Ciao, Venice

Italy is great, and I’m not even close to being in love in Italy or Italian traditions, history, countryside or architecture. Ok, maybe I’m fascinated over their architecture but I’m not deeply impressed by everything 🙂 However, Italy is really lovely, warm and incredible place to visit (and maybe live). There are so many things to see, so many places to visit, so many emotions to feel and enjoy… and so many tasty food to eat! For me, as pasta lover, Italy is the place to be!

My first journey to Italy was back in 2012, when we landed in Milan in our way to Nice. Unfortunately we didn’t spend more than 3 hours there – just crossed the city from the airport to Milano Centrale where we took the train to France. I got back there in 2013 with Daniel on our first trip abroad. Oh, God, I would love to go back and kill him there – I would save myself 4 years of nerves 🙂

But let’s get back to our trip. We traveled by bus with a tour agency for almost 18 hours. It was really long and uncomfortable. It took us ages to reach there –  we started our journey in the late afternoon (around 6 PM in Sofia) and we arrived in Venice late morning (11 AM or something like this in Venice) on the next day. Oh, man, I hate buses! Endless 18 hours plus couple of breaks in the middle of nowhere. However, after a quick shower, we went to Venice for a short walk by ourselves.

You most probably know Venice’s top attractions like San Marco, St. Mark’s Basilica, Canal Grande, Ponte di Rialto, Palazzo Ducale (Doge’s Palace) and Bridge of Sighs. Here are couple of photos of this lovely places:

Of course, we had 1 full day to walk through Venice with our guide in addition. Those photos are both taken on the first and second day we have spent in Venice.

We visited Verona and Padua in one day on the very next day of our arrival. That is what they call ‘tight schedule’ 🙂 You can spend days in both of those cities, but we didn’t have that time, unfortunately. In case you’re wondering if you could see everything in a day – the answer is no. But if you have to choose to visit them really quick or not at all, well – this decision is quite simple, right?

Verona top attractions is most probably well known – Piazza delle Erbe, Piazza Bra, Arena di Verona, Castelvecchio and of course  Casa di Giulietta. You know, for sure, that this is not the real Giulietta’s place, but however – it is really popular and crowds are spectacular 🙂 Here are couple of those places:

In case you would like to visit Verona, please – make yourself a gift and spend there at least 2 days and visit all other great places that we weren’t able to do – Ponte Scaligero, Ponte Pietra, Palazzo Giardino Giusti, and Teatro Romano.

Running out of the schedule, we went to Padua. Small, cozy and really sweet place to visit. Most interesting places there are Basilica di Sant’Antonio, Palazzo della Ragione, University of Padua and Anatomical Theater and of course – Prato della Valle. If I have to be honest – Prato is my fav – it was really interesting to see all sculptures and to walk through the round city garden in that hot spring day. Couple of photos:

There are other places you should visit, if you have time, like Scrovegni Chapel, Orto Botanico di Padova, and Villa Pisani, Stra.

At the end of the third day, we left Italy for another long and uncomfortable trip to Sofia.

Lessons learned: 

1. We’re definitely not a bus-tours type of people. Hell no!
2. We weren’t prepared prior the trip with a plan or at least idea what actually is going to happen, and we actually didn’t know what to see firstly in our free time (no matter how little it was).
3. We didn’t check places to eat prior to going out, and we didn’t take anything to eat during the trips. We were thinking that ‘well, we’ll buy something somewhere’. Eh, well, there were no such places like ‘somewhere’ as the bus didn’t take any breaks between the cities. So, we were grumpy, hungry and (most of the time) tired to look for something better than a sandwich.
4. Whenever you’re going to Italy, take T-shirts and shorts. It’s hot as of March till November. 

What to eat? Easy answer – everything is delicious. Of course, it is a must to have pizza, lasagna, at least couple of other types of pasta, at least couple of types of gelato (Italian ice cream) (I strongly recommend chocolate, strawberry, and lemon) and at least a few pieces of tiramisu, creampie, Buttermilk Panna Cotta and cannoli. You may find whichever in almost every bakery and pastry. 

Advises? Yes, just one – go there are see that by yourselves!