Stress-free, Focus on locals, small groups - Just what we wanted!
Italy
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Sep 14 - Sep 27, 2023
Just got back from Italy: Milan, Lake Garda, Venice, Florence, Cinque Terre, Chianti area, Pompei, Sorrento, Positano, Amalfi, Ravello. Jessica delivered my dream! While I wanted some of the most famous tourist attractions, I also wanted a variety, including "off the beaten path" opportunities with the local people. Additionally, we hoped for smaller more private groupings to be able to really talk and learn about the places we visited. Jessica listened and chose beautifully!
Lake Garda was INCREDIBLY beautiful. We circled the lake visiting Salo, Limione, and staying in Riva (which I felt was the best.) Elena in Sirmione was fantastic at completing the historical perspective of the lake. Sara in Venice gave us the lay of the land, the history, and introduced us to incredible cicchetti! Unusual and delicious! Saura took us to the best of Cinque Terre (Manarola), Chiro the best of the Amalfi Coast (Ravello!), and Pompeii with Mario was fantastic...blew our minds with the knowledge. In Florence, I booked a 6:30 Arno River ride, the Accademia, Palazzo Vecchio tour, and the special tour of the Duomo including the terraces! Swimming in the Sea with our small group near Capri will never be forgotten. Tulio Bondi and his gelato making experience, Christina at Campanelle Winery, and Chef Fiore in his restaurant on the Amalfi Coast were highlights for the tastebuds and made us feel like royalty! So special.
Transportation could have been intimidating...but not with Storywalking. Professional, courteous, punctual, and kind, we loved talking to all of them - and learned so much about their lives. David, Giuseppe, Max, Ricardo, are just a few that shared their love of home. Ricardo's personal history of being German, Greek & Italian was so interesting. You don't get that on a bus or train! And don't forget the women who helped us with our water taxis and train in Venice. Not sure how long it would have taken me to figure all that out.
We had a major car issue (on a Sunday) and were so glad to have Jessica, Barbara, and all their local connections to save our day, our trip! What would we have done without them?? Not really sure! Honestly.
Lodging - I asked for a few upgrades and Jessica didn't disappoint. Beautiful and memorable.
And the weather (September) - downright perfect! Most days in the 70s and low 80s. Some rain, but didn't stop anything.
Pacing was good....never felt rushed!
Hotel Reviews
BIG room, great sitting area. Too bad we were only there one night. Close to public transportation and rental cars. Restaurants were near. Ohio from Nigeria was very helpful!
Right in the center of everything! Views from the balcony - fantastic. Restaurant - delicious!
Very centrally located! Tucked away and quiet. Completely new and clean. Breakfast was fantastic and the young woman who served was extremely gracious. She wa from the Phillipines. Linzane was her name?
Location!!! The best. Our room - kind of small and tight, but serviceable. Maybe because we had had two really nice rooms ahead of this one.
Gorgeous room with view of the sea. Private "beach" area at the bottom of the cliff. Morning breakfast outside overlooking the sea. Cocktails at night, too.
Activity Reviews
Elena was really good! Knew her history and gave us a fantastic restaurant recommendation. The only thing we wished is that we could have left for Venice a little earlier. We aren't much for shoppers so had a couple extra hours there that we didn't need.
Sara was perfect - she not only introduced us to Cicchetti, but all of Venice. Being born and raised, she took us down side streets, gave us the history, and also points about Venice of today! We loved talking travel and motherhood with her, too.
Tulio Bondi!! Do this....so much fun! He is a hoot and so smart. Has been on the Food Network and trains apprentices from around the world. Plus...it's the best gelato in Italy!
Saura took the best care of us! She shared all about Manarola - gorgeous and fascinating history! She took us places we wouldn't have know were there. We then learned how to take the train....and went to Monterosso. Loved the winery experience and shopping a bit in the city. She introduced us to a chickpea flat bread, that was delicious. We did go to Riomaggiore, but quite frankly, it wasn't needed. We had had the best time in the other two....and it was busy and just lots of shopping. We could have headed back to Florence earlier. (Or even better to The Campanelle Winery - our next day's excursion - to stay for the next two nights!)
We woke up in Florence after coming back from Cinque Terre the previous day. It was a day excursion and we LOVED the first winery - Capannelle!! What a gorgeous place and amazing experience with Christina. Magical!! Ricardo was our fantastic driver. Loved talking with him. He took us to Greve for lunch and that was wonderful, too. We went to a second winery, but it paled in comparison to the first. More commercial and slooooow. We decided to skip the tour portion (we waited and waited to begin) and head back to Florence as it was almost 5:30 and we had left at 8:00. In hindsight, we wished that we had checked into the Capannelle Winery Inn after Cinque Terre, woken up to the breakfast and tour, then had another night there to enjoy the pool and walk the countryside. We ended up in the car a bit more than we needed?? This was the only thing we would have changed about the whole trip!!
Pompeii is mind blowing, especially with Mario explaining everything!
We arrived around 9:30 and decided to just enjoy the harbor area. We were near the end of the trip and kind of tired of big crowds. We enjoyed coffee and pastries...and later had lunch. People who went up (the LONG line ) of the funicular enjoyed the garden and shopping. We got on the boat around 1:15 and the skies cleared and it was FANTASTIC! No blue grotto due to tides, but the rest, including swimming was wonderful! Loved it. Food included was a ciabatta bun with tomato and mozzarella. Fruit cup later, chips, wine, beer, limoncello. Fun!
Chiro was smart about our trip! Took us directly to Amalfi before the crowds arrived. It was lovely to be in the square and feel the peace before the chaos (which we saw when we came down from Ravello. Ravello was our favorite! Gorgeous villa, gardens, square and quiet shopping. We headed to our Limoncello experience next, which went from about 12:30 - 3:30. Chiro squeezed Positano in at the end....and we wished we would have skipped it. We were on a high after our Limoncello experience and the 5 course gourmet lunch. It had been the PERFECT ending to our trip!! Instead we walked through a very crowded Positano just to see it. Hindsight, for us, not needed. Got back to Sorrento about 6:30. Long day.
So... you think you are going to learn about lemons and taste it, but Chef Fiore takes it to a whole other level. A tour and information about his lemon garden at his rental home, then back to make some Limoncello as a group, followed by a 4/5 course gourmet meal....each course having a bit of lemon in it! We had no idea that we were going to get a meal like that!! The food just kept coming. :-) And the view - incredible!! Perfect final touch to our trip!
