Water, Wine and Tennis

In 2015, I embarked on a ”bonding experiment” with one of my aunts – we both like to travel so why not take a trip together. Destination of choice: Italy – Rome, Florence and Venice to be exact. An 8-day Journey by rail allowing approx. 1 and a half days of exploration in each location. We arrived in Rome via airplane and then traveled to Florence and Venice via train; flying back to the states from Venice. Our main mode of transport in each city was public transportation (I’ll discuss those details in another post, but know it was quite easy to get around). We each had additional places and activities of interest to see including the Leaning Tower of Pisa, and for my tennis fanatic aunt – the Italian Open.

The trip began in Rome which was hosting the Italian Open. You may think the Vatican, Sistine Chapel or Colosseum is the highlight of touring Rome, however that summer, it was Foro Itálico where we got to see Venus Williams play. Cool experience to be sure, however I was much less a tennis aficionado than my travel partner, and that was the only site along with views from the bus rides to and fro that we saw in Rome. (I’m definitely planning another trip to Italy so I can visit some of the more traditional tourist sites in Rome and possibly re-visit Venice which I loved.)

The next city in our journey was Firenze (Florence). We booked a city tour which included the Duomo, Michelangelo’s David as well as points of interest throughout town. Florence is a great place to buy leather goods as well as the closest place in our journey to take a side trip to Pisa (approx. a 1 hour train ride). Friends had suggested visiting Siena, “a must see city” while visiting the country. So, we not only bought a train ticket to Pisa but also opted for a bus tour package of the Chianti and Siena regions.

Yes, Chianti is a winery tour – funnily enough, only one of us was into wine at the time. The tour involved a trip to three different wineries where there were wine tastings paired with breads, meats, cheeses, olive oil and balsamic vinegar samplings. My aunt is a pescatarian and the meats were salami and/or prosciutto which just meant more food samples for me. Additionally, she really wasn’t into red wine, so I took one for the team yet again. 😁 The tour culminated in Siena where we had a pizza dinner and visited Piazza del Campo.

Before we embarked on our journey to Venice, I wanted to definitely get my cheesy photo at the Leaning Tower of Pisa. I also decided to embrace my love-hate relationship with heights and climb to the top of the tower. The “climb” involved going up a narrow marble spiral staircase (more than 250 steps) that is situated in a building that is most definitely leaning. You then climbed through a hatch at the top to get to the bell tower where you can take the best photos and views of the city.

Our bonding experiment concluded with a trip to Venice – probably my favorite city in the journey. Venice is simply beautiful, colorful and of course sitting atop water. Since we relied on public transportation throughout our journey, I got to experience a vaporetto- water bus which was actually a very efficient form of public transportation. We also opted for a walking tour followed by a gondola serenade and dinner in St. Mark’s Square where you can hear live music from the dueling orchestras. The most fun I had transportation wise was probably the water taxi ride to the airport to go back home.