OUR EUROTRIP SUMMARY
We recently came back from a three-week Eurotrip, which some of you may have known of if you follow our blog.
We thought it would be fun to write a little about our experience, and everything we got up to! We will be sharing a much more detailed description of our trip later, this will just be a brief breakdown of the events.
But brace yourself, this will still be a somewhat of a lengthy blog post!
It all started off with us flying from Windhoek straight to Frankfurt on the 28th of June. It was a long and uncomfortable flight, but we made it without any delays or hassles. As soon as we flew over the Alps, we started to jiggle in our seats from all the bottled up excitement.
Our stay in Germany was very short, lasting only two days. We spent one day in Frankfurt with our Swakopmund friends and neighbors, then we were off to Cologne. We took a breathtaking boat trip on the Rhein river to St.Goarshausen, and then hopped on a train.
In Cologne we saw the massive Gothic Cathedral framed an amazing sunset along the Hohenzollern bridge. We unfortunately didn’t add our love padlock to the thousands of others fastened to the railings on the bridge. Nadine just isn’t that type of girl..
The next day we head towards Amersfoort. We took 3 trains to get there, but we made it by running between platforms and dragging our over packed bags up flights of stairs. Our good friend Etienne, who recently moved to the Netherlands, came to fetch us at the train station. We spent the next couple of days visiting Amsterdam, the Van Gogh Museum, meeting up with Swakopmunders, exploring Amersfoort, and cycling to Muiderslot. Our stay in The Netherlands was much too short, and we wished we could stay longer. But Italy was calling, and we had to answer!
We then flew (on a plane) from Amsterdam to Milan, and took a long ride in an old tram to our Airbnb. We explored the sights of Milan for a day, visiting the roof of the Duomo Cathedral, walking through Sforzesco castle, riding on electric scooters, accidentally picnicking in the dog-poopy area, and eating delicious pizzas (in a different area). After successfully taming Milan, we got on a train to our next stop, Venice!
Venice was amazing, even with the sprawling amounts of tourists around every corner. We met old Pretoria friends there, and explored the main island as well as a few other along with them, not to mention the famous glass blowers in Murano. We had a blast for the next two days, before being picked up by another old Swakopmunder, Andrea! He is originally from Valdagno, and volunteered to be our gracious tour guide for the next four days through this wonderful part of Italy.
Andrea took us to Recoaro Terme, a lovely town nestled a valley of the dolomite mountains. We ate loads of gnocchi, had drinks with his family, climbed up a mountain, went bowling and even went swimming in a natural hot spring. Needless to say, it was a fun filled four days!
Next we headed further south towards Florence, sadly knowing we won’t find hospitality better than what we had just received from Andrea and his family. Thank you for the unbelievable authentic Italian experience guys.
We took the train on a rainy day and accidentally ended up in Arezzo. We hopped on a train back to Florence, luckily at no extra cost. We were very lucky with our time in Florence, as the rain only lasted for one afternoon, leaving us with an entire day to frolic around in the sun. We saw the real David, The Birth of Venus, three real Leonardo’s and not to mention some very strange shops and curators!
After our brief stay in Florence, we had to part ways with our friends once again, with teary eyes and swollen hearts. We were heading to Rome for the last stop of our journey, where it would be just the two of us again.
Rome was super busy, but nevertheless we were in absolute awe. So much to do and see, places to go and things to eat. We had a wonderful time just walking around and taking the trams to all the different places. The Borghese museum was definitely a highlight, with the majestic Bernini sculptures, as well as the magnificence of Saint Peter’s Basilica. Overall Rome blew us away, even though we were sweating like crazy day in and out.
When the afternoon of the 19th of July arrived, we knew our Eurotrip holiday was over. We got on the Leonardo Express towards Fiumicino Airport, quickly refreshed ourselves after a day of sweating profusely, and hopped on the plane. A mere 13 hours later, and we were in Johannesburg!
And that’s it! We hope you’ve liked this suuuuper brief explanation of our Eurotrip! We are working on something new and fresh, where we will go into depth with these and many more experiences. And of course, show you some more photos taken by yours truly!!
Travel Safe,
SP & Nadine