Finally, we stumbled on the gorgeous San Giovanni church on our way home from the Catacombs. Honestly, it rivaled the Vatican but not quite there. It was originally home to the Pope in Italy before the Vatican which is probably why it was so large and beautiful. It was one of those great accidental finds. 

So that is the end of Rome! We had a great 4 days! Next stop....Florence!

Vatican City

Next in Rome was a day at the Vatican!


We arrived at St. Peter's Square and it was awesome to behold such a famous place. Then we were able to chat with three priests from around the world: Burundi, Thailand, and Scotland. It was a warm welcome to such a holy site for 1 billion people. 

After we figured out how to enter the Vatican Museums, we got the student discount and had zero lines! Take that annoying tour guide people harassing us all the way in about "1.5 hour lines." 


Anyhoo, the Vatican grounds and museums were awesome, here are a few of our faves:

So many of my favorite and most famous pieces of art I have studied were housed in the Vatican Museums; apparently the Vatican has the largest religious art collection in the world. 


We then got to see Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel which was beautiful but you are not allowed to take photographs. Sorry!


Then on to St. Peter's Basilica itself. One word: BREATHTAKING. Not only was it the biggest church I have ever seen; it was gorgeous! It has a long nave with a huge dome and an awesome baldacchino. It also had huge amazing sculptures by Bernini and the famous Pieta by Michelangelo. Definitely a must see if you visit Rome. I also strongly recommend following a secret path: follow the tour groups instead of individual people when you leave the Sistine Chapel if you do this you can cut straight to enter the St.Peter's, otherwise you have to exit and return all the way outside and back in.


It was beautiful and very much a must see in Rome. Probably our favorite place in our whole trip. 

Then we walked down to Castel Sant' Angelo and along the river. 

After the Vatican, we found a nice dinner and then stumbled on this main shopping area. We then got delicious Nutella gelato and sat down to eat it on some big steps. They turned out to be famous Spanish steps where lots of people hang out or meet friends and is one of the most famous gathering places in Rome.

It was a great day and we saw so many cool things! Rome continues tomorrow!

First Stop: Roma

Alright, I am catching up on all my pictures and our first destination was Rome!

After we finally found our way to our apartment we found this:

 A beautiful private room and delicious breakfast every morning!

Our first night we walked around the main part of the city to see a few things like Capitoline Hill and the famous Trevi Fountain.

 

Trevi  Fountain is where a lot of famous movie scenes are filmed, everyone takes their picture wishing with a coin here. Hundreds of people sit on the steps and people watch here as well. 

Rome was awesome in the fact that no matter where you went there were gorgeous buildings or ancient ruins. It was a wonderful feeling to be in a city filled with so much history. 

On our second day we headed straight to the Colosseum! 

 It is so strange that the Colosseum is just right in the middle of the action of Rome, you are just walking and look up and there it is. It really is quite impressive. 

We were smart enough to buy a Roma Pass and cut all the lines for entering the Colosseum and then we spent a few hours wandering around it. Jason particularly loved it! It was cool to imagine all the gladiators and emperors there [albeit sad].

There were also cool exhibits and its interesting that there is so much ancient stuff in Rome that people just sit on old marble pillars [see photo] like they are chairs, haha. I guess when you have history everywhere you can't protect and encase everything. 

People would see us take these funny photos and then copy us. It was very entertaining. haha

The Arch of Constantine is just outside the Colosseum.

After the Colosseum, we headed to the church of Santa Maria Maggiore but not before getting a kebab: Jason's favorite European food, and definitely one of mine too! 

Then we went to the church where the famous St. Teresa in Ecstasy sculpture by Bernini is located. [all 3 of these are pictured in the collages above]

Finally, we headed to Villa Borghese. This is the 2nd biggest park in Rome that is gorgeous! You can ride these little bike trolleys around, which we wanted to do but couldn't seem to find one! So we settled for a tranquil boat ride in a small lake. It was very entertaining since neither of knew how hard rowing is!

Needless to say at the end of this day, we were pretty exhausted. But we rested up for our next day: The Vatican! until then....ciao!