A Five Day Trip for Mature Travelers

I have loved writing about some of our trips to Seattle, New York City, Paris and Lithuania!

I have mixed feelings about the trip to Italy for our Second Anniversary, because we went about it all wrong. When we were in Lithuania, it made complete sense to rent a car. Everything was very far apart, there wasn’t public transportation…so to get anywhere you needed to drive. Conversely, in Paris, we stayed in one hotel the whole time and just walked everywhere. One city-easy peasy. 

We weren’t sure how to handle Italy, which had SO MANY cities and attractions we wanted to see. When would we ever come back? We better make sure we see everything on this trip!

This was not the right approach. At the end of the day, YES, we saw almost everything in the freaking country. But was it worth it? We were exhausted; completely blitzed from staying in a different hotel every night and driving like crazy each day.

I admit that I wish I would have appreciated the culture and artwork more, but I had a good amount of issues with my back and walking on this trip. Sometimes there is not much you can do about that, other than plan out your trip really well, and be careful not to bite off more than you can chew.

As a mature traveler especially (see my post on tips for mature travelers), I would recommend staying in one city, then taking public transportation to others. Although we didn’t heed this advice, we still have many wonderful memories of our time in Italy.

Every city we visited had spectacular architecture, history and artwork. Nothing you would ever see in the US, which is what makes traveling here so special. But each of the cities I mention below also has its own unique personality, and I’m excited to relive our memories and share, in case you have the opportunity to visit!

Venice. This city was our first introduction to Italy, and I loved it. You cannot even have a car here, so this was the highlight of our trip. Taking a water taxi to the city was just the coolest thing!

The boat operator asked us where we were going, and FYI he didn’t mean to Venice…many different districts are part of the city. Districts include San Polo, Castello, and Santa Croce. The tourist center and heart of the city is San Marco (or St. Mark’s), and I do recommend staying here. You see the amazing St. Mark’s square and basilica- a wonderful place for an al fresco lunch. Our hotel here was incredible and relatively cheap!

There are little bridges throughout the city, and the streets just veer off into what appears to be nowhere, and then you suddenly come across a little cafe or winery. So adorable! We had to take a gondola ride of course!

Balogna. This was our first blush with the crowds in Italian towns. There was amazing architecture in this city as we saw on the whole trip.

But when a car is driving through the streets, people do not care! They literally do not move, so it is honestly next to impossible to navigate. We did something funny here though. We found a supermarket and bought balogna!! 😂

I knew I wanted to try pasta bolognese, so we went on the hunt for a good restaurant. It was weirdly hard to find one that was open, available and serving- so we ended up at a little hole in the wall kind of place, that turned out to be fantastic. I do suggest trying places off the beaten path! A lovely father and daughter ran this restaurant.

Naples. I’m not sure if others agree that Naples was a little rough. Parking our car, a guy actually asked us for money to ‘keep an eye on the car’ while we were away- yikes. We had to go there, because I found the most popular pizzeria in all of Italy, and there was no way I was going to miss that. It’s called Pizzeria da Michele, and we found it pretty easily.

It had literally a line around the corner, and you had to pull a number for the waiting list. While we were waiting, we took a little walk around the block and it was a bit of a run down area. But when our number was finally called, let me tell you, the pizza was out of this world! There were celebrity photos on the walls of the famous people who had eaten there, including Julia Roberts when filming Eat, Pray, Love. If you’ve read the book by Elizabeth Gilbert, you will clearly remember her description of this pizza.

“These pies we have just ordered are making us lose our minds. I love my pizza so much, in fact, that I have come to believe in my delirium that my pizza might actually love me in return. I am having a relationship with this pizza, almost an affair. ” Liz Gilbert- Eat, Pray, Love

I would whole heartedly agree! We did revisit Naples on our way back up the coast , and this time stayed at the most amazing place overlooking the whole city. A hot tub on the balcony? OMG, this place was incredible and the perfect last night in Italy. So parts of Naples, just like anywhere, were also SO nice. 

Rome. You have to do it, right? We did a hop on-hop off bus here, which was the best idea in a city there is much to see. The Colosseum, Trevi Fountain…these are all really cool, but it was fine to see them from the comfort of the bus 🙂

The Vatican is spectacular, truly- so we needed to see this up close. I just wish there weren’t so many crowds and some places to sit down. It was a tough day for me, but I stuck it out and am glad to have seen it.

Florence. Did you know there is more than one David in Florence? The famous one is in the Galleria dell’ Academia di fiorenze. A replica is at the Palazzo Vecchio, where the famous one once stood. Good to know, although we didn’t 😩It would not be a trip of ours without a mess up like this. So we never did see the famous one, much to my husband’s chagrin. We did love the little piazzas and cafes in this adorable city however. It was in Florence where we met a couple from Sweden at dinner. We were complaining about driving in the cities and how we were so tired and everything…and they’re like, “Oh we are staying right down the street this whole week!” What? Well, that was a good idea!

Tuscany. One of the biggest reasons I want to go to Italy was to experience Tuscany. Unlike the cities with the popular artwork and history (that is more my husband’s speed), I am more of a beautiful scenery, little cafes and wineries kind of girl. So I was excited to stay at a vineyard near Montepulciano. So beautiful. 

We always have to at least TRY to do something adventurous, outdoorsy and/or athletic on our trips, although we don’t always succeed. Our electric bike rental didn’t really go as planned but we made the effort! I more enjoyed our aperitif in the cafe in the middle of town!

Amalfi Coast. Driving down this coast is the craziest experience ever. The narrow roads along this coastline are pretty high up, and are SO winding- check out the map here!

There are several small towns along this coastline, like Sorrento, Amalfi, Ravello and Praino. We really enjoyed Positano. I do think this was my favorite area, because you see the beauty of the Italian coastline and the incredibly interesting way the houses are built into the mountains. Classic Italian landscapes that are breathtaking.

Pompei. This was a lot to take in; it’s pretty much a whole complex with little cafes and vendors, in addition to the excavation area and museum. So know that it’s a good deal of walking. This place is obviously pretty creepy and solemn with what happened here- the explosion of Mount Vesuvius. It is quite amazing so much was preserved, like this famous body that was found in the rubble.

I hope you have the chance to visit Italy and check out some of the things we experienced. I’m looking forward to taking some inspiration from the food we ate there, and hosting an Italian dinner party soon! Stay tuned!