Italy and Greece 2023

Day 1 Travel Day

The day before we were set to leave our flight was canceled and we were booked on another flight that left about five hours earlier. Because we were flying out of Chicago I didn’t want to risk traffic making us late so we went up to Chicago after work and soccer practice. Got to our hotel about 2am. I slept about 4 hours.

Day 2 Travel Day

The next day the flight was at 5pm so naturally I wanted to get to the airport by 1pm 😁

First flight was 8 hours 15 minutes into Madrid. Zero sleep. Connection was 3 hours later into Rome flight time 2 hours 35 minutes. About one hour sleep.

Day 3 - Rome overnight 

Driver pick up at Rome airport went smoothly with Romecabs. Arrived at out bed and breakfast in Rome. Bed and breakfast was great location, had a fast pasta place across the street where we quickly ordered, we were starving! We were so exhausted but we were going to stay up so we could beat the jet lag a little and get on Italy time (plus 6 hours).

So we decided to walk to the Trevi fountain. After a couple wrong turns and grouchy grouchy complainers we found it. It was as expected extremely crowded and beautiful.

After that we failed to find the restaurant I had picked so we decided to head back in the direction of the B&B and just find a random place. We ended up at Pasta e Vino. It was pretty good! Didn’t blow us away but we were all tired and grouchy so nothing would’ve impressed us too much. Todd accidentally bought a shot of tequila. He thought the waiter was joking and so did I. Oh well, when in Rome!

After that we were off to bed, we had an early pick up to head to the Amalfi Coast!

Day 4 - Amalfi Coast

After breakfast we were picked up by our driver to take us to our first train ride!  Rome to Naples! 

I was so nervous at the train station, especially for pick pockets which I've heard were everywhere. I was also nervous about finding our train. Both ended up being a non-issue for us and we loved the train! 

After the train arrived in Naples I had arranged a private driver to take us to our Airbnb in San Michele, Furore on the Amalfi coast. It was about 1 hour and 15 minutes of winding cliff side roads. 

The drive was gorgeous but yeesh, I’ve never been car sick a day in my life until this day. I was fine but much longer might have done me in.

The view at our place was like a dream!! So gorgeous.

We settled in and headed to the grocery store across the street for some light provisions. No Diet Coke, haha.

Beer and Ramen. Essentials. 

I made spaghetti! In Italy! 

The PLAN was to chill and rest. Man I wish we’d have stuck to that plan. Instead, I decided we should take the hike DOWN to the Fiordo de Furore and the beach. It was all steps down, how hard could it be? We packed lightly thinking we’d just be going for this hike and back before dinner. We took minimal water and only took about 20€. That would come back to bite us.

Down we went, was ok at first but about 15 minutes in Erin’s and my legs began to shake. The deep stone stairs were starting to wear us down. Another 15 minutes went by, down we went, stairs after stair after stair. Legs were shaking. In wasn’t physically tired it was working a part of my legs I didn’t normally work. I’d been walking 3+ miles everything for two months to prepare for this trip. The stairs didn’t care! Time went on, it was beautiful scenery and eventually after an hour we arrived at our destination. We estimate anywhere between 900-1200 deep stone stairs. I’m writing this three days later on the train to Florence and my legs are still extremely sore. I sit down or get up and make a “gahhhhh” exclamation every time.

Lots of photo ops. 

So after we got down to the beach and enjoyed the splendor of the fjord (it was so beautiful!) we decided ain’t no way we can make it back up. NO WAY.

So we walked up the 200 stairs to the road on the bridge and looked for options. I messaged our Airbnb owner and she sent me three taxi drivers numbers, all unavailable. Called a few more from Google. Nothing. We waited about an hour and finally hopped on the first bus we saw just to get the heck outta there. And it was going in the wrong direction. And we just spent almost all the money we brought. The bus was bound for Positano. Which happened to be the reason we were there, my #1 bucket list destination. We planned to see it the next day.

We arrived in a Positano at the bus stop at the top of the town. Stranded with no money and no idea how to get home because even if we had money for a bus we wouldn’t know which one to take. I messaged Francesca with the Airbnb again and she told me to get back to Amalfi and the bus to Furore would be there at the depot. So we stayed at the bus stop and waited for the bus to Amalfi hoping we could use our other tickets since we got on the wrong bus. Bus arrived and the driver told Todd to go across the street to purchase exchange tickets. We stood there and the attendant let us in the bus. Todd got back and got on, found out later he couldn’t exchange the tickets and the nice attendant just let us on. Thank God!!

Even the bus stop was gorgeous. 

Been on the bus forever. 

When we arrived back to the Amalfi bus depot there was no bus plus we had no money to buy tickets for said bus, not that we could buy tickets because the ticket place was closed. Perfect!

We were feeling so defeated and a little worried. Then, salvation, a taxi stand. Our only hope was one of them would take Apple Pay. Luckily the first guy that approached us could take it and take us back to Furore. A 15 minute drive. For 90€. 90€!!!?? I said done deal. I would’ve paid 200€. It was 9 o'clock at night and we were all so exhausted.

We arrived safely back in Furore and Todd and Wes offered to walk to the pizza place nearby. Straight up 100 stairs on the mountain.

Poor Todd!

They had some drinks while they waited. 

I felt terrible for the days debacle. As much as I planned it just wasn’t enough and I felt so bad.

Day 5 - Positano! (Again)

I let everyone sleep in after the previous days debacle when I had originally planned to get up early and spend the entire day in Positano shopping, eating and having a beach day and then hopping on our boat cruise at 5pm. I just couldn’t do it, besides the fact my legs were done! No stairs. No way. And Positano is on a cliff so stairs were inevitable. I was bummed. This is my number one bucket list city! And we only have one day. So I started to replan. Instead of taking the buses to Positano (the bus stop is at the top of the down so it would've been a million stairs down) I decided a bus to Amalfi and then a ferry to Positano would put us at the pier so we could catch the boat there. The last ferry back to Amalfi is 6:30 however so we wouldn’t be able to catch the ferry back so we’d have to wave up through town to get to the bus stop. At least it wasn’t down stairs. I know that sounds crazy!

So we caught the 3pm bus out of Furore and we were confident of our travel plans/bus routes having done a lot more planning that morning.

We got into Amalfi and took the ferry to Positano.

It was beautiful! But also hot. And we had an hour and a half to kill until our boat ride. And kids can be impatient. So we bought them ice cream and waited. They continued to whine but I tried to ignore it.

We took a private sunset cruise down the coast and back to Positano for sunset. It was a magical 2 hours. Start to finish it was so much fun, gorgeous, perfect weather and the drinks and snacks were great!

It was one of the best things we’ve ever done! I can't even describe it. 

When it was over we hiked up the mountain and made the bus to Amalfi and the bus to Furore was there waiting to take us home. So much better than the previous night!

Once home we were all hungry and somehow climbed the 100 stairs to a restaurant near us. It wasn’t great, haha but good enough.

We wound down in the hot tub. 

Day 6 off to Florence and onto San Casciano in Val Di Pesa    

In the morning we packed up once again and our driver picked us up to head to the Naples train station. Our driver was great but these roads had Wes feeling very bad and I spent the hour and 15 minutes worrying he would barf or pass out. He was ok though and we made it to the train. We hopped on our train to Firenze train station and I was so stoked to get our own car and hit the Tuscan countryside.

I tried a Negroni. Pure rubbing alcohol and cough syrup taste - do not recommend. 

 Unfortunately the car I reserved in Florence, an automatic Audi SUV was not available so we got a manual Nissan 9 passenger van. I don’t drive manual so Todd would be stuck driving these three days.

Getting it out of Florence was pretty easy to avoid the ZTL’s (you can’t drive through these without getting a ticket) on the way back would be another story, more on that later.

It was a 45 minute drive to our VRBO in San Casciano Val di Pesa and upon arrival our host Loredana met us. The house was surreal and everything I dreamed of. Even better than the pictures. We had the whole place to ourselves and it was perfection. I already knew 3 days was too short. We went to the grocery store and it was fun picking out all the stuff we would eat the next few days.

The vineyard behind the property. Gorgeous. 

Our driveway was amazing. 

The Coop-fi grocery store. 

When we got home Todd made some pasta and I made the charcuterie. It was all perfection. 

Day 7 - Montepulciano

I had planned an early start the next day but sleepy kids had us out the door at 11am. It was about an hour and a half drive to our picnic in Montepulciano. The kids were a little wild but we found a spot further away from the crowd and enjoyed a nice picnic at the Cugisi Dairy. 

After we ate no one really felt like going into the town. I know, it’s terrible! But I wasn’t going to force it and I tried to remain flexible with everyone’s exhaustion levels. After the picnic we hit the store again and Todd made dinner for us and it was excellent!

Day 8 

Our last day in Tuscany we didn’t have much at all planned, a lunch at a highly rated spot La Momma Rosa and then we had arranged to have a chef come to our house and cook dinner for us. 

Our chefs were Lorenzo and Emelia. What a great experience, they killed it!! He explained each dish to us, telling us he had started cooking the lasagna a Chianti beef stew at his home 7 hours earlier. You could tell the time and love that went into this dinner, everything was so amazing.

So full! 

Special mention to Guiseppe and Giovanni the house cats. We loved them! 

The next day we all HATED to leave. I wanted at least one more day and was not excited to head back to the hustle a bustle of Rome. But we had to go. Turning the car back in at Hertz wasn’t exactly easy. GPS kept trying to take us through ZTL’s and Todd had to basically use his sense of direction to try and find a way to drop it off without getting a €400+ fine! Hopefully we accomplished it, we’ll see in about 6-8 months if we get a ticket in the mail.

Day 9

We took the train from Florence to Rome, sad this was our last train ride. Our VRBO was about 0.8 miles from the train station and we thought we could walk it. Big mistake. Everyone had their carry on, back pack and Todd and I had a few bottles of wine. Crap got very heavy! Cobblestone streets, stairs, people. It was a rough walk. Toward the end the most massive staircase and I was DONE after that. 

These terrible awful stairs. 

But we made it to our apartment and it was super cute and I loved the rooftop deck with the view of the colosseum. We rested a bit then went to dinner at Trattoria de Valentino. A great little place close by. Food as usual, fantastic.

Our view! Can you tell I'm pretty big on nice views? 

I encouraged everyone to go to bed because we had av reservation at 8:15 in the morning for breakfast at the Vatican and I wasn’t missing that!

Day 10 - Vatican City and Museums

Everyone woke up early, albeit grouchy and we ordered a taxi to head to the Vatican. The lines were already soooo long but I purchased skip the line with the breakfast so we went right to the front. After about 15 minutes they let us in. Breakfast was ok, but I was rushing so we didn’t get stuck in all the crowds since the museum opened to the public soon.

I thought the museums would be easier to navigate but I couldn’t really find a starting point. Todd suggested we get the Audio tour and it helped. We weaved our walk through the halls looking at all the art, very cool. The kids were as expected bored, some liking it more than others. Towards the end the moment I’ve been waiting for and the reason for going. The Sistine Chapel. It’s disappointing they don’t allow photos (Evan snuck one) but it was a great experience. So beautiful.

After the museum we walked a little while to St Peters Square. It was crazy packed and the lines were too long to go into the Basilica. Maybe next time.

Calling a cab wasn’t as easy on the way back as they were all busy so we had to splurge on an Uber. They are roughly twice as much but we were definitely not walking.

These kids were over it. 

We rested back at the Airbnb then went and walked around the colosseum later that evening. We didn’t go inside. Then we went to dinner at a touristy place nearby but it was good.

 

The best ravioli I've ever had! 

Day 11, 12 and 13

The next morning we had a car service pick us up for our hour and 15 minute drive to Civitevecchia to embark on our cruise!

Embarkation was super quick and easy and we were on the ship in less than half an hour after we arrived at the port.

We explored and waited for our rooms to be ready. Actually everybody went to eat while I guarded the luggage. 

The kids room. (Wes was full, haha)

Sail away party!

Of course we got sail away tacos. 

And we're off!!! 

We were at sea the next two days, had lots of fun and relaxed. The twins made friends in the kids club and that's always a bonus.

We had a formal night on Monday night which happened to be our anniversary. We all got dressed up and went to dinner. Unfortunately dinner was cut short when I choked on my steak at dinner. Terrifying! I was able to get it to come back up before heimlich was required thank god! But nonetheless I was absolutely mortified.

The next day was uneventful, another sea day. We ate, drank, watched movies on the lido deck, ate again, played bingo, watched shows, ate some more. Drank some more. 

Day 14 - Mykonos beach day

Our first port of call was Mykonos Greece. I had planned to take a bus to Platys Gialos and go to Yialo Yialo beach club. We walked through Mykonos town to get to the bus and it was beautiful. Just like the pictures, everywhere white! We did some shopping, found a Coke light! The bus station wasn’t too far and it was a 15 minute ride to the beach.

The beach club was great, we went with another family we met on the cruise and had nice beach time and a great lunch. Love Greek food!

Was a great day!

Day 15 - Kusadasi Turkey

This one was a Planning fail.

We planned a boat trip but upon boarding the boat we didn’t feel safe. We were the only tourists on board and there were about 10 men on board, some were smoking. We bailed. We took the loss on what we paid but it just felt sketch. (got a refund when we got home though). Spent some time in the market and bought some Turkish Delight and fake Nike soccer jersey's then went back to the ship to eat and drink the day away. 

That night the magician call Wes up on stage. It was too funny. 

Day 16 - Athens Greece

Kind of another fail. 

We booked a Hop on Hop off bus to see the sights. They got so crowded we were afraid to hop off in fear we wouldn’t be able to hop back on. We spent almost 2 hours in bumper-to-bumper traffic, looking down the city streets and not really experiencing anything. Towards the end of the loop, we did get off the bus and walk towards the Parthenon. We had some meltdowns (who me?) and grouchy participants, so we decided to cut our losses and head back to the ship instead of walking up to see it.

Back on the ship we had emotional support sushi.

Day 17 - Santorini

I knew this one might be tough. It was a water shuttle port and we had a tour schedule with a local the see the island. To access the island you tender to the port then take a cable car or walk up the 830 steps to the top of the cliff. The cable car line is always so long but no way did we want to walk up the stairs, knowing we would most likely have to walk down due to time constraints.

We were an hour late meeting our guide but he was super cool about it and still gave us the 4 hour tour of the island. We went to lots of scenic overlooks and learned a lot about the island and the geography and the wine vineyards on the island.  We stopped for an amazing lunch with a fantastic view.

He then took us to the black beach which was super cool. 

After the tour we were dropped off at the top of the cliff and head less than two hours before we had to be back on the ship so we shipped the very long cable car line and went down the stairs. Donkeys are also used to transport people up and down and the donkeys were the toughest thing to deal with. They are big donkeys and they will run into you if you don’t move and also make a mess of the steps. Ew. But all in all it wasn’t to terrible and we made it back on the ship in time.

Leaving Santorini was gorgeous!

Day 18 - Katakolon Greece

Opting for a low key day Todd and I got off the ship and left the kids on board in the kids club or in the room and we went shopping and had lunch at this port. Our original plan was to go to the winery but it was closed on Sunday. 

Day 19 - Messina Italy

I had a beach day planned at this port at a cute little beach club. We took the bus with our new friends from the cruise and ended up at a closed beach club. I was so disappointed! I messaged them later and they had closed early for the season. Such a bummer! We all found a restaurant that had traditional Sicilian food. Unfortunately it was just not good. Another bummer. But in the way back to the ship we found cannoli's and they were yummy, so not a totally loss.

My interesting pasta lunch. 

Our closed beach club :( 

Day 20 - Naples

I booked a pizza making class for us at a great little Naples restaurant, Trattoria Pizzaria Fratelli. Or chef was Dario and he was fantastic! We made the pizza from scratch (using his grandmothers recipe) and cooked them in this massive oven that cooked at 850 degrees. They took about a minute to cook! It was the best pizza I’ve had in my life and I’m not exaggerating! The kids had a lot of fun.

Back on the ship that night we had dinner together as a family and said goodbye to all our friends on board. Wes and Audrey were both so sad to leave their new friends. We packed and prepared for our long journey home.

Daisy from Zimbabwe, she was awesome!

Unfortunately this was our last port of call and we had to pack up and leave the cruise on the morning. I was ready to be off the cruise but NOT ready to leave Italy 🙁

Day 21 - Debarkation and flight debacle

We rushed rushed to get it together and be off the boat by 7:30am to meet our driver. These rushing mornings were my biggest stress during the trip. When we had someone waiting on us my kids (and Todd) just moved at a snails pace! We made it to our driver and took the 1 hour 15 minute drive to Rome airport. Our first flight was about 20 minutes late to take off and about 20 minutes late landing because of air traffic. Our connection was tight to begin with so I wasn’t hopeful we’d make it. But I was pleased to see a British airways representative waiting for us on arrival to help rush us through security so we might make it! Little did we know security at Heathrow is nuts. Being rushed through we totally missed that all your liquids have to be separated out in clear plastic bags. Mine mostly are because that’s how they should be but I failed to make sure everyone else didn’t have any liquids just stayed in their bags. And they did. We had a teeny bottle of limoncello that Evan’s bag got flagged and Todd had some random oregano that they flagged. And security took their sweet ass time searching the bags. No urgency whatsoever even with our BA rep standing there trying to help us make the flight. We missed it.

We made our way to the BA customer service and they were very nice. Our first option was to fly to LA in a few hours then back to Chicago getting us in Chicago at 6:15 am. I asked if there was a direct flight the next day and there was, 10:35am, so they put us up in a hotel and gave us food and shuttle vouchers.

Or London overnight wasn’t the best, we did find a decent fish and chips place so we could at least say we ate something British. The hotel was fine but we were all ready to be home.

LAST PICTURE OF THE TRIP! 

It was an amazing trip all in all. Such magical places and spending it together as a family is something we'll never forget. Yea I'll never forget the fighting and yelling and exhaustion but there are so many more good memories we are taking away.