As we are now a few days into Croatia, we thought you might want to hear a smidge about Italy. It's a rainy day in Split, so it's a cozy cafe moment to share about last week.
We have both been to Italy before so we weren't focused on seeing any main sights, mostly a little poking around, and our last stop before we head home will be a few days in Bellagio on Lake Como (woo!)
After our night at the Athens airport (which I won't lie, was not that bad, in fact much better than our night on the Crete to Athens ferry) We ended up in Milan. Now I won't lie, we weren't expecting much, particularly as everyone hates Milan (sorry Rami & Elaine!), but we actually had a really nice time! We gave up on seeing the Last Supper, as we didn't plan like 8 years ahead or feel like shelling out 60 euro to see it last minute. But instead we saw lots of other fun stuff: the Galleria, the Duomo (gorgeous and HUGE). I think on our last night before we head to NYC we're going to have dinner in one of their old timey trolley cars :)
After Milan, we headed on a bit of a culinary quest: first Parma (of parmesean cheese and Parma ham) and Bologna! Parma started out a little shaky, the weather was a little rainy and we couldn't find any internet... but the afternoon picked up when the rain stopped, we discovered a RANDOM Renaissance festival (which included a flag demonstration, which in Renaissance times was apparently a middle aged man thing rather than a Texas teenage girl thing, and the head flag guy juggled a billion flags, well 10) then we happened on the Parma Prosciutto Festival. Seriously. So then we had a giant plate of ham and parmesean and sparkling red wine (another regional specialty). Not bad hey? We thought not. We ended the day by finding more sparkling wine on the street for 1 euro a glass and some tasty pizza. Oh yeah, it was Yom Kippur, our bad, I think G-d's cool with it, how often are you in Parma, right?
The next day we headed to Bologna! Bologna was super cute. The town was adorable we loved it, we climbed a vaguely leaning tower (next to a really leaning tower). Tons of red roofs blending into pretty hills. Oh, and we ate ourselves silly. We had amazing gelato (Mike would like you to know that his involved a mascarpone based coffee flavor), really good pasta (a million times) and who knows what else.
The funniest part of our day involved wandering into a cute back alley restaurant run by a cute and cranky old Italian lady we like to call Nonna. Also at the restaurant, dining alone, was a crazy lady from Philadelphia who runs a travel newsletter who talked the ear off EVERYONE in the restaurant (except us, I think we weren't in her income bracket). At one point Nonna came out with some food, looks at her (at the third table she's invaded) and goes, "What is the problem? What are you doing?" Loved it. Also loved her Torta Della Nonna (which is a custard filled cake!)
From Bologna we went to Ravenna, we were looking for a home base from which to explore San Marino! (yup, I'm pretty sure that their name includes an exclamation point), and we kind of randomly ended up there. We were so glad we did. A) we got a really easy hotel that was almost attached to the train station and an easy walk into town. B) turns out Ravenna houses an amazing set of mosaic decorated churches mostly based in the 6th century. They were spectacular. I have never seen such color and detail in mosaic (and so well preserved), also, they make liberal use of gold tile, and let's face it, that is the best kind. Soooo flashy. That's how much they loved Jesus. Gorgeous.
The next day was San Marino! day!!!! Ever since we went to their adorable pavillion at the Shanghai World Expo in May, we have been thinking it would be fun to go. It was great! I can't imagine what it's like during high season, as right now, still pretty crowded, but still super cute. We did have a weird pushing incident getting on the bus, turns out it's a huge Russian vacay thing? And they all wanted good seats on the bus, intense. Anyway, it's the 3rd smallest city-state (and the oldest) in the world. The old town stands on a giant stone mountain, there are 3 castles along the edge and cutesy old towniness. We watched the changing of the guard, took pics with their statue of liberty, got our passports stamped for 5 euro (but they did a really nice job...), bought some commemerative stamps, basically everything you do in a tiny city-state that has pretty much no industry but tourism. Lovely day. San Marino! Oh also, they really heart their liberty, their motto is Libertas! And it's on everything. Don't mess with San Marino, after all, they are on a big rock.
After San Marino, we headed down to Ancona to catch the overnight ferry to Split, Croatia. We got a cabin this time, which was good because they have no real chairs on that ferry (and it was 30 euro cheaper than it should have been because I convinced the guy he should give us both the 'under 26' discount, our tickets said we were born in 1988). While it was a little sketchy, I won't lie, I slept really well, which is a nice thing when someone is moving you from one country to another overnight! More on Croatia later. See y'all in 17 days!
