Honeymoon in Italy recap
A full, way-too-long, recap of our honeymoon trip to Europe last week!
6 European cities and 5 different hotels over the course of 8 days. If that sounds chaotic, it was, a little. It wasn’t the original plan because flight delays forced our hand. But we had an absolute blast and still found plenty of time to relax. This recap goes into way more depth than anyone probably cares about, but writing all of these things down is what got me through the 8 hour flight home. I’ve tried to add a lot of pictures to keep it interesting, but the email is now quite large, so you may need to click “view in browser” in order to see the full contents.
Day 1 - Boston to Paris to Milan (Friday/Saturday)
We left Concord, NH around 1:30 for our 5:20 flight from Boston > Paris > Milan. We parked at the park and ride and ubered to Logan. Check in was quick and we were then free to wander around terminal E for a while. There isn’t much food, but a giant Duty Free section. The flight was delayed 50 minutes because there was another plane at the gate. We were supposed to have 1h15m in Paris to get our next flight, so it already seemed like we’d miss our connection.
The flight to Paris was relatively quick, under 6 hours of flying time. They served food, but due to turbulence it was served 3 hours into the flight leaving little room for sleeping. The options were chicken (which the flight attendant kept calling codfish) and risotto. The chicken and risotto were both creamy and cheesy. Reminder for next time to request a special meal ahead of time and specify any allergies because the people on board have no idea, and the ingredients aren’t listed.
We landed in Paris around 8am and sprinted to try to get to our gate, thinking we had about 15 minutes to make it, and that they might hold the plane since they were both Air France. We were sprinting through the terminal, trying to figure out where we needed to be. Eventually we got stopped by a tram that we needed to take to get to the next terminal. At that point we knew we wouldn’t make it to the gate, and I checked my email to find that Air France had rebooked us for 6pm that night. Given that the journey to our next destination Bellagio was a few hours from Milan, we decided to get a hotel in Milan that night, then go to Bellagio the next day (Sunday).
Once we talked to customer service at Air France and they told us there were no earlier flights, we left the Paris airport to explore the city before our 6pm flight. We took the metro line into the city and found a luggage drop using Bounce. For just $20 we left three bags with them for the day and were free to roam. We went to a bakery for a quiche slice, then stopped into a coffee shop en route to the Louvre. We didn’t go in, but we wandered around the plaza and the park, enjoying the greenery and nice weather.
We continued walking, heading down the Champs-Élysées then walking around toward the Eiffel tower. We took some pictures, then headed toward an Australian cafe Sophia found. After the cafe we walked through a cool area back to the luggage pick up, then lugged everything back to the metro to get to the airport.
Note: any travel within the EU is considered domestic, so going from Paris to Milan was seamless and no one checked our passports. On the flip side, arriving in Paris from Boston, we had to go through customs to leave the airport, and if we had not left, we would have had to go through security again to get to the other terminals within the airport. We found the same thing, that traveling Rome to Lisbon was super easy, but for Lisbon to Boston we had to go through customs to get into the terminal.
Arriving in Milan the local time was around 8pm and we took a nice metro to a station about 10 minutes walking from the Hotel Berna. We were hungry at this point and stopped at Miscusi, a fast pasta place one minute from our hotel. While we were promised the ability to order on your phone, the servers still came by to confirm our orders. The server told Sophia the broccoli pesto was “done.” We thought that meant it was ready, but he actually meant they were out of it. He then gave her the choice of ragu or pomodoro to which Sophia unknowingly chose ragu. I tried to veto that decision knowing the ragu is meat sauce, but we failed to convince the server the we actually wanted pomodoro, so he brought out ragu lol.
After 1 hour of sleep, 30,000 steps, and unexpected stops in Paris and Milan, we were beat.
Day 2 - Milan to Bellagio (Sunday)
We woke up late at almost 10am, then panicked briefly thinking we would miss the free hotel breakfast that was served until 10:30. We quickly went downstairs for some eggs and fruit. After, we packed up and left our suitcases at the hotel for the day so we could explore a little bit, planning to take the 2:48 train from Milan to Varenna.
We didn’t have much time, so we took the metro down to the Castello, an old castle, which we explored for a little bit, then walked over to the Basilica square area. As you would expect in Milan, there were a lot of luxury stores. Milan fashion week was starting in just a few days.
We grabbed a margherita pizza and salad (aka a to-go box of arugula) at Berbere, a fast pizza chain that we also saw in Florence. Then we hopped aboard the train headed north to Varenna in Lake Como.
The views of the mountains on this ride are striking. Massive, rocky cliffs with big lakes in between. The landscape was as stunning as everyone promised. We were in Varenna in an hour, along with a bunch of other American couples who all had the same idea.
The chaos began when we got off the train and followed a long line of passengers down to the port to catch the ferry. The streets are narrow, bumpy, and sometimes you’re walking in actual roads alongside cars. It’s not an easy journey with heavy luggage. The next ferry was departing soon, and the train was full of people, so there was a big line of people waiting to buy tickets. You can theoretically buy tickets online (though we never got it to work) so everyone queued at the ticket desk. Luckily we got tickets and got on the ferry.
We took the ferry from Varenna to Menaggio then to Bellagio. Once we got off the ferry it looked like we just had to walk about 0.8 miles north to our airbnb. Again, the streets were bumpy and crowded, making it very difficult to pull a suitcase. Eventually the path turned into a road with stone walls on either side, and we were climbing uphill on a narrow strip with cars flying at us. It was a slog to get up the hill and I was drenched after making the climb with the luggage. Not to mention how unsettling it was to have cars flying by you at high speeds a few feet away.
After we got to the top of the hill we veered off toward Darsene Di Loppia, a restaurant we later learned was in the Michelin guide and has been a favorite of George and Amal Clooney’s. The menu looked quite funky and there were no reservations available, so we didn’t get to go. We got settled in our airbnb and decided to walk to a public beach that looked quite close.
The public beach was next to a little restaurant that had drinks and food. We wandered down and put our towels down looking out at a float dock. The beaches are also quite rocky, so it’s hard to walk out in the water. We laid on the towels, drinking out of a water bottle some of the prosecco our host had given us. We decided to head home before sunset so we weren’t walking on the narrow road in the dark.
We got ready and decided to walk up to the restaurant and Hotel Silvio, which was in our small village area and didn’t require any travel on a road. Silvio had a beautiful deck area overlooking the lake from a hundred feet above. They were able to seat us and we enjoyed a nice meal. We learned the local specialities often consisted of lake fish. Perch over rice was on most menus. We ended up ordering two pastas and a fish dish to share.
Day 3 - Bellagio + Varenna (Monday)
It was supposed to be a rainy day. We woke up to the sound of pouring rain but it quickly cleared and became sunny. Moved by a weather window, we were hoping to walk into Bellagio and explore the shops, thinking we could get there before the rain started again. We walked to town through the Melzi Gardens, paying 16.50 each for a three day admission. This route was much more peaceful, avoiding the busy car road into town.
We took an umbrella and jackets just in case, but the weather mostly held off. We wandered into different shops, up and down the hills of Bellagio. We ended up in a shop at the top of the hill where I got a cappuccino and a croissant. We continued to wander and go in shops until it was time for lunch at Barchetta. I had a great truffle pasta and glass of wine.
The weather seemed to be holding off, so we decided to go explore Varenna. I found a castle that you can hike to which has an incredible view. The hike is less than a mile, but it’s over 500 feet elevation gain, so it feels like it’s straight up the whole way. We made it up, and paid the small $5 fee each to enter, see the castle and look at the view of the lake. It was well worth it. One of the most incredible and breathtaking views.
As we started coming down it started to rain pretty hard. We huddled in the welcome hut area for a bit until it lightened up. There was a ferry we wanted to catch back to town so we opened up the umbrella and started to descend. It was sketchy on the way down, walking on the cobblestone path with water flowing down from all the rainfall. It was surprisingly not slippery, but it seemed like you could lose your footing at any time if you lost focus.
We got on the ferry back to Bellagio. At that point we were a bit wet, but not unpleasant. We decided to call it an early night because the garden closed at 7:00 and we wanted to walk home before the last admission at 6:30pm. We were going to order a pizza and salad, walk back and eat it at home with the prosecco we had. After wandering around to kill some time, we tried to order the pizza and learned that all kitchens closed between 4-7pm usually. No one was making pizza, and we didn’t want to stay past 7 and have to take a road back. We remembered there was a fast pasta place at the top of the hill and we journeyed back up the steps once more. Luckily they were still serving food and we got two pastas to go.
Armed with our pasta and some extra waters to have at the airbnb, we headed back down to the main area by the port. At this point the rain was picking up, and we found shelter in front of the lakefront hotels.
As an aside, it seems like the hotel situation in Bellagio is 5-star accommodation or bust. There seems to be a very thin middle of hotels that are in the $400-700 price range. There were a bunch of places that seemed like fine 3-star places in the town that may be a bit old, have a small entrance, not many common areas. Then there were a few massive, 5-star villa-esque properties with private pools, beaches, massive welcome areas, multiple restaurants and countless amenities. These generally seemed to be priced at $1,000+ per night. We were in a nice airbnb, so I can’t speak to this from experience, but it’s just what I observed.
The rain showed little sign of letting up, and at this point it was getting close to 6:30 when the garden was supposed to close. We headed out, in the heaviest rain of the day. We got to the garden gates and they were closed. Completely locked. They must have closed early for weather. So now we’re soaked, carrying our dinner, and we have to walk in the winding road wedged between oncoming traffic and a river of water flowing downhill.
As we hugged the side walls, at this point our shoes were fully water logged. We’re walking up the hill, stepping in inches of downhill flowing water with each stride. It was the unequivocal low point of the trip. Our food was getting wet, our clothes were soaked, and our shoes would need days to recover from all of the water.
We finally arrived home, hanging up what we could and leaving the rest outside. Almost no one uses clothing dryers in Europe, so we had to hope for sun and warmth the next day. After a warm shower and a fresh set of clothes, we were able to enjoy a quiet dinner at home. We read for hours. I finished the Alchemist, and then downloaded a book about the history of Rome.
Day 4 - Bellagio + Menaggio (Tuesday)
We woke up to violin covers of Ed Sheeran songs. We were confused at who would be playing instrumental Ed Sheeran music at 10am in this small village. We went down to the water and found a couple who seemed to be taking wedding photos or videos with a live violinist, a DJ and a videographer on the coast of the lake. We did notice a trend of brides taking photos by the lake. Despite it being Sunday, Monday or Tuesday, we saw countless people in wedding dresses mid day, on their way to take photos.
With our sneakers still sufficiently soaked, we were forced into sandals as our walking shoes. Knowing our mileage would be limited, we tried to stay local in the morning. Wandering up into the hills towards the highest rated bakery in Bellagio, we were foiled by construction and road closures, unable to find a route to get there. We fell back to a small grocery store that had their own bakery and we had a small breakfast of croissant, yogurt and fruit.
The mission for the day was to find a beach club to relax at. The one in Bellagio was closed, but Sophia found another across the lake in Menaggio. Conveniently, they allowed online booking and she paid $70 for our two chairs on the beach. The club had a coffee shop and restaurant so our plan was to have lunch and drinks there for the afternoon.
While waiting for the ferry, we walked to the point of Bellagio because it was supposed to be a nice view. Lake Como is an upside down Y shape, and the point of Bellagio is the middle of the Y. To your right is the Lecco branch, and to your left is the Como branch. Each are named for the cities at their southernmost points. While at the point, I was about to ask a couple to take a photo for us when Sophia advised me to wait, saying it looked like they were having an intimate moment. The man pulled back from their embrace, and I thought now was my time to walk over. Luckily I didn’t, because the guy suddenly got down on one knee and proposed! I already had the camera pulled up on Sophia’s phone, so I was able to film it and take some pictures which she shared with the couple.
We headed down to catch the ferry to Menaggio and while doing research on the ferry ride, we found an Instagram post indicating that the beach club had its last day on September 17th. It was now September 19th, so that was a problem. It was just under a mile to the beach club after docking, but our route there took us past the Grand Victoria Hotel who owns the beach club. They confirmed that the club is closed and that we should email the management about getting our money back from the booking. We decided to just get lunch at this point and found a nice waterfront restaurant in Menaggio next to the mini golf course. We had a nice meal.
Ferry times back were sparse, or at least they were according to Apple transit (which didn’t seem to always be right). We either had a ferry in 25 minutes, or 2+ hours, so we skipped mini golf and headed back to the docks.
To make up for our lost time at the beach we decided to go back home and lay by the local beach right next to our airbnb. Our plan was to try the nice restaurant in our village later that night. I jumped in the water and it felt just like the lakes of Maine: chilly at first, but cool and refreshing on a warm summer day. The rocks make it difficult to walk or stand, so I see why people jump off boats or hang off float docks.
We cleaned up, and asked the fancy restaurant Darsene if they had room for two people. We were denied, despite the restaurant never filling up. Maybe it’s an exclusive place (hence George Clooney). So, we walked back up the hill to go to Silvio again.
Again we enjoyed it, going back for the spaghetti and stracciatella (the soft inside of burrata). This time we tried the garlic, chili oil pasta with roe, thinking we could eat around the roe easily. Instead the whole dish tasted of fish. Not the most pleasant flavor, but a little parmesan overpowered it and made the pasta super delicious. The vanilla gelato was also nice. We noticed lots of vanilla things in Italy also have an orangey flavor to them.
Day 5 - Bellagio to Florence (Wednesday)
A complex day of travel ahead to get to Florence. We needed to walk to the port, take the ferry to Varenna, walk up the hill to the train station, catch the train to Milan, then transfer to a new train to Florence, the final leg of which would be about 2 hours.
We left the airbnb with all of our stuff at 10:00am, when the garden opened, so we could go into town. We arrived in town to a confusing situation where the ferry we planned for (11:15 according to Apple transit) was not on the schedule, and the next one wasn’t until 12:30 (which was a problem as we intended to take a 12:35 train from Varenna). The day prior, I looked at the ferry schedule printed in the boats and saw there was an 11:00am boat, which the ticket office didn’t seem to know about. We saw the 11:00am boat pull in and got on, thus arriving in Varenna over an hour early for our train.
Why not take the 11:35 train? Well, just like the kitchens close and don’t make food from 4-7, we noticed there were some gaps in transit schedules, and this happened to be one of them. While the train typically ran every hour, there was a gap between 10:35 and 12:35, possibly for a lunch break? Who knows.
We found a pretty Americanized cafe on the walk that served pastries and yogurt parfaits. We stopped in and slowly ate to kill some time. Around 11:45 we went up to the train station to learn that it was delayed 20 minutes. 20 turned into 40 and we ended up on the platform for an hour and a half until the train arrived at 1:15. We got a pretty bad Margherita pizza from the train station that we ate on the way to Milan.
Arriving in Milan we missed our planned train at 2:10 but there was another at 3:10. I know everyone says to book things ahead of time, but we’re glad we didn’t book a lot of things because we got delayed so many times we would have missed every transfer. We may have paid a small premium when booking a train ticket right before departure, but overall the prices were very reasonable. The tickets from Milan to Varenna were around $8 each way per person. The tickets from Milan to Florence and Florence to Rome were about $50 for each person even when booked at the station within an hour of departure. Compared to Amtrak prices, these tickets looked great. The machine refused to take credit card without a PIN which hadn’t been the case anywhere else, so we had to burn most of our cash supply of $200 on the $112 tickets but it finally worked. We boarded the train and headed south.
The 3:10 train from Milan got into Florence just after 5:00. We walked from the train station through town, winding around small and crowded streets until we arrived at the Hotel Hermitage. We were right next to the Ponte Vecchio. It was a great (and very busy) location that made it easy to walk everywhere.
Our friends Rachel and Mitch happened to be in Florence and we planned to meet them for dinner at 7:00 at a restaurant called Gatto E Volpe, one of the places recommended by my sister’s friend who studied abroad there. The food was great. I got a simple pasta with pomodoro sauce and guanciale. There was lots of guanciale on the menus, as well as other meats like wild boar, and florentine steak.
After dinner we walked down the street to the highly recommended Rivareno gelato. I got coffee and vanilla and the coffee was definitely the best gelato of the trip. It had little chocolate flakes in it which I didn’t expect to like, but it was great. We walked all around Florence. Night time is actually a nice time to view some of the famous monuments. The Duomo and the surrounding plaza were relatively quiet, but still well lit and stunning. We wandered across the Ponte Vecchio where a band was playing to a large crowd. We found a nice patio to settle on and shared a bottle of local white wine from Tuscany.
Day 6 - Florence to Rome (Thursday)
The Hotel Hermitage included a rooftop breakfast which was actually quite good. There was a warm, apricot-filled croissant, along with some eggs and a cappuccino. After breakfast we walked around Florence, climbing up to the Michaelangelo plaza overlooking the city. We looped back to the hotel to pack our things and gave them to the front desk for a few hours while we wandered around. Our final two missions were to visit the public market, and to find a sandwich. Everyone who visits Florence seems to have a favorite sandwich shop, where for 5 or 6 euro they will make you a fresh sandwich, typically with some cured meat, cheese and lettuce.
After visiting the public market and being thoroughly tempted by pastas, pizzas, pastries and more, we stuck to the mission of finding one of these famous sandwiches. We went to I Fratellini, a shop that has supposedly been open since 1895 and serves fresh sandwiches for just 5 euro. I got the number 1 on the recommendation of a colleague. It was fresh bread with cream cheese, prosciutto and arugula (called “rocket salad” for some reason). It was kind of like a bagel. The bread was crunchy on the outside and soft in the middle, and it was filled with cream cheese. I thought the “cream cheese” was a funny translation and would actually something like a soft goat cheese, but it really just tasted like cream cheese you’d get at a bagel store.
The sandwich was satisfying and we headed off to Rome on the train. Again, the public transit was impressive. Apple maps said it would take 3 hours to drive from Florence to Rome, and the train arrived in just under an hour and 40 minutes. Theoretically the US Amtrak in the northeast corridor is faster than driving, but oftentimes it’s hard to imagine how true that is. The train from Boston to NYC is about 5 hours while the driving time is 4 hours. Obviously traffic is a factor, but I’ll end my digression with joy that it didn’t take us more than two hours to arrive via train.
We considered taking a cab from the train station to our hotel, but I was hungry to see Rome, and knew we would walk by places we likely wouldn’t visit again on foot. I wanted to take it all in, so we walked in the sun down to the hotel. It was all downhill which made things easy, and the sidewalks were generally smooth so the suitcase rolled nicely. We saw another set of wedding photos happening at a small building overlooking Trajans Column.
The nature of Rome is so wild. You have modern buildings right across the street from ruins that are 2000+ years old. You can turn a street corner and there’s an arch built for a Roman emperor who won a battle. You turn another way and there are churches under which an apostle is said to be buried. Our hotel was overlooking a block of ruins called Largo di Torre Argentina. It contained multiple ruins, including parts of Pompey’s theater, the supposed building where Julius Caesar’s assassination took place and he uttered the famous last words “Et tu, Brute?” And while the current ruins contain so much history, they also contain a cat sanctuary. So when you wander through, you’ll see a dozen or so cats laying out in the sun on top of old roman pillars being photographed by tourists from all over the world.
Most ruins are highly valued and well-preserved now, but for millennia they were simply obstacles to future development, or building blocks for the next emperor, or collateral damage in a modern war. One emperor would build an enormous palace and public baths, just for the next emperor to fill it in ten years later. There is much more beneath the surface of the city that has been untouched and may remain that way for many many years.
For our first night in Rome we headed north toward the Pantheon, and toward Il Boroccio, a restaurant that had good reviews that I booked a reservation at (even though I definitely didn’t need to). It was in a busy alleyway to the northeast of the Pantheon, and we sat outside. We had yet another good meal, getting two drinks, two appetizers, and two entrees for a total price of less than $50. Prices are generally pretty low in Italy, even in touristy locations as long as you’re getting relatively simple dishes. Obviously adding raw fish, roe, meats, etc. will add to the price, but to get a carbonara, or a gnocchi pomodoro was often around 12 euro. A glass of wine might be 5 or 6 euro.
After dinner we continued northeast, stopping by the Trevi Fountain, and then onto the Spanish Steps. The Trevi Fountain area was jam-packed with people, even at night. We stopped at a famous tiramisu spot called Pompi.
On the way back, we were struck by the appearance of a full restaurant that was set in a nice cafe. After walking around the building, it seemed to be a nice hotel with a rooftop bar. We decided to try to go upstairs. I honestly thought that it would be full, and we would just get to ride the elevator up and turn around. But it was open, and we went up.
A far cry from the typical Italian fare, these drinks were 22 euro and came with a whole tray of snacks like almonds, olives, crackers and breadsticks. My drink had watermelon, lime, something else and vodka. It was pretty light, and quite good. The ice cube was imprinted with the Six Senses name and logo, a chain of luxury hotels that had just opened a location in Rome. This was probably why it was so empty.
Day 7 - Rome (Friday)
For our full day in Rome we were unable to get any tickets to the Forum or the Colosseum (which are the same ticket). Going in the Colosseum wasn’t interesting to me since I’d done it before, but I was bummed to not be able to walk around the Forum. Though I was quite shocked to see how busy everything was, it may have been quite unpleasant anyways. When Giles and I visited in January it was very easy to get into every museum and monument. In the summer, it’s not as easy and people recommend booking ahead. While we thought going in mid to late September we would avoid some of the chaos, we were wrong and it was crazy busy everywhere we went.
We found a bakery called Le Levain in the Trastavere neighborhood that looked like it was in Brooklyn. Apparently it’s a hip neighborhood and the pastries are good, so we walked about a mile to get there for breakfast. The quiche lorraine I got was incredible. The crust had buckwheat, and was super flaky. We also got a chocolate croissant that was great.
We walked back across another bridge, toward the Circus Maximus, making our way to the coliseum. It was a long walk in pretty hot sun. The whole area around the Colosseum was super crowded so we moved out of there pretty quickly. With our main objective accomplished, we decided to walk up north to the Rinascente mall. It’s a luxury mall that supposedly had a food hall on the top level. We wandered through the mall and got a fresh squeezed juice at a cafe on the top level. They also had a cool-looking rooftop.
In the mood for pizza, Sophia found That’s Amore, a place that makes heart-shaped pizzas. This was another meal where we got two appetizers and a pizza to share and paid less than 30 euro for the meal. The pizza was great even though it felt like it might have been a tourist trap. It was cheap, fast and really good.
We then walked up a street that seemed to have every kind of store. It was like Rome’s version of 5th Avenue, with everything from Gucci (of course) to Nike, H&M and more. We were on a mission to get something Rome themed for Joseph as a gift. The Adidas store had some Roma merch but it was all pretty ugly. Nike had nothing. We went in countless stores striking out, until we tried North Face. I guess they carry an “iconic” (according to them) t-shirt that says Rome and has the coordinates of the city. We bought the shirt and completed the mission. It was time to head back to the hotel, shower off the sunscreen and dirt from the day, and find somewhere to eat dinner.
On our way into the hotel we were solicited by a man outside a restaurant called Pasta e Vino which happened to be on the same block where we were staying. I was determined to get cacio e pepe for our last night in Rome so I wanted to find a good pasta place.
Which leads me to a brief aside: There’s a paradox of restaurant research that we found. The places that are both well-known and good are all booked. The places that are good but not well-known aren’t going to be listed in articles by Eater and Condé Nast. So oftentimes the best thing to do is just to walk, see what you see, and look on Apple maps. Most restaurants are good. All the food is so fresh and delicious. It’s hard to go wrong. And often the most well-known, fancy places serve funky stuff full of raw fish, meat, and strange flavors. So you could spend days researching, book reservations months ahead of time, and have a meal that’s far less satisfying than the random place right next your hotel. End aside.
As we were trying to find a good place to go, I clicked on the map location for Pasta e Vino and saw that it had incredible reviews. Thousands of reviews, all very positive. We decided to walk on down and try it and it was AMAZING. Best pasta of the trip. There were two women making fresh ravioli the entire time in the window (a smart marketing move) to stop people walking by. The pasta was fresh and delicious, as was the focaccia bread we got. We were so happy and satisfied.
Our last journey in Rome was to visit Two Sizes, the other famous Tiramisu place that often competes with Pompi for the title of “best in the city.” It’s an easy thing to buy because they’re all pre-made and in little jars so you just walk in, pay $2.50 and walk out with this little dessert. After having Two Sizes and Pompi, we both liked Pompi better.
Right down the street from Two Sizes was another famous place, La Gelateria Frigidarium that people rave about. We waited in line for probably 20 minutes and ended up getting a coffee + strawberry split cone with whip cream and a wafer on top. It was delicious, and at that point we were stuffed. We made a final stop at a gift shop where we bought a bunch of things that are being shipped back home to distribute to friends and family. I was overall pretty sad to be leaving Rome, and it felt like the trip was over because Saturday morning we had to get in a shuttle at 8am to the airport.
Day 8 - Rome to Lisbon (Saturday)
Our journey home on Tap Air was Rome to Lisbon, Lisbon to Boston. We gave ourselves a 22 hour layover so we’d have some time to stay the night in Lisbon and see the city. We upgraded to first class for our first leg from Rome to Lisbon, giving us priority boarding, free meals and drinks, lounge access and great seats for the flight. The lounge access paid off because security at the airport was a breeze. We were checked in and ready 3 hours early. This was before I realized the whole “every flight within the EU is a domestic flight” so I gave us tons of time to get there. We went to the lounge where they had out a breakfast buffet spread, and free espresso drinks, wine, etc. It was a little shocking (appalling?) to see how many people drank a glass of wine with their scrambled eggs at 8:30am.
We hung out in the lounge long enough for them to bring out a simple lunch spread from which we grabbed some pizza to hold us over. Our flight from Rome was supposed to leave at 11:15 and get to Lisbon around 2:00. We were delayed again, and sat in the runway for close to an hour because of something happening in French airspace that prevented us from taking off.
Unfortunately we couldn’t choose our meal, and everyone in first class got a sautéed chicken thigh with butternut squash and cabbage. The employees didn’t know what I meant by “nut allergy” and nothing on these airplane meals lists the ingredients, so I didn’t eat the main meal. There was some bread, lox and a cream cheese-y spread that I used to make a little sandwich to hold me over.
We landed in Lisbon late, and it took some time to get settled and find our way into the city. The metro from the airport was smooth, and the walk from the station to the hotel was just a few minutes. We checked into the Hotel Do Chiado right in the center of the city just before 5pm. Our hotel room was super nice and there was cherry liqueur, three glazed donuts, three chocolate donuts and two local pastries to greet us. The pasteis de nata is a local staple which is a small custard pastry inside a croissant-like shell and they’re absolutely delicious.
In her research Sophia had found dozens of “Australian-inspired” cafes in Lisbon, which basically means veggie-forward, lots of fruit, avocado and color in the meals. We went to one of these cafes called Flora e Fauna for a late lunch. In Italy I ate pasta, pizza and salad, and looked down on people who got things like hamburgers. They never looked good, and the pizza and pasta in Italy is unmatched. But in Lisbon, there was a huge mix of different cuisines. All that to say, I got sliders for my late lunch with some yucca and purple sweet potato chips. We also shared a nice plate of fruit.
After our meal, we walked down toward the water, winding through the hilly streets of Lisbon. The waterfront area was a vibrant scene of music and bars galore. People were walking up and down the causeway socializing and taking in the brilliant views of the water. We strolled down the pink street, which is basically just a normal street with pink paint on top of the concrete. At this point it was around 7:00pm and it seemed like a typical European scene, people eating and drinking at tightly packed tables outside. Quaint, fun. A few hours later after the sun had set, we passed by again and it was a little crazy. Large crowds of people, generally a bit of a party scene.
We wandered around the Time Out Market Lisbon overwhelmed by all of the options and all of the people. A lot of it looked good, but I wanted something quieter, somewhere to sit down. So we walked back up toward the hotel where we found a few restaurants hidden in a courtyard. We ended up at a tapas place where we got patatas bravas, chorizo, sweet potatoes, and vegetables brasa style (which basically means sautéed with garlic and onion, then mixed with eggs, a preparation typically used for cod, one of the staples of local cuisine).
The chorizo was lit on fire next to our table to smoke the outside and give it more flavor. It was quite the spectacle, and the end result was delicious. The meal was perfect. Not too big, not too small and nice and quiet in a beautiful setting. We walked back home, and went for one final drink on the rooftop of the hotel. Arriving at 10:33 we were lucky the payment machine was broken because they were supposed to close at 10:30 but needed a few minutes to resolve the technical difficulties. I got a glass of port to enjoy while sitting on the rooftop couch overlooking the city. It was a perfect ending, a perfect last drink, a perfect moment to end the trip.
Day 9 - Lisbon to Boston (Sunday)
We woke up early to visit one last cafe before heading to the airport at 9am. Most cafes weren’t open until 9, but Copenhagen Coffee Lab was, so we walked ten minutes down the hill for a cortado (which is better than a cappuccino) and a croissant. Then we headed off to the airport in a taxi.
The flight back is long. Even though we flew out of Lisbon, on the far west coast of Europe, it was still over seven and a half hours. But after a long day of travel, waiting for bags and driving through the rain we got home safe and sound.
Thanks for reading and coming along on this journey!
All the best,
Zack
Wow! What a journey, thanks for sharing Zack :)
Wow! What a great summary of your honeymoon trip to Italy! We just returned from two weeks in France and can relate to all the travel adventures. After reading it, I want to go to Italy next!!