Day 0+1: Departure and arrival in Rome
Our flight on Air Transat wasn’t that comfortable, we didn’t have any seats in front of us, but our own seats were very narrow. Food was pretty average.
I’ve slept a bit on the plane since it helped to prevent jetlag. Didn’t really watch any movies and I couldn’t look by the windows, so I’ve napped and played with my Switch.
Once we got there, our taxi brought us to our hotel, but we had to wait a few hours before our room was avaiable. We had some roman pizza (square, served by weight) and explored a bit around.
Didn’t do much after we got our hotel room. It was an okay room. We watched TV and went to the supermrrket to grab something light to eat.
Day 2: Rome
After a buffet-style breakfast, we took the subway to the Vatican. We spent about three hours walking around and visiting the various parts of the museum there.
For lunch we went to a small restaurant and had pastas before our visit to Castel Sant'Angelo. It was a big fortress-like structure and that took quite some time for us to explore it all.
For dinner we went to a japanese restaurant with a quite large sake selection. We went there a bit too early - service started at 19h - so we had a walk around in the neighborhood close to our hotel.
Day 3: Rome
We started our day by visiting the Colliseum, then Palatine Hill nearby. It was a lot of walking around! Afterwards we walked some more around the Roman Forum.
For lunch we tried ‘pinza’, a different kind of pizza without sauce on a really good crusty bread. I forgot my coat at the restaurant and had to run back, but the food was really good!
We spent the rest of our day in the Trastevere neighborhood where we explored a bit, saw a few churches, and ate some street food.
Day 4: Rome
We woke up early to go to the Trevi Fountain when there would be less people there. Unfortunately for us, everyone had the same idea. The fountain was very impressive.
Then we had a guided tour of the catacombs planned, but it got cancelled last minute so we had to get there on our own. The bus system gave us a bit of a headache and we had to wait a really long time, but the visit to the catacombs and the Appian Way was worth it.
Day 5: Rome -> Florence
On the morning we went to a park to spend some of our time before our hotel checkout. Due to a tactical mistake, all our train tickets on this trip were too late in the day so we had a lot of time to burn between checking out and leaving for the next leg of our trip. Here we spent most of the time eating at a restaurant in the train station.
Once we got to Florence, we walked around the city across a few bridges, had some delicious gelato and walked around the neighborhood south of our hotel. For dinner we went to a large public market that had its second floor converted into a big food court.
Day 6: Florence
After an okay breakfast, we went to the Uffizi Gallery and admired a great number of paintings, sculptures and other art pieces. We then had lunch at a vegetarian restaurant near our hotel.
After lunch (and another gelato) we went to the Boboli Gardens and spent about two hours and a half walking around between labyrinths of trees, fountains and various gardens.
For dinner we had florentine steak, it felt like it was quite expensive for average steak.
Day 7: Florence
After breakfast we went to the Galleria della Academia and we were once again bombarded with art pieces. The David by Michelangelo was really impressive. Then we went directly to the Pitti Palace for another two hours of paintings and sculptures.
For lunch we went to a wine bar, then we met with one of my acquaintances who lives in Italy and he brought us to a superb viewing spot where we saw the whole city!
Day 8: Florence -> La Spezia
After visiting the public market (early in the day the first floor is packed with various stores), we took the train to La Spezia. Our train broke down during the trip so we had to leave and get into another packed train instead.
We explored La Spezia a little then had some good pizzas with an Aperol Spritz.
Day 9: La Spezia
After a good breakfast, we took the train to Monterosso, the furthest “Cinque Terre” village from where we were. It was a really beautiful place near the sea. We then trekked to the next village through the mountains. It was quite the trip, climbing up and down the way there and it took us about two hours and a half.
When we got to Vernazza, it was full of tourists. We took a break to eat but our choice (fried seafood and sardines) was a bit disappointing. We then tried to visit all the other villages, but it was more work than we thought. Sometimes the train station were incredibly packed with people, some other times the station was quite a way from the village and we had to walk a lot. Each spot had its charm, but at the end we had to cut it short and come back.
Day 10: La Spezia -> Genoa
We visited the port of La Spezia after our breakfast. With the palm trees and boats, it was quite the different atmosphere. We checked out of the hotel and went to try some pasta at a nearby restaurant.
We didn’t do much in Genoa, we checked in our hotel, then explored a bit to grab a bite.
Day 11: Genoa -> Milan
We spent most of the early day at Genoa’s aquarium. It was one of the most impressive aquarium I’ve been to. Then we walked through a park nearby our hotel, then we tried a neat vegetarian restaurant. Genoa is a city I would’ve spent more time in, it was quite relaxing, not a lot of tourists and charming small streets filled with various shops.
In Milan we went to a restaurant near our hotel who served specialties of the area (rissoto and osso bucco). Mine was really good, but my partner’s was the opposite.
Day 12: Milan
After breakfast - where a live harpist was playing - we went to the Ambrosia Library for another session of looking at art pieces. Then we explored Milan, specifically the area around the Duomo. Then we had a light meal of arancinis and pastries.
We spent our whole afternoon and most of the evening at the QC Termemilano spa. There were a lot of people, but it was a spa with a lot of options. Multiple rooms to relax, dry saunas, steam rooms, a few interior baths and a room that simulated a storm - very impressive. And our dinner was included, so we stayed there almost the whole five hours we had paid for.
Day 13: Milan -> Venice
We visited a park near our hotel after breakfast. There was a colony of cats there that the city took care of, so we spent quite a bit of time staring at them.
Then before taking our train we went to a cat café near the station. The food was good and the cats were cute. One of them kept trying to leave the café.
When we got to Venice we took the aquabus to our hotel. Our room was in an annex so we had to go through a dining room, a few corridors, go up two flight of stairs, a few more corridors, then go down three stairs before getting to a stuffy room with an inneficient AC and no window screens, so it wasn’t the favorite part of our trip. We had pasta and gelato for dinner.
Day 14: Venice
After a weird breakfast in the hotel, we went to our guided Murano and Burano island visit. The island of Murano was a big place for glass blowing, but everything was incredibly expensive. The island of Burano was more fun to explore with its colorful houses, back alleys, bridges and shops.
Back to Venice we had a pizza lunch, then we took a long walk and went through most of the city to see its neighborhoods, bridges and plazas. After a stop near the cathedral, we had pasta near our hotel. Then we thought about taking another later walk, but we gave up.
Day 15: Venice -> Montréal
After our breakfast we directly went to wait for our aqua-taxi to bring us to the airport. When we got there it was a bit of a pain, there were a lot of lines to wait in and it felt a bit disorganized, but ultimately we got to our plane with no issues.
Our flight went well, our seats were more comfortable than on the arrival trip and I watched Dune.
