Naples, Rome, Florence and Venice

Naples

Why go to Naples? Well, once again, we have many friends who live there. The main connection is that my grandparents lived there while my mom was in college so she visited Naples often. The other reason is my dad’s old coworker lives there now and they invited us to stay with them.

First thing you think of when you think of Naples? Neapolitan pizza! As soon as we got off the plane, our friend and host brought us to their local pizza place (that was still open even though it was during “siesta” — thank goodness!) and we had the best pizza ever. It was just a simple $3 margarita pizza, but it tops any pizza I’ve ever had.

Staying with our friends from the states gave us a taste of “normal” life. The kids got to play with kids close to their age, we could speak fluid American English with one another. Though we love traveling, it can be difficult only speaking to each other constantly for 10 months, so it was a nice change. Their home also had a view of the famous Isle of Capri!

To get to Pompeii, we walked across downtown Naples through tight, narrow alleys, passing the tempting take away pizza slices and baked goods on our way to the train station. (side note–Naples tops as best in our book for food in all the cities we stayed in in Italy.) Our day in Pompeii was full of blue skies, curiousity and lots of walking. We stayed much longer than we anticipated, just roaming around looking at different sights. The excavated area is so large, we barely saw any of it even with the extra hours of exploring.

My favorite activity in the Naples area was the Walk of the Gods. We enjoyed our picnic of mozzarella and tomato sandwiches and cornetti at a halfway point. The sun was strong, with a slight breeze and absolutely phenomenal view. After the hike, we drove along the Amalfi coast to Sorrento for dinner. On the way, we pulled over to a stand on the side of the road for some delicious and refreshing blended lemonade.

In Naples, there were lemons growing everywhere. The pop of color really brought some life into the neighborhoods we wandered through.

Towards the end of our trip to Naples we met up for lunch with my grandparents’ old landlords. They prepared a feast of mozzarella de buffalo, prosciutto, lasagna, meatballs, sausage, homemade limoncello, and pastries. Afterwards we went out for coffee (of course). We had a fantastic time catching up with them and swapping stories from when my grandparents lived there.

Rome

After our first train ride in Europe, we made it to Rome! We consider our trip to Rome very successful because not only did we see the top tourist things, but we also got to know our neighborhood well and experience the local culture.

On our first day, our only goal was to find the Pantheon but we ended up just following the crowds and stumbled across many other top sights to see like the Spanish Steps and Trevi Fountain. The next day we booked an English speaking tour of the Colosseum.

We visited the Borghese museum for several hours and the kids enjoyed the playground in the surrounding garden. Afterwards, changing it up a bit and following some recommendations we’d received, we went to a crypt of the Capuchin monks. “Cool” is one way to put it but our kids got really spooked out by the decorative placement of the hundreds of skulls and bones. I don’t think we realized what we were getting into. We didn’t linger.

The Vatican and the Sistine Chapel: Preparing ourselves to stand in an hour-long line that we had heard about, we went later in the day and walked slowly, postponing the inevitable by grabbing some gelato. Much to our surprise, there was no line to get into the Vatican. Nada, zippy, zilch. Of course, St. Michael’s Cathedral and the Pieta were magnificent. That cathedral was crowded and busy but really beautiful.

All the girls in our family went to a pasta making class in a hostel downtown. We made new friends, cooked up both pesto and tomato sauce (we could decide which to choose) and learned about the history and techniques of Italian cuisine. 

Florence

We met up with dad’s cousins from Ohio, yes, those of you who have been reading our posts since the beginning know that we visited them as our very first stop as part of our cross country road-trip!

I toured with them for the first half of our day in Florence before meeting up with the rest of the family for lunch and more sight seeing. It was like having our own personal tour guides as one of the cousins speaks Italian and was a classical history major! It was nice not to have to research and plan that part of our stay in Florence. We went to a leather market, the church where Michelangelo hid from the Medici family, the Ponte Vechio bridge, and saw Michelangelo’s David. We also happened to be there on the celebration of Florence’s New Year and came upon a festive parade.

Directly across the street from our apartment was a concert hall from the 1300s, so mom and I went to see a string quartet which was absolutely fabulous.

Venice

At our apartment, in a suburb outside of Venice, our host spoke nearly no English and we spoke nearly no Italian. Even through the language barrier, she was one of the kindest and most generous hosts. We’ll always remember her!

We spent one day in downtown Venice. There was a sharp chill in the wind blowing off the water. We walked around, grabbed a cup of coffee and took an expensive gondola ride (we had to!). All restaurants and cafes we came across are outrageously priced, but that’s expected in such a touristy city.

 

Back in our suburb, we grabbed one last margarita pizza before saying goodbye to Italy!

[not pictured: the dozens of cones of gelato we enjoyed]

Next up: Austria!