For the past two and half weeks my dear sister, Jill, and I have been prancing around the streets of Europe - Croatia, Bosnia and Italy, to be exact. "Why those countries?" is the most common question we are asked. Well, I can't remember. About a year ago when Jill and I began to dream about the possibilities of a post-graduation world-wide extravaganza, we knew we wanted to end up in Italy, but thought Greece would be a great way to start the ideal combo. Fortunately, I have really rad parents who got interested in Croatia for themselves. They went in the spring and passed on their knowledge and stories of their adventures to their ever-grateful daughters. I guess their enthusiasm just rubbed off on us, and we ended up with our itinerary, as follows.
After a 5 hour layover in Chicago, we thought we would never get there. There first stop was Dubrovnik, Croatia - a beautiful walled city on the Adriatic Sea with a slow pace, great people watching, fantastic views, orange tiled roof tops, and quite decent ice cream.
From Dubrovnik we headed to Mostar in Bosnia (I would have never imagined that I would find myself there) - a small city just over an hour across the Croatian border. It's mostly a Muslim city, which leaves the feeling of being in a small Istanbul (or so I hear). Minarets crowd the skyline and the call to prayer is played five times a day over the speakers from each of the mosques. While the city is very beautiful there are still a lot of signs of war within a very short walking distance of the main strip. The people, however, were wonderful. They go on living their lives and seem to be very grateful that life for them is peaceful right now.
From Bosnia it was back to Croatia for one last night in Split. This was a beautiful city built around Diocletian's palace. People live within the walls of the Roman ruins, visit the fish market and walk along the Riva - the main walkway along the ocean. We spent one night in Split and then disembarked on a ferry for Italy.
Italy! There is a lot of hype around Italy. In fact, the last issue of the J. Crew magazine couldn't get enough of Italy (Boots made with Italian leather, Italian wool, gloves, trousers, bla, bla, bla). But, I did learn that the hype was all with good reason. Italy was beautiful, the food was delicious, and everything went as smoothly as that pear juice we loved so much. Oh... and our appetite for gelato was basically insatiable.
The first stop was Assisi. We only spent one night here, but it was home to my, favorite meal, gelato, and I could have wandered the narrow cobblestone streets or soaked up the sun on the piazzas for... maybe forever.
Next stop, Rome. After going from the tiny hilltop town of Assisi, Rome was a bit of a shock to us. But, after we got oriented during the first day, we started to realize how many amazing things it had to offer. It was crowded, FULL of tourists, big and we always feared being killed by a Vespa, but some of my favorite sights of the whole trip came from this city. You just can't believe all of this stuff until you see it with your own eyes. The size alone is reason to to see St. Peters.
After Rome is was back to the quiet countryside of Tuscany where we spent two nights in Siena. The main piazza is home to the Palio horse race, the duomo church is covered in dark green and white striped marble, and views of Tuscany were amazing.
From beautiful Tuscany we headed north to the Cinque Terre. It's five tiny picturesque towns perched on the edge of the cliff sides looking out to the Ligurian Sea. We only spent one night here, but could definitely have taken more time to soak up the atmosphere and eat as much pesto and focaccia as humanly possible (both of which originate in this region). The first picture is taken from our room in Corniglia (the third of the five towns) and is the windowsill where I kicked up my feet and experienced the best rosemary focaccia I've ever tasted. The others are along the trail which leads to the lower two cities.
Due to a scheduled train strike (Yes. The train strike was scheduled. But not every train was canceled. Some kept running. Apparently it just depends on whether or not the driver wants to keep running his trains.) it took us a long time to get to our final destination - Florence. We ended up spending most of the day in Pisa where we had a lovely time. I thought it was a great city. We never saw the tower but it was fine. We strolled leisurely up the main street and had some of the most incredible hot chocolate known to man.
Florence was fantastic. I bonded with Florence. I think I could live in Florence. The art, pace, food and architecture was exactly what I imagined it would be. It was a shoppers paradise. Even the green shutters fit into the picture I had developed in my mind. We could have easily spent more time here, but the life of living out of a suitcase had to come to an end.
