Trip To Italy

Sergi and I recently celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary. I am so blessed to be married to my best friend and to share life with the man who I respect and admire, who loves me and makes me feel cherished every day. I always say that Sergi is my gift from God and I am more convinced of it the more we are married.

Here we are, June 18, 2006

Here we are, June 18, 2006

If you follow me on Facebook or Instagram, you already know that we decided to spend this anniversary in Italy. We both love to travel and it is one of our dreams to travel all around the world. IMG_3974 (333x500)We went for a week and visited Rome, Florence, Pisa, Venice and Milan. We bought a package for a classic tour of Italy, which included travel by bus from city to city. 

It was incredible and really humbling to walk down the streets of a country that has such a rich history. The architecture is truly magnificent and worth seeing. So many times I felt like pinching myself to make sure I wasn’t dreaming. The smartest thing that we did was take another week of vacation after our travels. Ha ha! There was so much to see and we didn’t want to miss any of it. It was certainly exhausting to wake up every day at 6:30 and spend hours and hours walking and touring the many cities that we visited.

Now I know you’re probably wondering about the food. This IS a food blog, after all. I don’t know how many times people told us that we were so lucky that we would be tasting authentic Italian food. In America, Italian food is probably the most popular and most dearly loved cuisine. I most certainly agree. Quite frankly, I was expecting to dedicate an entire post or two about all the delicious food I would taste. I even took a small notebook to carry in my purse and take notes so I wouldn’t forget anything.

The food was a letdown, to be sure. At first we thought it was because we probably just  happened upon a few restaurants that were not the greatest. We ate breakfast, lunch and dinners in at least 7 different cities and towns, and we didn’t notice any difference in the quality of the food. For example, not one single restaurant served freshly grated cheese. We were simply served fake Parmesan with a bunch of additives from the infamous plastic can, that was served in a container with a spoon. You can’t fool me:). I know the difference between real Parmesan and the other “stuff”. They rarely ever even used fresh herbs. I was really hoping to try some homemade pasta, but alas, not one restaurant served us pasta that wasn’t boiled from the box. Anyway, for the most part the food was very bland and under seasoned. I’m sorry to say, but it reminded me of cafeteria food. It was much pricier than here in America, so it wasn’t because we weren’t willing to spend money on quality food. We researched for “best places to eat in Rome”, we asked locals for their favorite places to eat, we tried many different places, but it was all the same. We tried paying more than $100 for a meal, but even that food was disappointing in quality.

We did find great quality ingredients, though. I bought authentic Parmesan cheese, Pecorino Romano cheese, balsamic vinegar, extra virgin olive oil, etc. We had many tasting throughout our trip and I was always so excited to try these Italian delicacies. It’s just a shame that Italian restaurants don’t use those phenomenal ingredients in their cooking. Most likely Italian families cook great food in their homes, but since we don’t have the privilege of being personally acquainted with an Italian family who would invite us over for dinner, we didn’t get to experience that.

We didn’t travel all the way to Italy for the food, of course, so we were still very happy with our overall experience.

The views of the countryside were absolutely stunning. I am most definitely a country girl at heart and felt so alive and my joy just bubbled over when we visited small towns, countryside villas, lakes and mountains. The cities felt too crowded and “touristy” to me, but that’s to be expected.

The sights are so amazing, people from all over the world want to see it as well. Besides, how can you go to Italy and not see all the classic attractions?

 

Both of us are so pleased that we finally made one of our dreams come true and visited the beautiful country of Italy. We took SO many incredible pictures and the memories we made will be with us for the rest of our lives. The best part of the trip was spending time with each other, every single moment of every single day.

34 Comments

  • veta

    Ahhhh….Italy!!! It is my big dream to visit Italy… and France 😉 lucky u guys!! I really like your posts..by the way, our anniversary is on June,18 too haha and we had similar hair style lol happy belated anniversary!!! Be blessed!

  • Terry

    We are going to Italy in a few months. We are going to Venice, Cinque Terre, the Tuscany area, Rome, Sorrento, the Amalfi Coast, Capri and Naples.

    I’m still trying to figure out what part of Rome to sleep in. Do you have any recommendations?

    • olgak7

      In Rome we stayed at a hotel called de Borgia. It’s practically brand new, it opened just 3-4 days before we arrived. Great customer service, beautiful rooms, and it’s located in the center of Rome within walking distance from the Colosseum. Rome is a huge city, though. I’m sure they have many, many great places to stay.

  • larisa

    Wow!! Amazing pictures and such a beautiful trip! Happy anniversary! may God bless you dearly, and fulfill all your dreams and wishes! Thank you for sharing your experience in italy! And for all those incredible recipes 🙂 you’re an amazing person 😉

  • Veronika

    Hey Olga 🙂 You guys should have gone to a ‘farm’ where they serve everything fresh and homemade 🙂 Then you really get to taste the deliciousness of Italy 🙂

    • olgak7

      That would have been awesome, Veronika! We did visit some farms and small towns in the countryside, which we loved. The food wasn’t the best there either, but it was probably since they were cooking for “tourists”. That’s ok. We really enjoyed the awesome views:).

  • veronika

    wow, Italy is amazing, my dream vacation, so many places you guys visited, you are going to remember this for the rest of your lives. You probably had the best anniversary ever. Happy Anniversary. if I may ask, how much it cost you guys for the vacation, including food, hotel and the plain tickets.

    • olgak7

      Thanks, Veronika!
      We really enjoyed our vacation.
      The price is a little too personal to reveal, in my opinion. If you’re interested, you can find out the info from a travel agency. The cost really varies, depending on the types of hotels you stay in, the transportation you use, how much you want to see, etc.

  • [email protected]

    Happy 7 years to you both! My husband and I hope to travel to Europe someday as well! Thanks for sharing your photos/experience with us. I’m sorry the food disappointed, but happy that you were able to find some goodies to take home! Let the Italian cooking begin! 🙂

  • Oksana

    Hi Olga, it’s really great that you got to travel somewhere where you wanted to go to. I’m not a traveler, and never had any desire to go to any ‘tour(asty)’ places. Except maybe to Israel, my parents were there, and they want to go back. Now if you want fresh ingredients, go there, bc they get fruit and veggie blooming and ready to eat like 4 times a year or something. Parents said that food never tasted so good anywhere (think of the sweetest reddest tomato, mmmm).
    Anyway, I was just talking to someone and they said the same thing about italian food being way overpriced and not so great to eat. They thought at least italian pizza would be awesome, nope, they were also at different restaurants and deeply disappointed, with the food and especially the service. Even the staff was usually quite rude to them.
    But happy anniversary to you, it is about spending time with each other together, and where else would you go on vacation, you already live in Florida, lol. Great pics by the way

    • olgak7

      We are definitely travelers with my husband and were so excited to visit Italy. Even though the food wasn’t the best, we got to experience a different culture, expand our horizons and see absolutely breathtaking sights. Plus, it’s always healthy to leave America for short periods of time, so we appreciate it on an even deeper level when we return.
      Israel would be awesome to visit too. It’s on our list as well! America has so many awesome places to see, we are looking forward to visiting places in this country as well.

  • Olga G

    I love all your pictures Olga! It’s a blessing to be happily married for seven years. It seems like these days people are quick to “throw in the towl” on their marriage. This post was great because marriage really is wonderful! 🙂

    • olgak7

      Thanks, Olga G.
      It helps when you’re married to such an amazing guy, like my husband:). I am so happy to be married to him. 7 years with him have been the best years of my life and I look forward to many more decades together.

  • Snow

    Olga, I am so happy for you guys that you got such an awesome opportunity! I am hoping to visit family in Italy this fall if school doesn’t interfere. Glad you had a wonderful time and if you do go again, let me know and I will hook you up with a stay at my uncles house in Venice;)

  • Oksana K

    Looks like you guys had a wonderful time out there! 🙂 By looking at pictures, you can tell it was an awesome vacation!
    RE: food, i kinda thought of you being there, recearching recipes, ideas and, obviously, expecting to try something great, best of the best…. but yeah… little bit of disapointment. I haven’t been to Italy, but i assumed, that since this country is one of the Most Visited, they would NOT spend all that extra time and money, and use best quality freshly prepared food in restaurants, instead – make it happen fast!!! (due to high demand) And we all know, everything that is done fast, must be pre-made, previously frozen and prepackaged. How sad, tho….

    • olgak7

      It really was an incredible vacation. It’s always nice to get away, experience different cultures, see different sights. We will enjoy the memories we made and all the pictures we took for many years to come.

  • Lyuda Voytovich

    Hi Olichka ! I loved your vacation pictures and posts. For a moment I felt I was there. It is still my dream to go for a little trip to visit the amazing parts in Europe. Maybe one day… who knows 🙂 Although, I was a little shocked that in the entire Italy, not one restaurant stood up for the traditional natural home made food with natural ingredients, that’s a shame, because food tells alot about the culture and country . Thank you again for sharing your experience and pictures.

    • olgak7

      I’m glad you enjoyed the pictures, Lyuda! It was amazing to be there. We definitely will enjoy the memories for many years to come.

  • Tallya

    So happy for you guys! The close up of you in the blue dress and the one of you both relaxing in your hotel room! Love them! You two are put together by God for sure. Hope you have many more happy trips together 🙂

  • Lila

    Thanks for sharing your trip with us! It was almost like we had a little preview trip:) I have always wanted to go to Italy and Greece! Happy belated anniversary! It still turned out a great trip, even with not so great food. A friend of mine went to Italy a few months ago and said the same thing about the food:( That Italian food in America tastes better than in Italy.

    • olgak7

      Thanks, Lila. Traveling is so much fun. We just love it. We’d like to visit Greece someday too. My sister and her husband went there on their honeymoon and they loved it. They thought the food was awesome too:).
      In regards to food in Italy, we’ve heard from several people that visited Italy that the food wasn’t as yummy as Italian food in America. Oh, well. It was still a great trip and we can always enjoy Italian food here!

  • Lina

    hi Olga!! so beautiful!!! Congrats on so many years together!! reminds me of our honeymoon. we took a month off and spent it in Europe. One week of it was in Italy. Btw, there are other ways to get to Venice like the train. That’s what we did:) Did you get to go inside the coliseum? So much sad history there. We also loved visiting the Vatican.

    • olgak7

      Hi Lina,
      Thanks for your well wishes. We had a phenomenal time.
      We did not go inside the Coliseum, it was too late in the day. It was already closed to the public. We did go inside the Vatican.

  • Alina

    Hi Olga,

    I was looking through your blog and came across this post. This looked like an awesome vacation! I would love to do this for our anniversary 🙂 If it is not too personal, what travel agency did you use to book the trip? Also, you mentioned a tour that you guys went on; do you remember the name of the tour? Thanks 🙂

    • olgak7

      I don’t remember what company we used, I would have to look it up. We took a classic tour of Italy that took us to Rome, Florence, Venice, Pisa, Milan and a few smaller towns on the way.

      • Alina

        Oh ok, well now that I think about it, I’m sure there are dozens of companies in Italy that probably do similar tours so I’m sure I’ll find something if I look around. I just really liked the places you visited, and I would also LOVE to go out to the countryside and see the views! Although I like to walk through the “touristy” places and just see the old architecture and look around, I am like you, a country girl at heart 🙂 but anyway, thanks for the response; I will try to look for something similar 🙂 Blessings!

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