Day 1 - Milan and Lake Como
As we flew into Milan, we figured we should at least give it a look, so we wandered around the city center for a couple of hours, did some window shopping, and satisfied our intial gelato craving. Unfortunately, the beautiful cathedral there was covered in scaffolding (which seems to be rather common in Europe) so we couldn't fully appreciate it. We did have fun wandering around Castello Sforzesco - can you spot the tiny Seth at the bottom of the turret?.
After our three hour "comprehensive" tour of Milan, we hopped on a train north to Varenna on beautiful Lake Como. The best part about our visit (other than the super hotel that we stayed in - Hotel Du Lac really is a perfect place) was that Seth and Haley got engaged! Yay!
Day 2 and 3 - Switzerland and the Golden Pass
We headed back to Milan to take a train up in to Switzerland where we were met and graciously hosted by Ben's frend, Valmai (who makes an excellent cheese fondue). We got on the road again early the next morning, stopping at Lucerne to walk around this lovely town. We particularly enjoyed the ornate Jesuit church (it doesn't look like much from the outside, but it is definitely worth a look inside). The rest of the day was filled with the Golden Pass - a famous, panoramic scenic train ride from Lucerne to Montreaux that passes through the Alps. We lucked out with the weather, as we had mainly beautiful blue skies which lit up the snow-covered mountains and cute villages that we passed along the way.
Day 4 - Florence
Fresh from our overnight train ride (lesson learned - you can not pick up pre-ordered tickets for an Italian train ride in Switzerland...even if it starts there), we spent the day wandering through Florence. You can't miss the enormous Duomo with its multi-colored marble facade and the massive painting of the Last Judgement on the dome interior. We also took in the huge art collection at the Uffizi, and watched the sun set over the river (and yes, we had more gelato). Check out Ben's arty-farty shot of the Ponte Vecchio in Karen's super-fashionable Italian sunnies.
Day 5 -Sorrento and the Amalfi Coast
Completely refreshed after our second overnight train ride (in a row), we staggered into our lovely hotel in Sorrento and were eternally grateful for early check-in. A few hours later we emerged and took the scenic bus ride along the precipitous cliffs of the Amalfi Coast. In Amalfi, we replaced our gelato addiction with a love of limoncello, searching for as many free samples as we could before finally selecting the perfect bottle. This region is famous for its citrus fruits - we were amazed by the football-sized lemons.
Day 6 - Pompeii
We visited the famous city of Pompeii, a Roman settlement that was destroyed by an eruption of nearby Vesuvius in A.D. 79. Excavations into the ash that covered this city reveal a well-preserved picture of Roman life at that time: well laid out and paved streets (with the chariout ruts still showing), pottery, paintings, beautiful mosaics, lead piping for water, bathhouses, whorehouses, and many, many other buildings and structures (lesson learned - give yourself more than two hours to explore this place). Sobering reminders of the fate of these people are the plaster molds made of the cavities left in the ash from the victims' bodies.
Day 7 - Cinque Terra
Our final stop was the lovely Cinque Terra (further north on Italy's west coast). We stayed with Karen and Seth’s aunt and uncle – they have the most amazing view of Poet’s Bay and the 6th century castle that looms above it. This is a lovely area to explore with five small towns perched among the cliffs. We hiked between Monterosso and Vernazza, a beautiful (if somewhat tiring) hike, which rewarded us with many wildflowers and stunning views of the sea and Vernazza. Here we said goodbye to everyone as Seth and Haley headed back to the States and we made our way to Croatia by ferry.
Croatia
After arriving in Zadar, we were picked up by our good friend Masa (an ex-Merck colleague) and enjoyed our first of many café breaks (relaxing with friends over a cappuccino for as much of the day as possible seems to be a Dalmatian custom). She took us to her family home in Split, where we were treated like royalty (including first-class dining courtesy of her husband, Jura), and spent a lovely couple of days recuperating from our Italy trip. We then joined Masa on a three-day trip to northern Croatia and Istria to check out the countryside and perhaps pick up a few hundred sage clippings on the way (Masa’s PhD studies are focused on Croatian sage).
One of the nicest parts of the trip was staying at the Pensione Tramontana, complete with a lovely view over the town of Beli, and exploring the sheep and sage-covered island of Cres.
Taking a ferry to the island of Krk, we enjoyed views of the AMAZINGLY crystal-clear water of Croatia. The scenery here was vastly different, dominated by scarred white rock, which we saw all along the Croatian coastline.
Our last few days in Croatia were spent back in Split, mainly hanging out with Masa’s son, Marko (who has a passion for climbing :). He was our expert guide for the historic center of Split, sections of which date back to Roman times.
One of Marko’s other passions is caving, and we joined him on an expedition to a local cave. The entrance drop was around 20 vertical meters, and we were greeted by a few of the local inhabitants. We had a really nice time exploring the beautiful features of the cave (thanks again, Marko!).
Since Croatia, we have been having a wonderful time visiting friends in Germany and Denmark. From this point, we only have another couple of weeks in Europe (Ireland and London) before we head to South Africa! We’ll update you on the rest of our European travels when we have the chance! Happy Easter!
