2023 Italy

Day 23 June 14, 2023 (Lucca) After a decent night’s sleep and sleeping in a little, I worked on the blog to get caught up over the last two days. We basically had brunch (eggs/sausage/yogurt/fruit) and then headed out to explore. We bought Rick Steves’ book on Italy and have torn pages out for each […]

Day 22 June 13, 2023 Today we left for Lucca. This morning when we got up, the skies were dark, and you could hear thunder and then the rain came. It was cooler than it had been, so we quickly changed from shorts to long pants (so glad we did!). We had a short trek

Day 21 June 12, 2023 (Manarola) Today we caught the train to Monterosso al Mare and hiked to Levanto. It was an intense hike and we basically climbed over 1100 feet up before descending. It kicked my butt…..I have been keeping up with my steps/miles every day and today the flights registered as 133, which

Day 20 June 11, 2023 (Manarola) Today was a bit of an easy day today. It was time to give the legs a break from walking, though regardless of where you walk, it’s up, lol! I have to say, all of these little towns are nothing but stairs so you definitely need to be prepared

Day 19 June 10, 2023 (Manarola) We were up early today, around 6 a.m., and decided to grab a few groceries and then take the train to Vernazza for the day. We took a brief walk around the town before the crowds and snapped a few pics. We caught the 9:30 train and walked all

Day 18 June 9, 2023 (Manarola) Today we hiked the trail from Manarola to Riomaggiore and let’s just say it was a challenge. It is only ¾ mile long, but it is almost a straight up and straight down hike. Literally 800 feet up and 800 feet down. Luckily, there are lots of places to

Day 17 June 8, 2023 A little history about where we are staying – Manarola, where we are, is one of the five villages that makes up Cinque Terre. The other villages are Monterosso, Vernazza, Corniglia, and Riomaggiore. It’s a six-mile stretch of coast first described in medieval times as the “five lands” (cinque terre).

Day 16 June 7, 2023 Today we traveled from Venice to Manarola. We had to change trains twice, which was interesting as we did not have much time in between to get from one to the other. The first leg of the trip (over an hour) we had assigned seats and plenty of room for

Day 15 June 6, 2023 Today was an easy day as we started to do some packing before heading to Padua for the day. It’s only a 25-minute train ride so we got there about 11:30. We went to the Basilica of St. Anthony. Friar Anthony of Padua was Christ’s perfect follower and a tireless

Day 14 June 5, 2023 It rained last night and this morning, so we were in no rush to head out. I had a chance to post two more blogs, which almost has me caught up. It was close to noon before we ventured out and it was a little cooler because of the rain

Day 13 June 4, 2023 We had a leisurely morning and then decided since the weather was not going to be great on Monday, we would take the train in to Verona and spend the day there. We have been using a lot of Rick Steves’ Italy guidebook and he has his own version of

Day 12 June 3, 2023 So, today’s plan was to be an easy one – we head to the Lagoon Islands, walk around a bit, grab a bite, then head back to Venice. When it comes to John and I, that never seems to happen. We bought an all-day pass for the vaporetto (water bus)

Day 11 June 2, 2023 Today we were up early – 5:50am and ate breakfast in the room so we could make it to our 8am tour of The Doge’s Palace and St. Mark’s Basilica. We left our BNB at 7am. It’s about a 1 mile walk from our end of Venice to St. Mark’s

Day 10 – June 1, 2023 Today we went to the Accademia Art Museum and saw some wonderful paintings. We spent over 2 hours going through the gallery. Most of the art was behind plexiglass, so there was a glare when trying to photograph them. We then walked all around the little back streets getting

Day 9 May 31, 2023 Today we left Rome to go to Venice. We took a high-speed train (~150 mph) from Roma Termini to Venezia Santa Lucia, and the trip took about 4 hrs as there were some stops along the way. We arrived at Venezia Santa Lucia at 14:35 and had about a 5-minute