Day 0 - Got the visa 6 days before the departure and we were all set go
Day 1 - Flew by Kuwait airways
Although this was a dry airline, we were mostly good through this one - since we were able to catch a few drinks at the T3 lounge
The flight had some good leg space in comparison to the other flights we have used
The food served was chhole, rice and paneer gravy
In non veg they served chicken
Next we had a long layover of 4 hrs at Kuwait
We were able to find a lounge to snooze in comfortably. Although we got an option to eat some free food, we skipped it.
We were able to take care of our morning business as well over there.
Finally we had a cappuccino and hot chocolate and thereafter got on the flight.
In this stretch we were mostly up and watched few movies, I finished cold pursuit and captain marvel, Neha watched Dawn of planet of apes and ZNMD and were watching partner thereafter together.
Day 1 contd
We reached Milan and it took forever for us to get done with the immigration line and then we stepped out.
The driver was very courteous and waited a long time till we reached and it was a comfortable ride till the hotel although it was super long before we reached, almost an hour.
We used the metro to reach near the Duomo area where the galleria and main Duomo was present.
Then after spending some time in the hotel, we went to the galleria near the Duomo, had a nice pizza along with a wine and beer. This was our introduction to olive oil, nice bread and balsamic vinegar.
We also tried a gelato after that which was quite good.
Neha had a mango gelato and I had a chocolate and pistachio gelato. Post that we went back via the metro to Milan Central.
Crazy number of dogs in Milan and mostly the ones small in size and a new addition was a bidet in all the bathrooms which was present in all the places from here on.
Day 2 Venice
Next day we were off to Venice early morning and it was quite interesting start to the day. Was quite amazed by the punctuality of the entire group. We reached at 6.50 and were right at the end of the queue.
We started early in the morning at 7 and reached the corner of Venice from where we took a boat ride to reach Venice.
Next all of us took a walk around the city, observed few monuments and an idea about them. Saw the glass factory demonstration and thereafter proceeded for lunch - pizza and some sole fish. Plus a glass of wine. Fish in general was quite popular near all the river / sea places.
After this we had a nice gondola ride across Venice and its canals, then we moved back to the main spot having a gelato and brought some souvenirs and from there we went back in a boat.
Finally we reached back by around 8 pm to our hotel.
Day 3
The day after we went to lake Como, Bellagio and Varenna. Lake Como was beautiful with nice sights, we relaxed in the morning, we saw a lot of private villas around the place and then moved to Bellagio in a private boat ride. At Como, in fact we saw the villa where Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh got married. The boat ride was definitely quite good.
Next coming back to Bellagio. The boat dropped us at the main docking center - and there was a place where our guide recommended us the place where there was no service charge also and food was quite decent.
This is where we had lunch. Initially we tried calamari and fried fish in a cone with a lemon wedge, which was present a bit uphill and that was quite decent too. There were also places which had few options of shopping/souvenirs over here.
We had lunch at a pizza place right in front of the boat stop recommended by our guide, we ordered a pizza and wine of glass - both of these were good. Supposedly the best pizza of Bellagio.
After this we went to Varenna in a public boat where we had some nice gelato, there were couple of shops which were serving good gelatos. Pistachio was a recommended flavour
Our coach thereafter came to pick us up here itself.
This was also a nice trip overall where we reached back by 6 pm.
Day 4
Post this we went from Milan to Florence. Our first train ride and quite a fast one at that. We went in the train which dropped us to Firenze SMN - which was close to our hotel. We enjoyed the train ride and reached the hotel in record time.
Our hotel in Florence was called Arcadia.
A bit of a nondescript place but still quite comfortable from hotel standards.
On this day we roamed around the city and covered most of the place on foot. This was indeed a good city and we loved the vibe of the place.
We were able to cover quite a bit of the city and thereafter finally caught a bus back to the original place of our hotel Arcadia.
This was after we had reached across the river while walking and covering the place on foot.
Day 5
Next day we went to the Cinque terre hike and exploring the 5 towns which were here.
We got off at the bottom and started with towns 2,3,4 and 5 and finally to town 1.
We started with town 2 Manrola where we reached from the train from where our coach had dropped us, here we saw some good views with stairs and then went to a cafe for a quick coffee and loo break drop before hopping on the train again.
Then we reached town 3 which was Corniglia via the train again, after getting off first we climbed around 400 stairs to reach the common meeting point, this stretch acted like a warm-up for the main hike- here we had lunch at a place with a swordfish and pesto spaghetti. This was quite good. We didn't go to the same place as the rest of the group as they were more inclined to try out the fish. So we tried out the food there. Olive oil, along with Balsamic Vinegar and bread was a favourite and was repeated here too.
We got a nice tanktop T-shirt for Neha calling out Cinque Terre.
Post that we went for our actual hike on the way to Vernazza.
We had a good break in the middle where we had some nice orange lemon juice. The hike was nice with some good uphill climb followed by the break and then the downhill.
There were some great views that we saw on the way.
Post that we reached Vernazza which was town 4 where we enjoyed the Sandy Beach along with cinnamon gelato - post that we went to the train station and finally took a train to Monteresso.
At Monteresso we chilled, tried a wine tasting at a place and thereafter moved to the boat. The boat was a 40 mins long ride with some nice cool breeze at the top of the deck.
Finally we reached our final town which was actually town 1 called Ruo Morgoiarre, here we had a glass of half wine along with fried fish, calamari and chips. There were 2 recommended places there. This was also good.
And yes, the best part about Italy was that you could have wine/any alcoholic beverage on the road also till abt 8 PM or something and post that one had to switch to plastic glasses.
Finally we went back to our starting point from where we took our bus back. The 2 guides here were quite impressive and interacted with all of us narrated the journeys to us and went back and chilled out.
Day 6
Here we went to Pisa by a train at 11 am. We reached Pisa at 12 from where we took a bus till the leaning tower and then relaxed there for a while.
Post that we went to the central area of the city next to River Amo and went to a super authentic italian place where we had spaghetti and clams - and a lot of clams otherwise as well. We were also served nice white wine of .5 litres. This was also good. Then I went to have some gelato, and then enjoyed the vibe of Pisa city and went to do a bit of shopping at h and m as well as Zara. Finally we caught the train back to Florence from Pisa.
Then we moved to our hotel and after a small break moved to Piazza Michaelangelo which was a beautiful place from where we enjoyed the view of entire Florence and thereafter we went to a pizzeria with very nice pizza. And then we caught the bus back to the hotel.
Day 7
Next morning we caught a train from Florence to Rome. We reached Rome at around 12 and found the city to be a lot of hustle and bustle and very crowded - this proved to be correct when we took our bus ride as well which was quite crowded.
We reached the pantheon, saw it from the inside and thereafter moved towards Zara and the shopping area of the city. At Pantheon, we had some nice Spritz, we did a video call with Neha's mom. Did a bit of shopping of perfumes here. Post the shopping we went to have a dinner of couple of Burgers again near the pantheon and went back to our hotel. T-Burger was the name of the place and we had a chicken and veg burger over there.
Day 8
Colosseum and Vatican City
We had an early start and reached the colloseo station at 9.15 and started with our trip of the Colosseum area followed by palantine Hill and Roman forum.
This was definitely worth checking out with especially the first floor of the colloseum being quite informative and nice to take views from. Palantine Hill also offered some amazing views.
Post this we grabbed lunch opposite the Colosseum and thereafter moved towards Vatican City. We enjoyed near the St Peter's basilica and thereafter moved towards Piazza de navona.
Here Neha bought a nice painting from a spray painter artist. This was quite good.
Then we grabbed a pizza and spritz at Piazza de navona. After having our food, we tried some crazy Gelato flavours, in fact I had one of the darkest flavours of chocolates. Most of the gelato places offer good gelatos priced between 2 to 4 euros. Finally from there we caught a bus back to our location.
Day 9
The last day we just grabbed breakfast and then were ready to leave for the airport.
Day 1 - Flew by Kuwait airways
Although this was a dry airline, we were mostly good through this one - since we were able to catch a few drinks at the T3 lounge
The flight had some good leg space in comparison to the other flights we have used
The food served was chhole, rice and paneer gravy
In non veg they served chicken
Next we had a long layover of 4 hrs at Kuwait
We were able to find a lounge to snooze in comfortably. Although we got an option to eat some free food, we skipped it.
We were able to take care of our morning business as well over there.
Finally we had a cappuccino and hot chocolate and thereafter got on the flight.
In this stretch we were mostly up and watched few movies, I finished cold pursuit and captain marvel, Neha watched Dawn of planet of apes and ZNMD and were watching partner thereafter together.
Day 1 contd
We reached Milan and it took forever for us to get done with the immigration line and then we stepped out.
The driver was very courteous and waited a long time till we reached and it was a comfortable ride till the hotel although it was super long before we reached, almost an hour.
We used the metro to reach near the Duomo area where the galleria and main Duomo was present.
Then after spending some time in the hotel, we went to the galleria near the Duomo, had a nice pizza along with a wine and beer. This was our introduction to olive oil, nice bread and balsamic vinegar.
We also tried a gelato after that which was quite good.
Neha had a mango gelato and I had a chocolate and pistachio gelato. Post that we went back via the metro to Milan Central.
Crazy number of dogs in Milan and mostly the ones small in size and a new addition was a bidet in all the bathrooms which was present in all the places from here on.
Day 2 Venice
Next day we were off to Venice early morning and it was quite interesting start to the day. Was quite amazed by the punctuality of the entire group. We reached at 6.50 and were right at the end of the queue.
We started early in the morning at 7 and reached the corner of Venice from where we took a boat ride to reach Venice.
Next all of us took a walk around the city, observed few monuments and an idea about them. Saw the glass factory demonstration and thereafter proceeded for lunch - pizza and some sole fish. Plus a glass of wine. Fish in general was quite popular near all the river / sea places.
After this we had a nice gondola ride across Venice and its canals, then we moved back to the main spot having a gelato and brought some souvenirs and from there we went back in a boat.
Finally we reached back by around 8 pm to our hotel.
Day 3
The day after we went to lake Como, Bellagio and Varenna. Lake Como was beautiful with nice sights, we relaxed in the morning, we saw a lot of private villas around the place and then moved to Bellagio in a private boat ride. At Como, in fact we saw the villa where Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh got married. The boat ride was definitely quite good.
Next coming back to Bellagio. The boat dropped us at the main docking center - and there was a place where our guide recommended us the place where there was no service charge also and food was quite decent.
This is where we had lunch. Initially we tried calamari and fried fish in a cone with a lemon wedge, which was present a bit uphill and that was quite decent too. There were also places which had few options of shopping/souvenirs over here.
We had lunch at a pizza place right in front of the boat stop recommended by our guide, we ordered a pizza and wine of glass - both of these were good. Supposedly the best pizza of Bellagio.
After this we went to Varenna in a public boat where we had some nice gelato, there were couple of shops which were serving good gelatos. Pistachio was a recommended flavour
Our coach thereafter came to pick us up here itself.
This was also a nice trip overall where we reached back by 6 pm.
Day 4
Post this we went from Milan to Florence. Our first train ride and quite a fast one at that. We went in the train which dropped us to Firenze SMN - which was close to our hotel. We enjoyed the train ride and reached the hotel in record time.
Our hotel in Florence was called Arcadia.
A bit of a nondescript place but still quite comfortable from hotel standards.
On this day we roamed around the city and covered most of the place on foot. This was indeed a good city and we loved the vibe of the place.
We were able to cover quite a bit of the city and thereafter finally caught a bus back to the original place of our hotel Arcadia.
This was after we had reached across the river while walking and covering the place on foot.
Day 5
Next day we went to the Cinque terre hike and exploring the 5 towns which were here.
We got off at the bottom and started with towns 2,3,4 and 5 and finally to town 1.
We started with town 2 Manrola where we reached from the train from where our coach had dropped us, here we saw some good views with stairs and then went to a cafe for a quick coffee and loo break drop before hopping on the train again.
Then we reached town 3 which was Corniglia via the train again, after getting off first we climbed around 400 stairs to reach the common meeting point, this stretch acted like a warm-up for the main hike- here we had lunch at a place with a swordfish and pesto spaghetti. This was quite good. We didn't go to the same place as the rest of the group as they were more inclined to try out the fish. So we tried out the food there. Olive oil, along with Balsamic Vinegar and bread was a favourite and was repeated here too.
We got a nice tanktop T-shirt for Neha calling out Cinque Terre.
Post that we went for our actual hike on the way to Vernazza.
We had a good break in the middle where we had some nice orange lemon juice. The hike was nice with some good uphill climb followed by the break and then the downhill.
There were some great views that we saw on the way.
Post that we reached Vernazza which was town 4 where we enjoyed the Sandy Beach along with cinnamon gelato - post that we went to the train station and finally took a train to Monteresso.
At Monteresso we chilled, tried a wine tasting at a place and thereafter moved to the boat. The boat was a 40 mins long ride with some nice cool breeze at the top of the deck.
Finally we reached our final town which was actually town 1 called Ruo Morgoiarre, here we had a glass of half wine along with fried fish, calamari and chips. There were 2 recommended places there. This was also good.
And yes, the best part about Italy was that you could have wine/any alcoholic beverage on the road also till abt 8 PM or something and post that one had to switch to plastic glasses.
Finally we went back to our starting point from where we took our bus back. The 2 guides here were quite impressive and interacted with all of us narrated the journeys to us and went back and chilled out.
Day 6
Here we went to Pisa by a train at 11 am. We reached Pisa at 12 from where we took a bus till the leaning tower and then relaxed there for a while.
Post that we went to the central area of the city next to River Amo and went to a super authentic italian place where we had spaghetti and clams - and a lot of clams otherwise as well. We were also served nice white wine of .5 litres. This was also good. Then I went to have some gelato, and then enjoyed the vibe of Pisa city and went to do a bit of shopping at h and m as well as Zara. Finally we caught the train back to Florence from Pisa.
Then we moved to our hotel and after a small break moved to Piazza Michaelangelo which was a beautiful place from where we enjoyed the view of entire Florence and thereafter we went to a pizzeria with very nice pizza. And then we caught the bus back to the hotel.
Day 7
Next morning we caught a train from Florence to Rome. We reached Rome at around 12 and found the city to be a lot of hustle and bustle and very crowded - this proved to be correct when we took our bus ride as well which was quite crowded.
We reached the pantheon, saw it from the inside and thereafter moved towards Zara and the shopping area of the city. At Pantheon, we had some nice Spritz, we did a video call with Neha's mom. Did a bit of shopping of perfumes here. Post the shopping we went to have a dinner of couple of Burgers again near the pantheon and went back to our hotel. T-Burger was the name of the place and we had a chicken and veg burger over there.
Day 8
Colosseum and Vatican City
We had an early start and reached the colloseo station at 9.15 and started with our trip of the Colosseum area followed by palantine Hill and Roman forum.
This was definitely worth checking out with especially the first floor of the colloseum being quite informative and nice to take views from. Palantine Hill also offered some amazing views.
Post this we grabbed lunch opposite the Colosseum and thereafter moved towards Vatican City. We enjoyed near the St Peter's basilica and thereafter moved towards Piazza de navona.
Here Neha bought a nice painting from a spray painter artist. This was quite good.
Then we grabbed a pizza and spritz at Piazza de navona. After having our food, we tried some crazy Gelato flavours, in fact I had one of the darkest flavours of chocolates. Most of the gelato places offer good gelatos priced between 2 to 4 euros. Finally from there we caught a bus back to our location.
Day 9
The last day we just grabbed breakfast and then were ready to leave for the airport.
