Italy

Italy is one of my most favorite places in the world for many reasons.  First and foremost, my husband Brian and I got married in Italy on the Almafi Coast.  It was one of the most romantic days of my life!  The other reasons are not hard to guess–the food, culture and architecture.

Out of all the places we went in Italy, Rome, Florence and the Almafi Coast where my favorite.  I loved the hustle and bustle of Rome.  There were so many things to see and do, and at just about every corner there was some place to eat or get an amazing cup of cappuccino which was my favorite coffee drink when I was there.   We definitely got a lot of walking in while we were there.  Favorite places in Rome that would not surprise anyone was the Coliseum and The Vatican, but what might surprise you was a short train ride to the island of Ponza.

Ponza has quaint port, but what we liked most was renting a boat and touring the island most of the day taking breaks to swim and layout in the boat.  It was a really great day.  I think Ponza is one of Italy’s best kept secrets.

Florence was another city that I really loved.  It was different than Rome which is much bigger.  Florence had more of a homey feel to it.  I thought to myself if I ever decide to move to Italy this would be the place I would want to live.  My favorite places in Florence were the Accadamia Gallery where I snuck a picture of the Statue of David.  I promise I did not try and photography any paintings that may have caused issues.   Other cool spots were the Ponte Vecchio (the famous Florence bridge) where you can shop for jewelry to your hearts content.  We also spend a fair amount of town hanging out at the Piazza della Republlica which was close to Ponte Vecchio and had a lot of cafes and shops and artists around.

The Almafi Coast of course was the most amazing because that is where I got married.  We got married in the town of Almafi which is right next to Positano.  It was a beautiful and romantic wedding and it was just the two of us except for our witnesses which happen to be my wedding planner and her friend.  The only drama we had on our wedding day was that my husband stepped on sea urchin which was very painful for him and he had to soak his foot in salt water for days even after we got back from our trip which helps push out the needles from your skin.  We stayed at the Luna Hotel which used to be an old mission and was really a beautiful place to stay.  We had an amazing view of the ocean.

We went to Venice and Lake Como as well.  Venice was very pretty, but if you go when it’s hot the water smells a bit.  I did really enjoy Lake Como and it was beautiful, but there was not much to do there.

The best part about going to all these places was of course the food for me because I love experiencing food and figuring out how to incorporate it into my kind of cooking.  Ciao!

 

Greece

We went Greece in 2010 for our friend Tony’s 40th Birthday.  There were 10 of us, and it was one of the most fun trips ever!  We flew into Athens and stayed at Hotel Grande Bretagne for a few nights, and it was a beautiful hotel.  At the top was a bar where you could see the Acropolis.

    

While we were in Athens we of course did a day trip to the Acropolis.  You don’t want to miss it.  It really is spectacular.  I think we got over 20 pictures, but I will only post a few here.

A lot of people don’t really like Athens, but there are some really cool places to explore.  Of course with any big cities, you have less desirable areas, but we obviously stayed away from those!

After Athens we went to Mykonos to get on a 50 foot Catamaran and tour the smaller islands which was awesome!  We wanted an authentic experience, so we asked our captain to take us to some of the smaller islands that had great food.  We docked at a new island each night.  I absolutely loved everything we ate.  Here is a picture of us at a bar in Antiparos which was one of my favorite islands.

We had our biggest feast on the island of Koufonissia.  It was amazing.  We had all kinds of dishes as well as this amazing fish (which for the life of me I cannot even remember what kind of fish it as).

This was the port in Koufonissia where we docked for the night.

We also went to Donoussa and a few other small islands.  We ended back in Mykonos and stayed there for a few nights before flying home.  We really enjoyed Mykonos.   Our hotel had a great view of Santa Marina.  The town itself was very quaint with many great restaurants and shops.

Cayman Islands

We went to the Cayman Islands for my birthday in 2016 and I absolutely loved it there.  The beach was the cleanest and most beautiful beach I have ever seen.

The food was also wonderful.  Nothing better than having freshly caught fish for dinner!  We went scuba diving which is something we love to do.  We did a wreck dive that was a lot of fun.

We also chartered a boat that took us to Stingray City which was one of my favorite parts of our trip.  I was a bit apprehensive at first because there were so many stingrays, but after you go used to them all swimming around you it was pretty cool.  The natives called the stingray we were hanging out with “Snowflake” because of all the white spots.