Italy 2018

Spending valentine’s day in one of the most romantic countries in the world isn’t the worst idea I’ve ever had. Well, it was Nick’s idea and I jumped on it since I had a long weekend at work.
Vday was spent in Milan with chocolate gelato and the gorgeous cathedral. Then off to bed to try and get rid of the jetlag. We should mention that on the flight here I had an empty middle seat which is such a blessing! When I got to the hostel I had to force myself to stay awake which is why I hopped the subway into Milan. The hostel was awesome because they had a full spread breakfast and dinner. Delicious food too and right across the street from the main station, so easy transport.

The next morning I took a bus to meet up with Nick in Bergamo at the airport and we hopped in the car and began the journey to Lake Garda. A beautiful lake surrounded by little towns cut into the mountain. We explored castles and quaint cities with cobblestone roads and colorful shutters. Pizza was of course consumed, as we are in the land of carbs and cheese. So much has happened, I cannot even remember.
After Garda day one we woke up and went to a waterfall in some amazing slot canyons. The funny thing is on the map it was called the wasserfall say that out loud a few times. So funny! This is the canyon that leads into the wasserfall. I don't like that they added all these cheesy colored lights but it was such a beautiful canyon. While in there there was this old Italian man who was a worker and he tried talking to us but we clearly don't speak Italian. Luckily it is similar enough to Spanish and I discerned that water, 3 minutes. Still wasn't sure what it meant but we waited around and sure enough 3 minutes later a massive amount of water started coming down the falls. Mist galore, but sweet! It Garda we stopped and watched the most beautiful sunset on the lake.

The pictures we got are pretty incredible. These are Nick's- it's so awesome traveling with someone who also likes to take pictures and brings a nice camera. I have decided to sell all my gear and buy a light weight version that I can travel with.

The thing about Italy is we would get to these amazing towns and beautiful views but there were no pull off points. No place to stop and look or take photos. One time we pulled over on this tiny tiny out crop and found a set of stairs that went down the cliff. We raced down the cliff and took pictures of the town across the lake. The next day he was able to get drone footage... can't wait for him to finish those videos!

From there we headed to Verona. Verona had me doing a little dance because it is exactly what an Italian city looks like in my mind. Narrow alleys with colorful building, lights strung, planters with colorful flowers, lampposts, cafes with striped awnings- I have no idea how to spell that word and I don’t currently have google.

Oh! Before this we went to this Madonna church- literally built into the side of a mountain!




Amazing right? It was a long walk down and a steep climb up but dang! Look at this thing! Incredible!
Ok back to Verona. In the middle of the plaza was a freaking arena! It was built in the first century. Can you just imagine that thing full of 10,000 people all watching men fight beasts or each other. I walked that. It was so trippy to think about!



We then climbed to a look out point to see the sunset over Verona. Can I tell you how amazing it is to not have to be the planner on a trip, it’s the first time I’ve ever just tagged along and I love it. Nick has everything planned and it’s wonderful, or as he would say: glorious.



This was the bridge we went across to get into the city. Talk about a grand entrance.





Sorry, all of this is going to be out of order and a mess bc I forgot to write about it the first three days. This is a city on lake Garda, it’s also Nick’s photo- he brought some awesome equipment so all these photos that are nice are his.


He also took this one of me watching the sunset, I love this photo!


Here is his drone footage from above the castle.






Then we headed to the cinque terre National park. It was cold and rainy. The fog was insane but luckily for us the fog went away so we could see a few of these absolutely amazing towns. The water was teal and clear, sheer rock face cliffs, and colorful homes covering the cliff side. These places were a dream!




They took forever to g
et to and the mountain roads were insane but nick handled the stick like a pro. Also his iPhone X took this photo below- love that it does awesome portraits!



I found my caprese... on a friggen pizza... stop it. Also in my belly: gnocchi, lasagna, more pizza, gelato and so much bread and balsamic: I’m going to turn Italian from the inside out... wait, I already am!

Now, we need to talk about Como. Lake Como was in my opinion not as great as Lake Garda. Garda had these cute towns with castles and cobblestone streets, alleyways, and was just charming. Como was beautiful don't get me wrong but I liked Garda better.

Ok so at one point we went to another waterfall that was so pretty! The water was a beautiful shade of blue.

So then we drive to this town, maybe called Lecco? I don't know it was on the east side of Lake Como. We walk about the cute place and then want to go to this castle for the view and to see the castle... but the castle... is at the top of this mountain you  see below. And... there is no road. 

Ok... so, I didn't know I would be hiking, but that is ok. We start walking up... up... up... there is the beautiful view you can see above and then we keep going, going, going. We get all the way to the top of that mountain and ... it is closed! Off season! Well, I won't tell you whether or not we hopped the fence and broke the Italian law together. 

Then maybe the next day, not sure anymore, the whole trip blurred and since I didn't plan it I have no idea a sense of order lol. We headed to the bottom of Como and then the West side. There was this beautiful cathedral with teal domes- this is in actual Como. You can take a funicular up the mountain for a sweet view- the view is in the going up though, at the top it is not so great. 

 The whole trip I just wanted gelato but the joke was on me because all the places were closed. It was so frustrating.. I mean come on it is Italy! Also, no canolis. :( Anyway it became the running joke tht every town I went into shut down their gelato shops... well after many days... I found one! I was so excited. That stuff is dang good! The only other sad thing is I just wanted fresh homemade pasta and surprisingly that is very hard to find. I finally found a shop and we scheduled it into our plans... we get there and it is the cutest building but guess what.. closed early on Monday! hahahahaaha

Oh! We forgot to say we went to Switzerland on one morning... it wasn't so great. Also, Switzerland is EXPENSIVE!