Top Takeaways (Twenty Three) - Western Europe

We've covered a lot of ground during two months in Western Europe but we feel like there is still so much more to see! Here are our top takeaways from our time in the Netherlands, Spain, France, Portugal, England and Italy.

One of our favorite spots: The Amalfi Coast.

1. Tourism is alive and well. While we knew that the countries we visited in Western Europe appealed to many tourists, particularly Americans, we still weren't prepared for the hoards of people we encountered near ever major sight. We tried to adjust to waiting in lines and fighting for the best view but we never really enjoyed the experience as much as some of our previous sightseeing.

2. Having said that, it's still possible to get off the beaten path. If you are comfortable missing some of the "must-see" places, you can easily create a unique and enjoyable travel experience, even in crowded cities. We bypassed the Uffizi gallery in Florence and didn't venture inside St. Mark's Cathedral in Venice but instead found empty side-streets and perfect hilltop views. Our preferences have definitely evolved over the past year and we now actively seek the road less traveled.

3. Besides maybe Japan, Western Europe is the most expensive area we've visited. Portugal aside, we found most places to be very pricey. If you are looking for a more budget-friendly trip, we would recommend Southeast Asia or Eastern Europe first!

4. Unfortunately, crime can happen anywhere. Of all the places we've been, we didn't expect France to be the sight of the single worst occurrence during our journey. We consider ourselves pretty tough New Yorkers and are constantly alert, but the truth is no one is immune from opportunist criminals.

5. Paris remains the city of romance. Alex and I had both separately been to Paris in our teenage years and didn't have particularly fond memories of the city; coming back together was a completely different experience. Given the city's size, we found it easy to just wander around and get lost in the charming streets and neighborhood parks. Even after five days, I felt like we didn't get to see everything and now I can't wait to come back!

6. England's reputation for disappointing food is unwarranted. Seriously! We admittedly had excellent hosts who directed us to the best restaurants but we had some of our best meals in the land of the British. Alex and I can definitely get behind the local pub food and traditional Sunday night roast!

7. Italian food really is as delicious as advertised. Speaking of food, we really can't deny the appeal of Italian cuisine. In addition to the perfectly cooked pasta, oven-baked pizza and fresh tomatoes and mozzarella, the local seafood and cured meats were equally tasty. Certainly not the healthiest way to end our journey, but probably the most delicious!

8. Nearly everyone speaks English. Alex and I rarely encountered a serious language barrier - the major cities in Western Europe attract so many tourists that English is widely spoken. My favorite example of this was an American mom and teen who commented (negatively) on my outfit in English while I stood next to them at a crosswalk in Rome; I assume my deep tan implied that I was an Italian, but seriously the Italians speak English too!

9. Traveling within the Eurozone is very efficient and highly convenient. In complete contrast to the US, train travel in Europe is fast, easy and relatively affordable. We were most surprised that no one checked our passports between countries (until we got to the UK) - guess we'll just have to come back for those passport stamps!

10. There will always be a reason to come back to Western Europe! We still feel like we barely scratched the surface and we are excited that we still have so many future trips to take. Completing the France road trip we didn't get to take and visiting Scandinavia are probably the two standouts for us.

Peak: Celebrating the wedding of our friends Blythe and Cody with our friends in Levanto

Pit: Getting robbed in Marseille

Next Stop: Japan (by way of New Jersey / New York)

Milan

I woke up Sunday in Venice and headed for a quick run before it was time for Alex and I to pack up, grab sandwiches and take the train to Milan. Our first realization upon reaching Milan was that we were going to need to repeat our Roman afternoon siesta behavior - it was sweltering and very humid outside. Once we checked into our hotel it was almost 4pm so we walked into Milano Centro and checked out the famous Duomo - and surrounding tourists.

Not so different from St. Mark's in Venice, unfortunately!

Given the crowds of people (and pigeons!) we didn't stay long and decided to return for sunrise before our Tuesday morning flight. Having already broken a sweat from the intense heat, I suggested a drink so we headed toward a quieter neighborhood and stumbled upon Bar Quadronno. We enjoyed a couple glasses of local wine and appreciated the Italian custom of free appetizers (cicchetti) with every drink order - so much so that we only needed a small takeaway pizza to tide us over for dinner!

Alex and I didn't sleep well because the air conditioning wasn't working very well in our hotel room so we woke up cranky and hot. We took cold showers and took the tram toward Parco Sempione to have a much needed non-Italian lunch at Salad Me. We spent the afternoon walking through the park and exploring the city, popping into air-conditioned shops to cool down when we got too hot.

Walking toward the Porta Sempione.

Looking up at the Arch of Peace, a historic roman gateway.

Milan's Castello Sforzesco, which dates back to the 15th century and now houses a number of museums.

Loved this charming street near the Brera neighborhood, one of the best areas for outdoor drinks and boutique stores.

We ended the night with dinner at San Mauri, a cute Italian bistro (our last night in Italy calls for one final carb-heavy meal!) with incredible octopus and Bolognese.

We woke up early this morning to watch the sunrise at the Duomo and catch the train to the airport. As hoped, there were nearly no other people in Milan's central square and we were treated to solitary views of the most famous sights.

Inside Galleria Vittorio Emanuele, one of the most beautiful malls we've seen!

Looking up at the Duomo; the people were gone but the pigeons were not!

One last look.

We are now off to New Jersey / New York for a few days before heading to Japan - the last official stop on our adventure! - with Alex's mom, Janet. Ciao!

Venice

The train ride from Bologna to Venice didn't take long so Sarah and I found ourselves in downtown by mid-day on Thursday. Sarah didn't want to miss an opportunity to have one more good meal from Bologna, so she snagged us some sandwiches to eat on the train from Eataly. Like their counterparts in NY (and local neighbors in Bologna), the staff at Eataly treated us to a delicious meal! We're especially happy we stopped in Bologna because our culinary experience in Venice was exactly the opposite of delicious...more on that later.

Once we settled into the hotel for a bit - and let the heat die down! - we set out to explore Venice's winding streets (a.k.a. canals).

Sarah loved this purple boat docked right in front of our hotel.

One of Venice's many beautiful canals.

The gondolas were everywhere! We hardly went a block without seeing one.

The busy Grand Canal. There are only three bridges to cross the Grand Canal by foot, which is why there is so much boat traffic.

We never did get a "clean" shot of Sarah here, but still a pretty good view of her checking out the view.

We knew St. Mark's Square would be crowded and filled with pigeons. We did not realize that people would be actually holding the pigeons in their hands for a photo op in front of the church (trust us, these pigeons are very comfortable around humans!). The whole scene was pretty gross and the crowds were overwhelming.

But the good thing about Venice is that once we walked a few blocks off the "main drag" we could find quiet canals like this with far fewer foreigners. (And of course, another leaning tower!)

A gondola parked in the canal.

Once we needed a break from walking around, we stopped at Ostaria da Simson for a drink and a snack. This place is definitely NOT on the route of any big tour groups - we felt very welcomed by the owner and he helped get us settled at a spot right on the canal, but we were definitely the only foreigners there. After munching on some tasty toasts and having a spritz, we made our way to another off-the-beaten-path place for dinner.

Alla Frasca fit all of the criteria Sarah normally uses to screen restaurants for us. It has 4.5 stars on TripAdvisor, it is far away from the most touristy sights and it has several reviews by locals. Unfortunately, we were let down by her method for this meal. The food was just gross - low quality ingredients prepared half-heartedly. Why anyone would love this place is a mystery to us. We headed home and vowed to seek out more casual places (like Simson) for the rest of our time here...if this meal is an indication of what the restaurants offer, we'd prefer to stick to bars! (To be fair, we did read that Venice is known to have generally lower quality food than the other big cities in Italy given its completely lopsided tourist-to-local ratio, but we didn't think it would be this bad...)

We had a leisurely start to Friday - the food from last night actually made us both a little sick - but we had ourselves sorted by mid-day and headed to MQ10 to grab a light lunch. This casual place is more of a bar than a restaurant, but the food we had was simple and fresh! A re-affirmation of our strategy from last night.

After lunch, we grabbed two-day ferry (or as they're called here, "water bus") passes and hopped on the first one that showed up. Turns out it was going in the direction we wanted and half an hour later we were on Murano, one of the islands surrounding Venice. Murano is known for its glass blowing - and there were certainly a large number of souvenir shops around to remind you of that! - but we decided to stroll around the canals at our own pace rather than joining a tour of the island (all of which included mandatory glass museum / shop stops).

The canals of Murano.

Definitely the tannest I've ever been in my life (Sarah is a little jealous, I think).

After a couple hours on Murano, we got on another ferry and headed back to St. Mark's Square. We knew what to expect this time and didn't spend any time in the square itself, but rather exploring some of the other sights nearby.

Santa Maria della Salute.

Gondolas in Venice with San Giorgio in the background.

By the time the sun was ready to set, we got on another ferry to get across to San Giorgio. We read that this church has a great view looking back on St. Mark's for sunset and we definitely agree - stop here for an hour at sunset if you ever visit Venice!

Sunset in Venice.

On Saturday morning we walked over to the Jewish Ghetto in Venice, one of the oldest in Europe. There was not a lot to see - we didn't think about it beforehand, but almost all businesses were closed for shabbat! - but it was still interesting to visit.

The Holocaust memorial to all the Jews of Venice.

For lunch, we stumbled upon La Cantina, a small wine bar not far from the Jewish Ghetto. When we first walked in, neither of us were even sure if they served food, but a very helpful bartender quickly explained that most of the menu changes daily depending on what is purchased at the market. So we had "off menu" buratta, pasta and a panini...all of which were fantastic. It was a slow dining experience, but well worth it (Sarah maintains this is one of our best meals in Venice and definitely a highlight in Italy overall)!

After lunch we caught another ferry, this time to Burano, an island further away than Murano but still accessible by boat in under an hour. While Murano is known for glass blowing, Burano is known for its brightly colored houses. (Locals also claim they are excellent lace makers, but really everyone comes for the houses). Like the Bo Kapp neighborhood in Cape Town or La Boca in Buenos Aires, the brightly colored houses were the standout for us and we spent several hours wandering around the canals before heading back to Venice.

A practically deserted canal in Burano.

Burano at its best.

Sarah loved these few houses in particular.

Beautiful Burano!

We took the ferry back and headed back to Simson for a snack and to listen to the live music they have every Saturday - again, only locals here, but very cool. Our final meal in Venice was at a place called Fresh Pasta To Go. The name basically says it all - they offer single serving take-away pasta and it is delicious (and again, casual and cheap!). We found a spot by a canal to sit and eat, then walked back to our hotel.

Tomorrow we're heading to Milan for the final stop on our three-week tour of Italy. Neither of us has spent any time there before so we'll see what the Fashion Capital of the World has in store for us.

Goodnight, Venice.

Bologna

Sarah and I made a short stop in Bologna on Wednesday. We weren't sure if it made sense to spend any time here but given its title as Italy's "Culinary Capital" and the fact that Rick Steves left it off his list of places to visit in Italy, we figured it would be a less touristy place to get a few great Italian meals. We were right...on both counts. The town was deserted compared to the other cities we've visited so far and the meals we had were amazing.

We arrived around 2pm, dropped our bags off at our hotel and immediately headed to town to find a lunch spot. Café Santangelo turned out to be just what we wanted: delicious food served by locals who barely spoke English. I had the lasagna, Sarah got the caprese salad; both were prepared with fresh, simple ingredients and were among the best dishes we've had in Italy so far! After lunch we set out to see some of the city's sights.

The square in front of the Basilica of San Domenico. Didn't even need to wait for any tourists to get out of our way for this shot - this is how it was when we showed up!

The other big church in Bologna, the Basilica of Santo Stefano.

Though the outside looks nondescript, the detailing inside was pretty cool...

...and there were several nice courtyards like this.

Bologna's Two Towers. Seems like every city in Italy has at least one tower that is leaning.

The colorful, quiet streets of Bologna.

The courtyard at our hotel.

By late afternoon we were practically melting from the heat so we decided to take a break at our hotel to cool off. Once we were showered and ready for more, we headed out to see the Piazza Maggiore and the Fountain of Neptune, the last must-see attractions in Bologna.

Neptune always has the best fountains.

We ate dinner at Al Sangiovese, a well-reviewed place that was only a few doors down from our hotel. Turned out to be another culinary highlight for us in Italy. Our favorite was the Tagliatelle alla Bolognese, one of Bologna's most famous dishes. Though simple in execution - who didn't eat that when growing up? - these guys really have the recipe down!

On Thursday morning, Sarah was feeling ambitious so she took a walk up to the Sanctuary of the Madonna di San Luca. The walk is about six miles total, from the center of town to the church and back, and the entire walk is covered entirely by arcades (basically high archways). Good thing it was covered since it started to drizzle during her walk...

A pretty unique view for a hike up to a church on a hill.

We're now on the train again, heading to Venice. Sarah has been before, but given the beautiful setting and our newfound ability to "outsmart" the big packs of tourists I think she is pretty excited to go back!

Amalfi Coast

Saturday morning Alex and I grabbed a train from Rome to Naples, where we would pick up a local train to take us to Sorrento, our base for exploring the Amalfi Coast. While the two-hour trip to Naples was a breeze, the one-hour "train" ride to Sorrento was horrendous - no air conditioning and people packed into the subway cars like sardines for nearly the entire journey, which lasted for over 30 stops. Needless to say, by the time we arrived in Sorrento we were ready for a relaxing lunch in town under the ubiquitous outdoor misting fans. Unfortunately, our travel woes were not yet over for the day. I knew that our hotel was a 20 minute drive from town but we were supposed to be able to catch a local bus to take us there; sadly we had to wait another two hours for the bus and, worst of all, because the bus is often used by budget travelers as a way to see the coastline, we almost didn't make it on because it was so full! After a harrowing and winding bus ride up the mountain - while standing and gripping our bags - we finally made it to Hotel Prestige.

Since we didn't arrive until around 4pm we took advantage of the beautiful views and outdoor pool and relaxed by the pool until dinnertime.

Happy Fourth of July from our hotel balcony!

We decided against taking the hotel shuttle into town (which we will definitely be using going forward!) and dined at a nearby local spot, Il Panorama. Over seafood pasta and Prosecco, we enjoyed a great sunset after a long day getting to Sorrento.

Cleaned up and ready for a nice dinner.

Sunset over the Bay of Napoli.

We started Sunday at a much more leisurely pace and lounged around the pool for a few hours in the morning. I'd read that there are many great hiking trails throughout the Amalfi Coast but most of these start in some of the neighboring coastal towns so Alex and I settled on an hour-long trek down the mountain into town. Once we arrived at the picturesque lunch destination I had selected, Bagni Salvatore, and realized that the spot was also a popular beach club we booked lounge chairs and enjoyed the water for the remainder of the day.

Looking down over the beach clubs in Sorrento.

View from Bagni Salvatore.

Alex taking a dip and escaping the heat. Can you tell why we decided to stay here for the day?!

I loved the colored umbrellas we saw - different patterns for each beach club!

One more shot as we headed back to town.

Once we felt we had gotten enough sun, we walked back up the hill into town for negronis and people watching. Feeling tired from the heat, we grabbed a quick dinner of takeaway kebabs and made sure to time the hotel shuttle correctly! We headed to bed early after a great day in Sorrento and rested up for our tour of the coast on Monday.

Around 11am we joined three other couples from our hotel for a guided tour of the Amalfi Coast and headed toward Positano for the first of many beautiful scenic stops.

Our guide insisted on taking our picture - we can tell why!

Looking down on Positano. This was right before one of the older men in our group ran into the street to violently vomit. Luckily for him (and us), he recovered for the rest of the journey. Too many negronis the night before??

Looking up at colorful Positano.

From Positano, we headed to nearby town Praiano and then Amalfi, where we had an hour and a half to explore the town on our own. While the towns along the Amalfi Coast are all gorgeous and completely deserving of their destination allure, we found the number of tourists to be a bit overwhelming. And, in fact, we were traveling with some who had very different desires than we did, forcing our group to stop at a nearby pottery and tile factory for over a half hour. Alex and I recognize our travel tastes have evolved over the past year and Western Europe has definitely been much more crowded than many of our other stops, but we found ourselves constantly seeking more "off-the-beaten-path" experiences. Instead of using the time in Amalfi to walk in and out of various gelato and souvenir shops, we found a beautiful, quiet restaurant on the beach and perched there for a delicious seafood lunch.

View from Marina Grande in Amalfi - one of the best meals we had in the area. Note the differently colored umbrellas!

We walked a little further up the main road to check out the views looking back on Amalfi.

After rejoining our group, we headed further down the coast to a small town up in the hills, Ravello. Alex and I loved walking around the small pedestrian streets and ended up wandering into a very charming wine store (not so charmingly named Wine & Drugs) offering free tastings. After 10 - seriously! - different wines to try, we decided to send a few bottles home before heading back to check out the views.

Looking down over the Amalfi Coast from Ravello. No complaints!

The drive back to Sorrento took almost two hours so we were feeling a little lethargic after a full day of gorgeous sightseeing. We relaxed a little bit and then headed to another nearby spot for dinner and called it an early night.

Today we woke up early to overcast skies and cooler weather, which was disappointing because we had planned to take a ferry to Capri for the day, before taking another ferry to Naples for the night. We decided to wait out the fog a bit and hoped that it would clear as the day heated up; luckily, we saw the beginning of blue skies as we pulled out of the Sorrento harbor around noon.

Goodbye Sorrento!

Pulling into the docks of Capri is just as scenic as we'd hoped; though after spending a day ogling the Amalfi Coast we definitely had outsized expectations!

Port at Capri.

Alex and I had read about the various well-known attractions of Capri - The Blue Lagoon, Capri Town and Anacapri, but weren't sure we wanted to pay up for the expensive boat rides required to journey around the island. Similar to Sorrento, we arrived at Bagni Tiberio, a lunch spot I had read about nearly a 20 minute walk from town, and found an adjoining private beach club. Making a game time decision was pretty easy once we took in our surroundings - one last beach day it is!

Exploring our own "blue lagoon."

Oh look, it's a $100 million yacht that, as Alex researched online, belongs to Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen!

View looking back while taking a boat back to town.

One final shot as we say goodbye to Capri.

The ferry ride back to Naples was far more enjoyable than the local train we had previously taken, but arriving in the infamous city was somewhat jarring. We had read that Naples was a little rough around the edges, but we weren't expecting what was essentially a third-world city in a first world country! Dirty streets and dark alleyways filled with trash, exposed electrical wires and nefarious characters was a pretty stark contrast to the much more tourist-friendly Amalfi Coast (and everywhere else we've been in Italy, for that matter!). We scrapped any potential sightseeing plans and grabbed a quick dinner near our hotel. Tomorrow we are spending the day in Bologna, Italy's supposed food capital, so we are pretty excited!