Porto Venere, Italy is a beautiful town near Cinque Terre. The narrow pedestrian streets remind me a lot of Venice except there are a lot more stairs!
Author: Sandra
Porto Venere, Italy
We knew we wanted to visit Portofino, Italy, and when I was looking at the map I saw Porto Venere. I thought at first that Porto Venere was Portofino (sometimes the Italian name is different from the English name) and then I realized it was a different port town near Cinque Terre. I am glad…
Walking and Dancing around Portofino, Italy
We love walking all of the little paths around Portofino. We even found our castle – Castello Brown!
Portofino, Italy
We were really excited to see THE Portofino, Italy – not the copy in Orlando, Florida. Portofino is a really small port town and there are tons of walking paths all around that lead to beautiful houses and amazing views. We really loved SO many details that Universal’s Portofino hotel copied so well from the…
James is ready for bed.
In the US, James has his own bed on the floor next to our bed. But while we are traveling in Europe, we can’t exactly tote around a big dog bed! Instead, we have a blanket we bring and we put that on top of the foot of the bed and James gets to sleep…
Il Talismano in La Spezia
I love window shopping in Europe. One night while walking around La Spezia, I spotted this jewelry store. I fell in love with so many of these rings!
Marina Walk in La Spezia, Italy
The marina is just a few minutes from our Airbnb in La Spezia, Italy. We love walking over the pedestrian bridge, looking at the water and checking out all of the boats.
Walking Around the Castello di San Giorgio in La Spezia
Today we were walking around the area behind our Airbnb and we found the Castello Di San Giorgio. We are really enjoying La Spezia – it is one of our favorite Italian cities!
La Spezia, Italy
We are really enjoying La Spezia, Italy! We knew it was a port town, but we didn’t realize it was a cruise ship port town! We are already talking about taking a cruise in this area in the future. Our apartment is right in the heart of town where most of the streets are pedestrian-only….
Apartment Tour | La Spezia, Italy Airbnb
Join us on a tour of our Airbnb in La Spezia, Italy! La Spezia was one of our favorite Italian towns and we will definitely be going back to this Airbnb in the future. Since we are on a long-term travel adventure, we prefer to stay at apartments instead of hotels while we travel. If…
The Leaning Tower of Pisa?
We are on a train from Florence, Italy to La Spezia, Italy. We knew the train would be going past Pisa and we were hoping we could see the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Did you think we get to see the Leaning Tower of Pisa from our train? Watch this video to find out!
Sunshine in Florence, Italy
We all need a little bit of sunshine – it has been a long, cold winter here in Europe!
Ponte Vecchio: The Jewelry Bridge
The Ponte Vecchio in Florence translates to “Old Bridge” but it should really be called the Jewelry Bridge! It is a beautiful pedestrian bridge that crosses the Arno River. We were thinking maybe the buildings on the bridge used to be apartments. But once we did some research we realized they were always shops. They…
Italian Eye Drops
I rarely need eye drops but for some reason my eyes have been dry lately. I stopped by the farmacia and the best part about European pharmacies is they help you with everything. You don’t have to wander aisles and aisles of stuff and then stare at 237 types of eye drops trying to figure…
Spa Day for James in Florence, Italy
James needed to get groomed while we were here in Florence, Italy. We found a cute little grooming shop called Elisa Toilette just across the Arno River. We hopped on the T1 tram and headed over to get James groomed. Isn’t it funny that the grooming shop is called a Toilette? A dog groomer in…
The Florence Opera House
We love walking around and exploring new areas with James. The Opera House in Florence, also known as the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, is just a few blocks from our apartment in Florence. We have walked around it a few times and one evening we decided to walk up to what we thought was…
Rubbing the Boar’s Nose for Good Luck in Florence
In the heart of Florence, there is a sculpture called Il Porcellino (piglet in Italian). It is a tradition to put a coin into the boar’s mouth and make a wish as the coin falls into the grates below. In addition to being good luck, this also ensures a return to Florence. It is a…
Walking Around Florence, Italy
Join us as we walk around Florence, Italy!
Italian BB Cream
I love shopping for beauty products and makeup in other countries. I found so many fun items in Bipa and Meuller in Austria so I was excited to see what I could find in Italy. I tried a few different Tigotà stores in Treviso and Venice but I didn’t see anything I wanted to try….
La Bottega del Mosaico
One of my favorite artist shops in Florence is La Bottega del Mosaico. I really want to go back to Florence to buy one of these mosaics to hang in our home.
If you were quickly walking past the