My Greatest Journey Yet

On January 29, 2019 our sweet Oliver was born at 10:05 am weighing 8lbs 1oz and 22 inches. Our lives haven’t been the same since. Tomorrow he will be 11 weeks old and the photo above seems like a distant memory. It’s really hard to express the love that I have for him in words that do it justice, because (no offense to words, but..) they can’t accurately get there.

I’m someone who was never even sure if I wanted kids. Despite how hard it’s been (people tell you it’s hard, they just don’t tell you HOW hard it is) I wouldn’t trade it for anything. He’s a light and love that is now the center of my life. A different life. A life I’m learning to cherish every day with it’s ups and downs. The oh so humbling experiences mixed with the heartfelt moments. It’s all so worth it.

One Month in Europe: Part 8, Santorini

Ahh! We’ve finally arrived. The final destination. Santorini, Greece. Heaven. A dream. Crystal clear blue and white visuals that burn in my memory. I am thankful the memory bank in my brain was given this gift.

Whenever I’m having a stressful day I will zone out and picture myself in Santorini. I cannot even believe it’s real. I will always be smitten with it and light up when another traveler mentions it, because it’s just that magical.

We purposely ended our trip here so that we could wind down and relax, soak in some sun and chill out after a lot of travel. It’s a bit of a hike to get here, but well worth it.

I will start by saying that my biggest regret in all of our travel was booking our stay in a bad location in Santorini. It doesn’t mean that it also wasn’t my favorite part of the trip, but it just made things more difficult. I found an adorable Airbnb with good reviews in Mesa (centrally located) and just went for it because it had a pool, a super host, etc. Don’t do that. Stay in Oia or Fira, my recommendation would be Oia. There are some awesome cave houses to book in that area, that’s what I’ll be doing next time for sure. Oia was about a 20 minute ride away from Mesa and we had to take a bus so it got a little annoying - but I digress. Who am I to complain about being in one of the most beautiful places in the world?

Oia and Fira both have adorable shops, restaurants, and loungy areas where you can sip wine and gaze out into the water and the cave homes nestled on the terrain. The main difference with Oia was the sunset and amoudi bay. To get to amoudi bay, you can ride a mule (donkey?) down the many steps to get to the waterfront. From there, there’s a volcanic path that you’ll walk to get to the bay where you can swim and do a little cliff jumping (which I did, and I was terrified). There’s a certain area where everyone stands to watch the sunset - but instead my husband and I had dinner on the water after swimming in the bay (I don’t remember the name of the place, but it had excellent seafood and orange chairs) and watched the sunset without anyone trying to get in front of us. It was the best front row seat of my life.

on the way to the bay

Walking to the bay

Oia sunset

The colors and images in Santorini are just gorgeous. From the blue doors to the plants, everywhere you look is stunning. And clear. And magnificent.

Another thing we did in Santorini was get a massage at caldera in Oia which was a little hike but totally worth it. Couples massage in Greece are a once in a lifetime thing for most - so yes please. Nearby there was also a community pool called Lioyerma just incase you were staying at an airbnb without one, mot hotels have their own pool. Nice spot to just chill out and have some cocktails. Sunset is supposed to be beautiful from that location as well. As far as dining goes, I can’t tell you the name of anywhere we went - but it’s Santorini so you can’t go wrong. Of all our travels in Europe over the month, Chris and I we most impressed with greek food! The fresh salads, seafood, yogurt with grapes and honey - so delish. There is also a very rich and thick coffee drink that all of the folks in Greece rave about. Definitely coming back, but next time, possibly exploring a new greek island. If it had to be Santorini again? Don’t twist my arm.

I hope you enjoyed my journey - even though it took about 3 years to document it all on this blog… :)

Now that my husband and I have a child, traveling is paused for the moment while he’s an infant, but we’ve vowed to not let that stop us. We’re looking at Southeast Asia or potentially another trip to Paris for our next venture when the little man turns 1. Thanks for sticking with us!

One Month in Europe: Part 7, Athens

We had one day to spend in Athens before catching our flight to Santorini, and I was incredibly impressed! For some reason I thought of Athens as dark, dingy and kinda blah - but it turned out to be bright, beautiful and totally interesting. Since time wasn’t on our side, we asked our cab driver what we should do on our way to our Airbnb from the airport. We decided to hit the major landmarks and do light research on places to eat. Our first destination was the Acropolis, which contains several historical buildings - most notably the Parthenon. We were lucky to get a bright, sunny day which made it all the more enjoyable.

One of the first landmarks we laid our eyes on was the Odeon of Herodes Atticus, built in 161 AD and was originally a concert venue. It’s enormous and impressive and the patterns are gorgeous.

One of the more impressive architectural remains was the Erechtheum, an Ancient Greek temple dedicated to Athena and Poseiden. The famous "Porch of the Maidens" features six female statues as columns which drew me in immediately (see key photo). It’s absolutely breathtaking and the detail is worth every second of the time you spend gazing at it in admiration.

Sorry about the semi glamour shot.

The main event at the Acropolis is the Parthenon, which has been going through a restoration since 1975 (woah!), hence the scaffolding. Regardless, it’s still a marvel and a famous symbol of ancient Greece, well worth the visit.

We also haphazardly stumbled upon the changing of the guard at the Parliament Building, which was fun to observe in real time. The dedication of these guys I tell ya!

Despite our short stay, we were also lucky enough to catch the Temple of Olympian Zeus - yet another mind blowing landmark from ancient Greece.

We didn’t do much else other than stroll and check out as much as we could in 24 hours, but if I had the option I would have stayed longer! Greece in general is an amazing place and I’ll get into the culture and food more in my next post about our final destination, Santorini. Thanks for staying with me!

One Month in Europe: Part 6, Amalfi Coast

We departed from Rome and began making the journey to the Amalfi coast, which is not the easiest place to get to. From Rome, we took a train to Naples where we stayed in an Airbnb overnight before hopping on another train to Sorrento. Naples is not the safest place, in my opinion. Perhaps it was the neighborhood, but it was definitely sketchy and luckily we were in safe hands at our Airbnb hosts, who picked us up from the train and also drove us to the Sorrento train in the morning. We barely stepped foot on Naples ground. From Sorrento, we took a bus to the Amalfi coast - something we booked last minute (yes - this is the part of the trip we were winging). Gah. A bit exhausting, and if I were to do it again I’d just cough up the $ for a private car to drive us, at least part of the way, and not deal with the logistics of it all.

When we arrived we nestled into our cozy Airbnb, which was high up on a hill in Praiano. Praiano is nice, but it lacks the energy that Positano has, so I would highly recommend staying in Positano because it’s just an easier central base to get around. We found ourselves taking the bus to and from Positano almost every day, and it wasn’t the most convenient thing in the world. However, we did find some gems in Praiano, particularly the restaurant Costa Diva that was absolutely stunning and the food was amazing. Just for that experience alone I don’t fully regret our location!

In Positano we mostly strolled leisurely, stopping in at local places to eat. We also spent time at the beach, kicking back and enjoying some champagne as a newly married couple should. I also learned that there are three main beaches in Positano, but the main beach, the Marina Grand Beach, (the one with the orange umbrellas) is the best, most glamorous and busiest. Unless you are looking for something super laid back, that’s where you want to be. It’s also surrounded by restaurants, shops, and it’s full of great people watching.

As part of our honeymoon, we decided to book a fancy dinner. We arrived at the Champagne and Oyster bar at Le Sirenuse Hotel for some relaxing and indulging before heading up to our dinner reservations at La Sponda inside the hotel. Good news and bad news here: The hotel itself is charming and magnificent in every way possible, it’s an absolute dream. I highly recommend (if it’s in your budget) to sip on champagne and eat some oysters at the Champagne and Oyster bar if nothing else. It overlooks the beauty of Positano and it’s just so chill and enamoring. The bad news: This place is pricey. We did it to ourselves, we realized, when we decided to do the tasting menu at La Sponda. And while the atmosphere is stunning and the service is superior, the food didn’t quite live up to expectations. My recommendation if you go would to just be to get an entrée, skip the tasting menu, and be there for the luxury of the surroundings. It’s incredibly romantic.

La Sponda

Another gem we stumbled upon in Positano was Casa E Bottega for a super fresh and delicious lunch. This place hit the spot so much that we went here twice, and I’ve been dreaming of it ever since. The food is healthy, interesting, and just plain good. The interior is also beautiful yet casual - and acts as a partial home decor store, so you might pick up something for yourself after lunch. The only downside here is that they only have inside seating, but who cares? It was just as nice.

Inside Casa E Bottega

On another one of our days spent in the Amalfi coast, we took a day trip to Capri island and stopped in at the blue grotto along the way. The blue grotto isn’t always accessible, since it depends on the tide - but we were lucky enough to be the last crew of folks that they let in before it was a no go for later arriving tourists. Basically how it works is they put two people in teeny tiny little row boats with a man who rows you through (ducking all the while) a very tiny entrance into the grotto, where you spend under 5 minutes witnessing the beauty of the ultra bright blue water. I believe it costs around 10 euro, but I can’t remember. During our 5 minute adventure, Chris sparked his inner adventurous spirit and asked if he could jump in! I of course stayed put, and snapped some pics of his silhouette swimming in the deep blue, wondering when he would get back into the tiny boat safely. We exited as the last tourists, and the guide charged Chris 50 euro for his dip. Scammed, I tell you! Worth it? Still not really sure, but Chris would say yes.

Capri island, to me, wasn’t super eventful. Granted, we didn’t do much research prior to arriving, but it just seemed like another place to walk around, check out tourist shops, and have lunch. There was really nothing particularly interesting about the island to me. What was more beneficial about the trip was the boat ride in and eyeing the rock formations on the way, checking out the surroundings of the island, and actually exploring some of the nooks and crevices of the rock formations along the shore. Note that we did zero research, so there might be something worthwhile that I’m not aware of!

Overall Amalfi was a great place to relax, take in some sunshine, and get away from big cities. We enjoyed the downtime but were even more excited for our final destination - Greece!

One Month in Europe: Part 5, Rome

From Florence, we made our way to Rome. In my early twenties, I visited Rome for three days and it was my favorite part of a much longer European itinerary. It was a much different experience then, as there was no Tripadvisor or blogs telling you what’s what and where to go. We had to go into a creepy basement in our hostels and pay to get a phone call with calling cards to communicate with our family so far, far away. It was also a different time in my life, so a Rome bar crawl was appealing as well as many things I don’t have interest in now. However, I did go back and pay my respects to the landmarks I once witnessed, and Chris had never experienced Rome so we checked the boxes. Our weather wasn’t great, and admittedly one day we stayed in and watched Netflix when it was pouring outside. When in rainy Rome, Netflix.

We stayed in the Trastevere area which was ridiculously charming, full of ivy walls everywhere you look, cobblestone streets, and adorable doorways.

Near our Airbnb, we stumbled upon a sandwich shop called Donkey Punch which had one of the best sandwiches I’ve ever had. They also had a pretty great beer selection. Super casual, simple and near our Airbnb, so obviously we ate there more than once.

On one of the most beautiful days, we toured the Pantheon and had lunch at a touristy place outside, because location. I’d say the Pantheon is worth a visit for anyone who hasn’t been to Rome. The columns and interior dome are stunning – plus and it’s a classic Rome landmark.

We also made our way to the Colosseum, mostly because Chris hadn’t been. My first time visiting I wasn’t overly in awe, but most people are, so don’t take my word for it. Weather wasn’t on our side this day, so we did a quick tour and then off we went.

What’s a visit to Rome without a stop at the Trevi fountain? We were sure to get some gelato and linger for a bit and then made sure to toss our three coins into the fountain. There are legends/rituals that go along with the coin tossing, so make sure to follow them :) The first legend says to throw the coin from the right hand over the left shoulder so that you’ll make it back to Rome one day. Another legend states that you should toss three coins into the fountain. The first coin guarantees that you’ll return to Rome, the second is for a new romance, and the third will ensure a good marriage.

One of the last main things we did in Rome was visit the Vatican, and though it was different this time around I will never not be in awe by its magic. When I was 22, I remember making my way into the Sistine Chapel. You could hear a pin drop, the room felt sacred and untouched, and goosebumps were abundant. It was surreal in my mind, and my heart dropped just being in the midst of this wonder. The majesty of that moment burns in my mind until this day. Fast forward 12 years later, and it’s very different. People are taking selfies of themselves and the art, violating the no talking rule, and concentrating more on the photos and uploads than the beauty of the moment. It was hard for me to witness that, and I wanted to erase it from my memory and hold true to an older time when it felt so sacred. Regardless, it was still absolutely beautiful, and I hold on tight to my time in 2006.

As far as where we dined, Chris and I sort of winged this part. We did go to L'Arcangelo (the BEST gnocchi I’ve ever had - though I wouldn’t recommend the atmosphere and location) as well as another boutique restaurant that was very high in demand with lines out the door. I’m forgetting the name, but it ended up not being anything that great and we sat next to two tourists and quickly realized we’d been trapped. I wanted to make it to Roscioli, but we didn’t have time.

That’s mostly it for Rome! The next part of our trip is the part we were very excited for - the Amalfi coast.