Sight Seeing in Rome

The highlight of Italy finally arrived in a 100 degree package... Let's just say I may have sweat more in one day than my entire life. And I was standing still. 

I think we made a smart choice not going in July and August (although it was still hot) because we didn't have to fight through crowds! The lines existed, but weren't ridiculously long. We were happy tourists!

Day 1

After arriving in the afternoon, we planned the evening to be spent in Vatican City. Just make sure you get there before buildings close (check the times online). So as long as you get there before close, late afternoon has far less tourists and much shorter lines. 

Those dressing for hot weather, be warned: to get into St. Peter's and other religious buildings, you have to abide by a dress code: 

All pants, skirts, shorts, and other bottoms need to be knee length or longer. However, I did see most guys wearing shorts that hit just above the knee get in - maybe the guards took pity due to the heat.

Shoulders must be covered (no tanks) and obviously nothing cut too low. I saw some girls using scarfs to cover their shoulders instead of changing out of their tanks.

Day 2

Sight seeing day - bring your walking shoes. 

It is possible to see all the main sights in one day, with the cost of your feet. If you have more than 2 days in the city, spread out the sites. 

We managed to see The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, the Trevi Fountain (under construction and thus no water...), the Colosseum, the Pantheon, and the Spanish Steps.

It was amazing to be in a city where monuments were thousands of years old!

Day 3 the boys spent exploring some local areas, a couple more churches, and finishing the laundry. I spend day 3 in bed with some 24-hour bug! Thankfully we were all freshly laundered and healed by the next morning to depart for: 

Dubrovnik Croatia!

Driving the Italian Coast

Our stay in Italy would be shorter than France, so we pre-planned a bit more than we did for France. 2 full sight seeing days before we reached Rome were spent in Cinque Terre and a Pisa/Florence combo.

Cinque Terre

I first found out about Cinque Terre on pinterest (surprise, surprise) and fell in love with the photos. I knew I had to go there too. We stayed at a private home we found on airbnb that was about a 30-40 minute drive away. This saved us money and earned us more space in the home.

We drove to the second of the five towns, Vernazza, and parked our car. There's no way to drive into the towns, so accept the parking costs (which actually aren't that bad) and enjoy your day by walking and trains. The trains come and go in each town many times each day and for a low price take you from one town to the next.

For a Tuesday in mid-September, the towns were extremely crowded. I'm not sure what the formula is for avoiding crowds, but be warned...if the ferries aren't operating due to rough waters, the trains will be packed. And I mean shoulder to shoulder to shoulder packed.

Despite the trains, we enjoyed the day in the beautifully colored towns! 

While here, I recommend shopping, eating pizza and gelato, and taking in the scenery. You can find hiking trails as well that go between the towns if you're interested in a more athletic day.

Our favorite town was Manorola, where we climbed to the top where a cliff-side restaurant served us afternoon cappuccinos. Can you believe this was our view?

Pisa

The next day, we headed out early for a trip to Florence with a pit-stop in Pisa. Thankfully I was traveling with seasoned Europeans, because they were able to suggest only spending lunch and some photo-opp time in Pisa. Some travelers may disagree, but the crown jewel of Pisa, the Leaning Tower, only takes a short amount of time to see.

It was a nice pit-stop with amazing pizza!

Did we do the standard holding-up-the-tower pic? No...but we had fun people watching those who did!

Florence

A quick drive later, and we were in Florence! Apparently, t-bone steak is a specialty in Florence (who would've known?). We'd had our fair share of baguettes and cheese and were ready for some meat. Ask your host or reception at your hotel where they recommend. Ours suggested a nice local stop that offered a bit lower prices. Our waitress taught us a good rule of thumb is to order 250g per person or split one steak (which is what we did).

After dinner, we walked to the center of town and did some night time sight seeing! We grabbed some gelato and listened to a local musician for a magical evening.

Though we probably could've spent the morning doing some more sightseeing, we needed to take off for our next stop...Rome!

France | Cliff Jumping in Gorge du Verdon

Days 5 & 6

The highlight of our trip was the decision to go to Gorge du Verdon, in a large national park in the South of France.

We had only seen pictures and a few videos before making the choice to drive there, and we can certainly say they do not do the nature and views justice.

We stayed at a B&B just outside of Bauden, France. 

The view from our room was incredible and we spent the majority of time on our balcony. (Though we could've done without the tall grass right in the middle of our view...)

On our one full day in the area, we headed to the Gorge to rent a kayak and swim. Unfortunately, the storms in the forecast (which, may I say, never occurred) prevented the kayak rental shop from opening, but that didn't keep us out of the water.

We jumped off the cliffs and swam in the bluest freshwater I've ever seen in my life. It was magical.

Thoroughly exhausted, we took our car up the road to Moustiers Sainte-Marie, an adorable little French town carved into the mountain side. I finally found my french scarf souvenir and some delicious coffee to boot - so I would consider the stop in the town successful! Of course, we weren't tired enough from the morning swim, so we hiked up the mountainside.

The paths were friendly for the not-so-experienced hiker, but be warned...it was almost pure uphill paths. At the top, a medieval church greeted us and offered a bit of refuge from the climb.

Home from our trip now, we talk all the time about our highlights, where we would go again, where we wouldn't bother stopping at, etc.... And Gorge du Verdon always wins the competition. We will definitely be taking the entire family back someday!

Pictures don't do the beauty justice, so check out the travel vlog we shot! Scroll up and click play!


Next stop: Driving the perilous road (not for the faint of heart) to Nice to catch a bus to Italy!