On our last morning in Italy Bryan and I enjoyed a relaxing breakfast at our hotel. The breakfast offered here was delicious. It included a variety of fresh fruit, yogurts, cereals, pastries, bread, salami, cheese, and I am sure more that I am forgetting. They also offered made-to-order espresso and hot chocolate. After breakfast we had about an hour before catching the bus to the airport, so I took advantage of the time and walked for about 35 minutes. It was a beautiful sunny morning, providing for an excellent walk and relaxing end to the vacation.

While the trip home was long, with a connection in New York before flying into Detroit, it was uneventful. Bryan and I both watched a few different movies, read, and unwound the best we could on an airplane. Our flights were all on time and my dad was awesome to pick us up. Both Bryan and I were grateful to be home to see our family and hound dogs!

Our trip to Italy was wonderful. I will miss the simple yet delicious food that we enjoyed, the availability of soda water, as well as the morning cappuccino. I will also miss the culture of walking and the many historic buildings. I will not miss having to pay for public restrooms, water, and the difficulty finding drinking fountains! I also loved the vinegar and oil salad dressing sides – it made for an ideal salad daily.

One thing that was interesting in each of the three regions that we visited was the different varieties of bread. Tuscany’s bread was without salt and thus very bland. In fact it really needed salted olive oil to taste like much of anything. With the oil, though, it was just fine. Bread in the Ligurian region (Cinque Terre) was my favorite. It was soft yet chewy and slightly sweet. This bread, served at restaurants and at breakfast, was good on its own, with jam, or dipped in olive oil. The Ligurian region was also known for its focaccia bread. While not my personal favorite, the flavor is like garlic bread and the texture is very chewy. In Venice there wasn’t one particular type of bread. The restaurants served a bit of a variety, and most served packaged hard crostini sticks.

The food in Florence was definitely the best of these three regions, though their bread was not as good as that of Levanto. Venice is such a tourist mecca, and I think that their food reflected the fact they don’t usually see their customers very again. As such, I think it is worth a little restaurant research prior to visiting Venice.  Gelato was best in Florence as well.

On the train trip from Levanto to Venice both Bryan and I grew a little tired of the hectic travel, realizing that three cities in one week, with nonstop sightseeing, are a bit much. I was also marveling how quickly time passes! I couldn’t believe we were already on the last leg of our Italian vacation. Having such a packed itinerary makes it difficult to remember everything that you experience. While we chose such a packed itinerary to make the most of the flight and our time, with the experience of our first Italian vacation, Bryan and I would probably recommend two cities per week, so that there is more time for relaxation. We are already daydreaming of a future Tuscan villa getaway!

For more information on the restaurants we visited, check out my Yelp page, where you’ll find reviews and pictures for many places we enjoyed.

For our only full day in Venice we started early with Saint Mark’s Square before any of the big sites were opened. We did this due to a loathe of huge crowds as well as a photography tip from a friendly French couple that we chatted with at dinner the night before. They mentioned that when they visited the Square crowds made it very difficult to get any pictures. Going early worked out well to avoid heavy crowds, although part of Saint Mark’s Cathedral was under repair and did not make for good pictures. As a bonus for the early arrival, we were some of the first in line for Saint Mark’s Cathedral. While in line we started a Rick Steves’ tour of the Square. Once inside the Cathedral we switched to his Cathedral podcast. Again – these podcasts were quite informative and easy to navigate. Inside the Cathedral we also visited the treasury, included in the podcast audio tour.

St. Mark’s Square

After exiting the Cathedral, it was mid-morning and the Square was jam-packed with people and tour groups were everywhere! Upon finished our podcasts we headed over to see the Rialto Bridge and market. Since it was Monday, only the Rialto fruit market was open (no fish market), but I love fresh markets so it was enjoyable to see. From here we went to the Friari church, where we did yet another Rick Steves podcast. This church was amazing and worth a visit. The tombs and money in the Catholic church are astounding.

Rialto Fruit Market

After all of this sightseeing we were hungry. We went to an awesome little pasta place for lunch called Alfredo’s Pasta to Go. Essentially you choose a sauce and type of pasta, and they serve a pound-sized portion to you in a Chinese-style takeout container. We ate in a nice shaded alcove a block or two away, free from crowds. Bryan ordered Bolognese with penne and I had marinara with fresh spaghetti. I could see them making spaghetti as we ordered, and it was delicious. Not only were the noodles great, the sauce was very flavorful. If you’re in Venice looking for someplace to eat, check out Alfredo’s. While Alfredo’s is most definitely not fancy, it tastes great.

After lunch we did not have much more sightseeing on the agenda, so we wondered the streets and alleys of Venice. This is the best way to see Venice – it is fun and a little quieter. After wondering the Venice maze for some time we stopped for a glass of wine at Osteria Alla Ciurma. This place was great. We enjoyed chatting with the owner and its relaxed atmosphere so much that we came back for a cichetti dinner. Well, Bryan had a few cichetti and I had a very fresh salad with asiago cheese. We also went to Bacareto Lele for a great Panini and ombra , and Do Spade for an ombra bianco.

Venice

At this point we were both tired but realized that this was the last part of our Italian and Venetian vacation adventure so we mustered up energy for a Vaporetto (water bus) tour of the Grand Canal, using a Rick Steves podcast. It was very interesting to see the canal from a different point of view, and to think that the doors off of the canal were once the main entrances – not the doors on the streets! After the Vaporetto we stopped at Il Doge Gelateria in Campo Santa Margerita. This gelato was delicious. I ordered chocolate and coffee crunch (no cinnamon available on this visit). It was definitely the perfect ending to a very busy day.

Gondola in Venice

We had a relaxing morning in Levanto on Sunday, a great change of pace after the business of Florence and the Cinque Terre. After a nice breakfast, I walked to the sea (about one mile each way) and Bryan went on a little farm tour with Claudio, the owner. We took the 11AM train to Venice, with a connection in Milan. We arrived in Venice around 4:30PM.

Venice’s Grand Canal

Venice was busy, to say the least. Bryan aligned it with the craziness of Disney World and its crowds. Luckily first thing in the morning and again at night the city dies down a little bit, since the tours and cruises are only there during the day. Venice was also less crowded on the outskirts of the main Saint Mark’s Square and Rialto Bridge area. We visited Saint Mark’s Square and the Rialto Bridge, but could only take small doses due to the high number of tourists.

On our first night, after checking in to the San Sebastiano Garden Hotel, we attempted a cichetti tour. This would be the Spanish version of tapas, or an American version of a happy hour pub crawl. The idea was to bounce around to a few bars to enjoy their local food specialties (in the form of little hor d’oeuvres) and glasses of house wine (ombra bianco or rosso). Unfortunately for us, it was Sunday night and the first three or four bars we tried to visit were closed. We decided to switch our cichetti tour to Monday evening and ate at Birraria La Court for dinner instead. This turned out to be a wise decision.

Shortly after sitting in the wonderfully cozy interior covered courtyard part of the restaurant, it started pouring rain. We ordered a liter of their house white wine (knowing we might be there a while with the rain), a caprese salad, a salami (pepperoni) pizza, and a garden salad. The food here was great. We both loved the experience. It was nice to be able to wait for the rain to die down over a glass of wine before heading back toward our hotel.

On our way back to our hotel, we stopped at Grom for gelato. Grom is a little different than most of the gelateries because it stores the gelato in soup-like basins, so you can’t see what you’re ordering – you can only read the description. In Italy, with the language barrier, this made ordering a little more difficult. We split a cup of pistachio, the Grom signature flavor, and Cocco and Chocolate. I wasn’t impressed with these flavors, but I believe that’s more a mistake on ordering more than the gelato itself. I don’t think anything we ordered truly went well together – it was all too hodgepodge. Luckily Grom is a chain and I am sure that an opportunity to try it again will present itself at some point.

After a long day of travelling, Bryan and I were happy to arrive back to our comfortable hotel room. We Facetimed with Bryan’s mom, then with my parents, Graham and Thatcher. Facetime was a fun way to connect back home, and it was nice to wish our mothers a Happy Mother’s Day!

Breakfast at the Agriturisimo was phenomenal. A selection of homemade breads, pastries, homemade organic jams, local honey, yogurts, and home-grown fresh oranges! There was a lot to choose from and it was all delicious. After breakfast we headed out to take the train from Levanto to Monterosso, then to hike from Monterosso to Vernazza. At approximately 3.5KM and 200 meters of elevation up, it was much easier than our Levanto-Monterosso hike. It also offered a breathtaking view of Vernazza toward the end of the hike. Unfortunately this was the only trail open during our Cinque Terre visit; we would have liked to hike more of the trails between villages, but we still made the most of our time.

After our hike, we took the train from each village to the next. In Manorola we stopped for a fresh focaccia snack at La Cambusa. A while later we stopped in Manorola again for lunch at a nice café called Aristide. Bryan ordered an anchovy Panini and I had a tuna and mozzarella salad. Bryan said that he preferred the anchovies fried – they were a little salty in pure form on the sandwich. I thought that my salad was very fresh and delicious. Bryan also enjoyed a mocha latte, and I tried a sip – it was so good. After we visited each of the five villages and realized how crazy busy each were, we craved the more relaxing, low-key Levanto. Luckily the rail system made it easy to get back there in short time.

View of Monterosso

Hiking Monterosso to Vernazza

Corniglia

Vernazza

Once in Levanto we had gelato at a place Gratzia recommended, Gelateria Il Porticciolo. The gelato was okay but nothing compared to what we enjoyed in Florence. For my flavors I chose stracciatella, chocolate and biscotti. While enjoying the gelato we perused the streets of Levanto and then headed back to our Agriturisimo to freshen up before dinner.

The kind service and comfortable atmosphere at Due Lune, as well as their appetizing pizzas, drew us there on Saturday night for dinner again. For our meals we went with pizza and beef ravioli, alongside white house wine. Both were good; although the pizza was not phenomenal it was still tasty. Bryan ordered a vanilla tartufo for dessert, and I had fresh strawberries topped with a scoop of gelato. After making it back to our hotel we were both exhausted and fell asleep quickly.

On Friday morning we took a train from Florence to Pisa to Levanto for a two-night stay at an Agriturisimo one town north of the Cinque Terre. We stayed at L’Erba Persa and it was great. The hosts Claudio and Grazia couldn’t have been kinder. Claudio picked us up from the airport and Grazia took time to tell us about her favorite places in Levanto and the Cinque Terre.

We had a quick focaccia pizza lunch at Pizzeria 7 Oblo, which I would visit again. After fueling up we set off on a hike from Levanto to Montorosso. Taking around 2.5-3 hours, the hike goes up and then down approximately 391 meters of terrain. In the first 30 minutes you scale 556 steps! It was a little challenging but still enjoyable. The first part of the hike, with all of the stairs, was the most difficult. Along the way we passed by a few private homes; their residents must hike to go anywhere, there aren’t driveways. With the excellent train system, after the hike we were able to take a quick train back to Levanto and showered before dinner.

View of Monterosso

Levanto to Monterosso

Poppy Flowers

Dinner was at a place Grazia recommended, Due Lune. She recommended places that prepare their food fresh and that are popular with the local residents. She said that many touristy restaurants ship in food from Milan and simply reheat it, and that is no good. A woman after my own heart! We thoroughly enjoyed our dinner. To start, we ordered a bruschetta appetizer with fresh mozzarella and their house red. For our main meal, Bryan ordered a mixed fried seafood plate and I had the Trofie Pesto Pasta. Both dishes are specialties of this Ligurian region of Italy. Bryan said his seafood was out of this world good. It was definitely a mix – squid, anchovies, shrimp, and probably more! All fresh, then lightly battered and fried. My pasta was also very good and flavorful; Bryan also liked it, although he was scared by the green color at first. We skipped dessert on Friday night and instead just meandered our way back to the Agriturisimo before crashing in a very comfortable bed.