Travel Snapshots: Europe
This summer my boyfriend and I took a trip to Europe and I am finally sharing a couple of my favorite pictures!
Budapest was up first- such a beautiful and interesting city. I wish we had taken more photos but we were so exhausted after 30+ hours of traveling (and we were only there for 2 days) that we just didn't have the chance. We did get a chance to go to the Gellert Baths, which is a huge bathhouse in in the city- it's incredibly beautiful and each room is completely different.
From there we took a train to Vienna- only two hours away. Vienna was also really pretty- it was our first taste of western Europe and we really enjoyed it. It's a quiet city, which we weren't expecting, but we ate really well there (I had my first weinerschnitzel.) We also indulged in the famous Sacher Torte at the Sacher Hotel, visited the Spanish Riding School and Schoenbrunn Palace- which was my favorite part of Vienna. There was also a beautiful garden, a massive maze that sits on the grounds in front of the palace, and the Gloriette.
From Vienna we took an overnight train to Venice. We arrived in Venice in the morning, and spent the entire day sightseeing. Everyone says all you need in Venice is one day- and they are right. We stayed right by St. Mark's Square- so there was a lot to see. For breakfast we ate the best cannoli I've ever had. Lunch was at an amazing prosciutteria- and for dinner we stumbled in to a pizza restaurant that Johnny Depp ate at when he was filming The Tourist. Venice is old but still so glamorous, and it was such a treat to spend the day there.
The next day we took the train to Cinque Terre- the stop I anticipated the most. It was the most beautiful place I've ever been. We stayed in Monterosso al Mare, just a two minute walk from many restaurants and a 10 minute walk from the beach. Our first night there we went to a restaurant called La Tortuga. It is nestled into the side of a mountain and looks straight over the Ligurian Sea. The wine with dinner was incredible- something that came from the hillside of Monterosso itself, and for the meal I was served an entire lobster that was bigger than the plate. The following morning we hiked from Monterosso to Vernazza, stopped for some gelato and took the train back to Monterroso. Then we spend the afternoon at the beach, sipping on a pitcher of Sangria.
The next morning we took a train to Florence. We spent the first afternoon there just exploring the city. We were about a 15 minute walk from the Ponte Vechhio and 10 minutes from the city center. The following day we took a train out to Greve in Chianti, in the Tuscan countryside, and spent some time in the town there. Once we got back to town we indulged in the best lasagna I've ever had in my life. On our final day, we visited the Duomo and took an amazing cooking class where we learned how to make tiramisu and pasta from scratch. (Stay tuned for the recipes.)
