Italy Trip

Since neither of us had been to Italy, we decided to take a two week vacation to explore the country.

We began our trip by visiting a friend in Heidelberg, Germany for a few days. Some of the highlights of our time in Germany include an authentic German meal featuring spätzle, a visit to the Heidelberg Schloss, and quick day trip to France for dinner, and some Gewürztraminer barrel tasting at a friend's winery.

We traveled to Florence, Italy via Switzerland on an overnight train. Even though we had a private first class car, we hardly slept due to the narrow bunk beds and the constant sounds of the train. After a long 12 hour journey, we would definitely recommend flying to Italy over the train next time.

Once in Florence, we stayed for several nights at Hotel Torre Guelfa, which features a 13th-century tower with an amazing view of the city. We enjoyed our time in Florence, but found the city to be crowded (even in May) with long lines for many of the attractions.

We then took the train from Florence to the Cinque Terre, an amazing set of five villages perched on the cliffs of the Mediterranean sea. My family had recently visited Vernazza and had recommended a few places to stay and dine. We had lunch at Il Gambero Rosso, and shared an amazing bottle of Vermentino wine. Since the weather was poor, we chose to forgo hiking and instead had a drink at the cliffside bar at the Belforte. We had hoped to have dinner at Osteria de Mananan, but they were booked for the evening. So, we settled for dinner at our hotel in Corniglia.

Departing Cinque Terre, we headed to Tuscany and Umbria for a few days. Highlights of our time in this region included a stay in Spoleto at Palazzo Dragoni, a historic home built in the XIV century. We had a fabulous dinner featuring white truffles at Tric Trac.

We then headed back to the coast to visit Sorrento, Positano, and Capri. By then, the weather had cleared and we were able to enjoy wonderful views of the Italian coastline. Lunch and dinner at our hotel in Sorrento, La Tonnarella, was surprisingly good. We enjoyed a beautiful view of Naples, Mount Vesuvius, and the sea from our room. Positano was equally beautiful, as well as Capri.

Our trip ended with three nights in Rome, where we visited all of the major sites including the Colosseum, Vatican City, the Pantheon, as well as an impromptu tour of all of the major landmarks featured in Dan Brown's book Angels and Demons.

Our meals in Rome were generally mediocre, which we attributed to the fact that we relied too heavily on recommendations from Rick Steve’s book. Next time, we will plan to avoid eating in restaurants where all of the other guests are American.