Final Thoughts on Italy

- Italy is way more expensive than Spain, especially Capri and Positano. You can probably get by relatively cheap if you just wander around and grab a sandwich or a slice for lunch and dinner, but sit down restaurants, tours/museums, and some of our accommodations were quite pricey. It's a good thing we left for Vietnam when we did!!
- Just because there are four separate courses on the menu, you don't have to order something from every course. It took us a few days to realize this...
- There are cats everywhere!!
- Nearly everyone we came across spoke English. They say "a little bit" if you ask them and then they are fluent.
- Basically everyone we came across was very nice and helpful and hospitable.
- Capri and Positano were by far our favorite places on the trip so far. There are indescribable. We will absolutely be back.
- Venice was awesome. I could see how some people might not love it, if they are staying near St. Mark's Square, since it is heavily packed with tourists at all time. But if you stay in a less busy area (like we did), it is amazing.
- I liked Rome a lot more than I thought I would. It was probably my favorite of the really large cities. We had a wonderful three days there.
- I wish we had given ourselves more time to explore Florence. We were there for 4 nights, but the first night was just getting settled in, the second was jam packed with hitting the top attractions, the third was a day trip to Siena, and the fourth was the Chianti wine tour. We never really had a chance to just wander and explore the city. Since we only saw the really touristy areas that second day, it was overwhelmingly crowded and I didn't quite fall in love with it. By this point, I was so sick of cities and crowds that I was ready to leave. I would like to go again and see the other side of the city. I would also love to spend more than 8-10 hours in Siena. The city was beautiful and I could see us loving spending a few nights there.
- Naples was..."rough". Tim loved it for some reason, he enjoyed seeing a more "authentic" side of Italy. I am really glad we did the kayak tour, so we were able to see the beautiful coast. But I'm not sure I need to go back there.
- We are really happy with how much we were able to see and do in two and a half weeks. Next time, we would love to go to Sicily. And Tim really wants to go to the Italian Alps. And we would like to explore more of Tuscany, and Cinque Terre.
- The Blue Grotto is magical. If you get a chance to swim in it after hours, do it. That boat trip was by far the highlight so far.Read more