Italy: Northern Delights the Easy Way - Day 17: Homeward Bound

So ready to go home after 17 days, we packed a lot in and learned a few tricks along the way. Leave yourself lots of time for the trains, delays and cancellations are routine. Load the train app to your device so you can look up the stops to anticipate yours. Learn to use the train ticket kiosks - way faster. Treat yourself to gelato every day - it’s worth it. Navigate around the cities via the piazzas vs the streets - it’s easier and they’re well marked. Don’t be afraid to ask for help or directions - everyone is eager to help.

Italy: Northern Delights the Easy Way - Day 16: Venice

Hopping on a high speed train, travelling at over 300 km/hr, we did the round trip 2 1/2 hour trip to Venice. We didn’t have enough time for a leisurely gondola ride so we took the water bus to Piazza San Marco and randomly wandered our way back to the train station, attempting to hit some of the notable piazzas along the way. The streets are fascinating and we did most of our shopping here, picking up a number of items made with Murano glass - beautiful!

Italy: Northern Delights the Easy Way - Day 15: Milan

Back to Milan for an afternoon with a wander down a “bohemian” street (Via Brera) and a visit to the Pinacoteca Di Brera, which was surprisingly crowded, followed by a delicious dinner near the Duomo.

Italy: Northern Delights the Easy Way - Days 12 to 14: Torino

Yet another perspective of Italy - Torino is a very modern city with a very fashionable aesthetic. Just loving it here - great food, gelato, well organized streets and wide thoroughfares, lots of amazing architecture everywhere you look, definitely living up to its rep as a design centre. Our fabulous boutique hotel, Andalesia, is close to an amazing gelato place and fabulous pizzeria.

We have explored many wonderful piazzas, mostly by following Via Roma, Via Po and parallel streets. We spent over two hours in the botanical gardens, with the highlight being the medieval city - we actually felt as though we were in King Arthur’s time. And of course, the shopping is plentiful in this city.

We actually also fit in a few museums - the Egyptian one, with a huge and fascinating collection of Egyptian artifacts and sarcophagus, and the Museum of Cinema, with a rooftop observatory providing panoramic views of the city, and we could easily have spent more than the 2 hours we had available to explore this museum. True to Torino’s reputation as the design centre of Italy, the museums are amazing.

Italy: Northern Delights the Easy Way - Days 10 & 11: Genoa

We lost half a day for sightseeing due to another lengthy train delay. Halfway to Genoa, as we were passing through a tunnel, our train stopped. We had to wait over two hours for a replacement engine and most of that was in the dark, as our car lights went out, with the temperature rising. 

Notwithstanding, we still managed to fit in almost all we wanted to see in one day - fortunately our goals for this trip are very light, in keeping with the laid back tenor we planned. We decided to head to the Aquarium first, when the line-up was minimal (unlike when we came out), enjoying a lovely walk along the boardwalk to get there. The aquarium is absolutely a must see. It is really well laid out, with a very large collection of sea creatures, including some very unique and interesting ones. We spent over two hours browsing the exhibits.

Heading into town from this point took us on a good path for the most notable piazzas and buildings. A light lunch at a cafe in a square, marvelling at the architecture and enjoying music by buskers was a great way to start our walking tour. The best areas to visit include Piazza De Ferrari, the Cathedral of San Lorenzo and Via Garibaldi, if you have only an afternoon to wander. Just marvelling at the structure of the streets (very hilly) and hidden architectural gems is a highlight.

Italy: Northern Delights the Easy Way - Days 8 & 9: Lucca & Pisa

Choosing to stay in Lucca, with a day trip to Pisa, could perhaps have been done the other way around more efficiently from a train schedule perspective, but we enjoyed our dinners in the old city of Lucca.

Arriving early in the day we were able to see all of the highlights within the old walled city in Lucca and had a lovely dinner at Madame Butterfly, which we chose because it was packed, so clearly a favourite. It was lovely to wander the streets, coming upon different interesting buildings as we entered a new piazza. One corner of the area was converted to a large bandstand for the many well known artists appearing as part of an annual music festival, with performances throughout July and August. You may want to check out the dates,  either to purchase a ticket, listen to the music outside the bandstand for free (find a table early) or avoid the area at that time.

Planning a day trip to PISA, we took a bus from the front of our hotel, getting off at the tower square - pretty much door to door service. After seeing this iconic image in so many movies and photographs it was none the less impressive despite the familiarity. The tower was magnificent, as were the surrounding buildings and cathedral. After visiting this area for a while and watching the many tourists taking pictures “holding up the tower”, we climbed up to the top of the wall surrounding this section of the city and commenced what was a fairly long walk, with lovely views. Climbing back down near the city centre we took a leisurely stroll towards the train station, stopping in several piazzas for the architecture and taking a break for lunch along the way on a patio at one of the many pizzerias. Then we hopped on the train back to Lucca, for a rest and another wonderful meal in the old city. Quite a lovely 2 days.

Italy: Northern Delights the Easy Way - Days 5 - 7: Florence

We have really settled into Florence. The curving streets have made it a challenge to follow a map and we have been turned around many times. However, we discovered many interesting shops and sights we might not have seen had we been able to follow the map. Breakfast at our lovely hotel, Mia Cara, less than a 5 min walk from the train station, was followed by a morning stroll through the streets searching out the highlights. A late lunch at one of the many, many pizzerias was followed by a siesta in our room. Back out late afternoon for another try at finding specific sites and then dinner by the Duomo or on the street of our hotel, Via Fuenza, where we were never disappointed. After an hour relaxing in the room we went back to the corner for a late night treat at our favourite gelato place, Gelati del Bondi.

Over the course of two days we were able to eventually find all of the places we had marked to see and many others we just happened upon. Florence is such a beautiful city we very much enjoyed just wandering the streets, so getting lost was not a bother. Our favourite shop was Signum on Borge dei Greci 40R, with lots of beautiful notebooks, library sculptures and other stationery. A delightful little shop.

Unfortunately we discovered a surprise train strike was to take place the next day, when we were scheduled to depart. Rather than face the crowds and chaos at the train station, since it was unclear what would be running, we decided to take a taxi to Lucca. However, our hotel concierge offered to drive us, at a lower rate. While still pricey, given the challenges we have had with the trains and finding our hotel upon arrival for our earlier stops, we felt we deserved this break.