We hope you enjoyed our recent blog, which gave an overview of our time so far in the UK. We managed to see a lot of the south west of England in that time, and we will be exploring other parts of the UK later this year.

Since leaving the UK and arriving in Italy, time has really flown by! We had some very busy and long days, jam packed with lots of walking through streets, museums and galleries, travelling on trains and eating/drinking delicious Italian cuisine while in Venice and the Tuscany region. For the next few weeks we hope to travel at a slightly slower pace and enjoy more beach time!

Out trip to Italy starts by flying over the Swiss Alps, before touching down in a very hot airport.

Venice

From the airport we took a bus over to Venice, dropped off our bags and started meandering through the narrow streets. This first day was full of learning new things, especially basic Italian words and phrases. We also found that everything was backwards to NZ, from the side of the footpath that you should walk on, to the way you pay for meals. We spent ages sitting at a table after finishing lunch before we realised you have to wave someone down and ask for the bill in Italy - servers are a lot less attentive than back home and we do wonder how long you could sit somewhere before they finally come over and try get rid of you.

It was in Venice that we first developed a liking for an Aperol Spritz and of course had a daily gelato. There are a few galleries/churches that you can visit in Venice, however the pre booked tickets sell out very fast and the line to buy a ticket on the day is hours long at this time of year. We did manage to get a pre-booked ticket for Doge’s Palace, with a time slot just before closing, and we spent almost 2 hours walking through room after room of very old paintings and elaborate golden ceilings/friezes with hardly anyone else there! Venice has been our favourite place so far, although the touristy areas were crazy busy, we spent a lot of time just wandering the streets, looking at the shops and watching the gondolas and cigar boats go by from various bridges. Being in a city that has no vehicles or bikes is a very unique and refreshing experience.

Florence

We took a high speed train from Venice to Florence, and once again got straight into exploring the streets. Florence was very different to Venice, with cars and bikes weaving through the hoards of tourists, making it a bit trickier to wander around. We had pre-booked a ticket to the Uffizi which had a very extensive statue gallery and was where we saw quite a few famous paintings from quite a few famous artists, including da Vinci, Carravagio and Michaelangelo. Another day was spent visiting the Pitti Palace and Boboli Gardens, an extravagant palace once owned by the famous Medici family who ruled Tuscany for a long time. The Medici family dynasty died out and it was passed down to other ruling families, even serving as a base for Napoleon at one point.

While in Tuscany, we thought it would be rude to pass up on a wine tour of the famous Chianti region. The tour stopped at two wineries which each provided several tastings of wine, as well as local cheeses, meats, oils and balsamic vinegar.  It was well worth it, we learned heaps about the wine region, got to see the beautiful countryside while in an air conditioned bus, tried delicious wine and food, and met some cool people while on the tour. Someone we met also gave us a really good dinner recommendation and we ended up having the best dinner at that place, wrapping up an awesome time in Florence!

Pisa and Livorno

After Florence we were heading out to the coastline, but had a one night stop in Pisa on the way. The train was a regional line that didn’t allocate seats, and since there are heaps of tourists travelling from Florence to Pisa, it was packed! We got on the train only to find there weren’t enough seats and along with many others, ended up squishing into a spot where we could stand with our big packs at our feet. Thankfully the train ride to Pisa was only about half an hour. Once in Pisa we visited the leaning tower, and of course took obligatory tourist photos. It is pretty amazing how it is still standing, as it really does look like it is on the pis- a!

From Pisa we headed a further 15 minutes on the train to a coastal port city called Livorno. This place appeared to be a popular destination for domestic tourists and was very beachy. Although there isn’t a lot to see or do, we walked along the waterfront and got our first glimpse of the Mediterranean Sea. We were staying right on the waterfront and were spoiled with a spectacular view of the port over a few Aperol Spritz. It was a lovely place to stay after the hectic pace of the cities we had just visited, allowing us to go through all our photos so far and write a few more blog updates!

Next up

We have now traveled a bit further north along the Italian coastline to La Spezia, and are doing a day trip to Cinque Terre. We will then be moving further west to another coastal town in Italy, before crossing over to France and then Spain. Next time we will likely have many pictures of the Mediterranean Sea to share, but here is one as a bit of teaser and to make you feel a bit warmer back home:

Ciao and see you soon!

Baylee and Jamie