Wednesday, June 4 (Rome & Istanbul) - Somehow my '100 days of travel' posts got a little messed up over the weeks, so today is actually day 51 (even though my last numbered post was 48!).  That means I am more than halfway finished with my 100 Days of Travel!  It is a bit crazy to think that I have been on the go for so long, without staying in any one place more than a few nights.

I have definitely learned a lot - about myself, about traveling and about the world - and I thought I'd share some random thoughts, lessons and highlights from the last 50 days.

Cross-country riding clinic in Ireland

Hiking the Cinque Terre with my mom

Feria de Abril in Sevilla

Celebrating the Europe League champions, Sevilla

Riding a camel and camping in the Sahara Desert

Tuesday, June 3 (Rome) - Rome wasn't built in a day, and you certainly can't see it all in a day, but in the past 24 (actually more like 30 hours) I came pretty close!  I highly recommend spending more time in this great city if you can, but in case you only have a day, here is an action-packed, but doable itinerary.

There's no better welcome than a sweet, creamy, delicious gelato!  Some of the best in Rome:

• Ottaviani Antica Cremeria dal 1913 (near the Vatican)
• Il gelato di San Crispino (near the Trevi Fountain)
• Gelateria Valentino (near the Trevi Fountain)

New Rome Free Tour offers just that - a free tour of Rome.  Every day at 5:30, you can find a tour guide at the base of the Spanish Steps who is ready to walk you through some of the highlights of the city.  Andrea, our tour guide, was particularly passionate and interesting, and it was one of the best free tours I've been on!  Tour highlights include:

• Trevi Fountain
• Pantheon
• Saint Ignatius Church
  

One of the must-see's in Rome is the Colosseum, but sometimes people forget about the other sites that are included with the Colosseum ticket:  the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill.  TIP:  Start at the Roman Forum and buy your ticket there as the line is much shorter than at the Colosseum itself, and it is the same exact ticket.  Also, if you DO happy to get on the line in front of the Colosseum, cut the line and go to ticket booth #10 to buy your ticket and the audioguide while everyone else waits in line.

Campo de' Fiori is a great outdoor market where you can find fresh fruits, olive oil and other Roman specialties.  The square is lined by restaurants, and I recommend a little panini shop on one of the corners called Aristocampo Campo de' Fiori that has a restaurant around the corner with big, delicious salads.

The Vatican is another must-see in Rome.  It is also another long-line to wait on, but like the Colosseum there is a bit of a shortcut.  TIPS:  If you enter through the Vatican Museums, you will likely have a much shorter line.  Also, make sure to have a scarf or sweater to cover your shoulders or you will not be allowed in the Sistine Chapel, the main site in the Vatican.  My favorite parts of the Vatican:

• The Sistine Chapel
• Padiglione delle Carrozze (aka the Popemobile museum)
• Pinacoteca (painting gallery)

The Spanish Steps are a good meeting point to walk around the upscale shops, do some touring or get a bite to eat.  After the Vatican I used this time to see all the remaining sites that I had missed and to walk around my favorites once more.

By now you've already had your gelato and your spaghetti, so for your final meal, it is pizza time!  I went to Grazie a Dio e'Venerdi (Thank God it's Friday) which is a small, low-key pizza shop by the Cavour metro.  They have a big variety of pizzas, starting at 5 Euros.  My pizza and local Birre Moreti was the perfect way to end a great 24 (or 30) hours in Rome.

Monday, June 2 (Florence) – While shopping in Florence, my mom and I had struck up a conversation with a nice guy who works in a leather shop and he gave us some restaurant recommendations that were close to the city center but high-quality restaurants that primarily locals know about and go to.  We decided to check one of them out – Vini e Vechi Sapori - a family-run osteria where the Nonna works in the kitchen cooking the day’s specialties.  We walked by hoping for a late breakfast or early lunch (when perhaps a reservation wasn’t necessary), but they were closed.  Then the door magically opened and one of the waiters started talking to us and invited us back at 12:30 sharp when they opened.  We had a reservation at one of the most exclusive restaurants in Florence! 

We arrived back at the restaurant to a small crowd of people waiting for the doors to open (and hoping to get in).  As the restaurant opened, we were seated but some people were sent away without having a reservation.  The small restaurant with about six or seven tables was filled with a mix of in-the-know tourists and the local regulars including three little old ladies who were clearly catching up on the neighborhood gossip.  The walls are adorned with paintings from every artistic genre including a caricature portrait of the three owners (one of whom happened to be sitting directly beneath it at the time!).

The waiter gave us hand-written menus with today’s date and after a few minutes he sat down at the table with us to take our order.  He was extremely nice and friendly – which isn’t very common at restaurants in Italy – and was happy to translate the somewhat indecipherable handwriting and Italian for us. 

The food:  delicious!!  Really some of the absolute best I’ve had in Italy.  We started with a caprese salad (the freshest mozzarella I’ve ever had) and a cold artichoke salad which was lovely as well.  For main dishes, my mom had a spaghetti pomodoro and I had Bolognese on a big flat rigatoni-like pasta.  Again, fantastic, fresh and tasty.

We ended the meal with a mocha-flavored espresso drink, full bellies and smiles on our faces.  This place is a winner!

Antica Trattoria da Tito

Delicious, traditional Italian food, but people seem to go more for the atmosphere.  The waiters have attitudes (in a fun and flirty way) an will yell at you for not finishing your plate or if they are trying to walk by and you're in the way.  While the decor is standard for a restaurant, the music is loud and hopping!  In fact, rumor has it that late night gets a bit crazy at Tito's... dancing on the tables and such...

Cantina del Gelato 

Some of the tastiest gelato I encountered in Italy... and for those of you who just can't decide, there is a flavor wheel to help you out!

Caffé le Logge 

Although a bit pricey for a coffee and a bite, this is a great place for breakfast, just next to the leather market.  We even ran into the man from the leather store there who suggested Vini e Vechi Sapori!

Brac 


If you're feeling a bit pizza & pasta'd out, this vegetarian / vegan restaurant is not only delicious and healthy, it is also part gallery, part book shop so there's a lot to look at to stimulate both your mind and your taste buds.

Sunday, June 1 (Florence) – I know I say this a lot, but I love the power of friends-of-friends and word of mouth – particularly via Facebook.  Emily M from my equestrian team in college (NYU) saw that I was going to Italy and gave me the best recommendation of where to ride!  She had studied abroad in Florence and went to this place on a weekly basis, so I knew it wasn’t one of the tourist trail rides + wine tastings that I wasn’t particularly interested in, but would settle for if it got me on a horse.

I hopped a train to a town called Montevarchi-Terranuova where I was picked up and taken to the Rendola Riding center.  I was greeted by Jenny, an older English woman who runs the show, and a handful of people from around the globe who were staying at the facility for a multi-day holiday (similar to what I did at the Crossogue Equestrian Center in Ireland).  Since I shipped my riding equipment home weeks ago, I was happy to see they had extra boots and helmets that I could borrow.

I got on a beautiful mare named Carmen and five of us started going on a 2.5-hour trail.  We walked, trotted and cantered through olive groves and in between rows of grapes in different vineyards!  It was stunning (wish I had my camera but I had nowhere to put it!) and the weather couldn’t have been better. 

After the ride there was a little down time to relax and I met a young couple who was staying there via Airbnb, not to ride, just to relax in the beautiful countryside (great idea for non-riders who want a day outside of the city).  Then we had a delicious, multi-course lunch which had some of the best pasta I’ve eaten in all of Italy – it had a cream sauce with a touch of mint and some cheese.

I went back to Florence completely relaxed and so happy.  I highly recommend any rider who comes to this region of Italy to stop by Rendola for a couple of hours to see the real countryside!  

Saturday, May 31 (Florence) – After being a bit turned off by the crowds on the first day in Florence, I wasn’t sure I had the strength to brave them once more and enter some of the world-famous museums like the Uffizi.  But I tried anyway, and everything just seemed to fall right in place into my favorite day in Florence! Here are some of my favorites ... "Stace's Places"!  

We toured the Gucci Museum which is in the center of town but somehow not very crowded.  It was surprisingly interesting… I didn’t know that Guccio Gucci got started after working in a luxury hotel and being inspired by the types of travel cases the guests would use.  I loved seeing the evolution of his work in the world of travel luggage, cases and accessories.  I can’t imagine carrying some of those massive wardrobe cases on my travels, but they were extremely innovative at the time.


TIP:  Walk over to the cafe and take a look at the sugar made into Gucci logos!

The Uffizi is the museum in Florence that features famous works such as Botticelli’s  “The Birth of Venus” and “Primavera” paintings as well as hundreds of other prominent Renaissance pieces.  It is one of the places that requires a reservation in advance in order to guarantee entry, but it is much better to do with a guide so you make the most of your visit.  As I was about to stand on line to try my luck at a day-of ticket, a woman announced there would be an English guided tour in ten minutes.  My mom and I thought the price was right and the tour company seemed legitimate so just like that we skipped the line, got right in and had a wonderful guided tour of the Uffizi. 

The museum is packed, mostly with tour groups but a few people on their own here and there.  TIP:  I definitely recommend booking a tour to get a good backstory of what you are seeing in the museum, but when you are booking, find out how many people are on the tour.  Unless your guide has a microphone, it is impossible to hear your guide in a group larger than about six.  I am not an art history aficionado and as much as I enjoy art, I don’t know much about the different styles.  But one thing that stuck wit me about Renaissance paintings is that it introduced three new things to the art world:  perspective, movement and landscape.  Learning that, I was able to understand the importance a little more and appreciate some of the great works of the time.

If you cross the river from the center of town, such as the Ponte Vecchio bridge, and turn left, you will walk along the river for a while until all of a sudden there is a small beach!  Complete with sand, beach chairs, hammocks, and a bar, the beach on the Arno River was a perfect place to relax for a half hour after the museums to soak in the sun and have a cold beverage. 

Walking along Via San Niccolo, I came across a workshop / gallery / store(?) of Alessandro Dari, a sculptor, pharmacist and goldsmith from Florence.  His specialty is creating extremely unique rings that look to be large enough to weigh your hand down.  The work is beautiful and intricate, albeit a bit impractical.  The artist was in his small workshop off to the side while people walked in and out to get a good look at his displays.  This was the most interesting and unique place I found in Florence for sure.  The whole surrounding area was actually really nice and quiet, filled with galleries and workshops.

Friday, May 30 (San Gimignano & Siena) – I received a lot of recommendations to go to San Gimignano and Siena (towns in Tuscany) as day trips from Florence, so when I found a day tour that went to both places, I signed up.  I’m not the biggest fan of guided tours, but thought this was the best way to do it in order to have proper transportation and the right balance of information and free time.

San Gimignano is a medieval village in Tuscany that is home to a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  Stepping foot inside the city walls makes you feel like you traveled back in time to the year 929 when the first record of San Gimignano was documented.  Somehow the town got the nickname “Manhattan of Italy” because of its multiple towers, but I think that is more than an exaggeration! 

Every shop and restaurant that lines the streets is geared towards foreigners, but I was assured that real people do live there!  Unfortunately I didn’t have much free time to get very far into the town, past this tourist-ridden area, but I definitely still got a taste of the neighborhood and these are my highlights:

I really liked Siena.  It is another medieval Tuscan city and UNESCO World Heritage Site.  Siena is known for the Palio horse race, which happens twice a year in July and August.  This race takes place in the main square (Il Campo) where the ancient cobblestone is covered with a dirt track for the horses.  17 riders compete – representing the 17 districts of Siena – by galloping their horses around the track three times, BAREBACK!  There are tight turns and no rules, so many races end up with men on the ground (and unfortunately some broken legs on the horses) but the tradition of the race has evolved over the years with better approaches for safety.

The town is also filled with shops, particularly art galleries and clothing boutiques, which is a nice change from the leather shop after leather shop in Florence.  Siena is known for certain types of pastries, which I enjoyed trying even though most of them were way too sweet for me!

Thursday, May 29 (Florence) – After hiking through Cinque Terre, my mom and I found out that there would be a train strike the following day and that we wouldn’t be able to make it to Florence where we were headed.  We didn’t want to risk not getting there, so we made the decision to forfeit that night’s hotel deposit in Cinque Terre and race over to Florence to beat the strike.  Our hotel in Florence was completely booked for the night before our scheduled reservation, but Lorenzo – the owner of our little hotel – was able to find us a great accommodation nearby!  So we had an extra day in Florence and everything seemed to be working out for the best.

Then we started walking.

I am a New Yorker.  I have seen my fair share of tourist stampedes and crowds, but I have never seen anything like the crowd in the center of Florence.  When our walking tour began, I don’t know what was more difficult:  being able to find our tour guide as he walked through the crowds (think: the hardest level of Frogger) or being able to hear him speak!  It was complete madness, particularly by the Duomo, and it made it difficult to connect with the city or get a proper introduction to its history, art and importance.

Regardless, we enjoyed our 5 Euro walking tour with MyTours which gave us a better perspective of the layout of the city as well as which museum was which.  We also had a chance to snap obligatory photos of the Duomo and the (reproductions) of the statue of David and Lorenzo Ghiberti's golden doors.

I’ve learned that many tour guides can be a bit stiff and are used to just going through their script, but as soon as you ask a question and show real interest, they open up and show character.  This is what happened in Florence.  As soon as we started asking questions about the city and what we were seeing, our guide became a person instead of a recording and was very helpful and insightful. 

Monday, May 26 (Milan) – My mom arrived in Milan this morning to spend a week with me in Italy! Our plan is Milan – Cinque Terre – Florence and then she heads back to Milan to fly home to NYC, while I continue on to Rome and then Turkey.  I’ve been to Milan once before and don’t remember it being too memorable, so I only allotted one day and night in Milan while my mom was here.  But we ended up having such a great time in this city, that I kind of wish we had more time to stay!

My mom’s flight landed in the morning so by the time she arrived at the hotel we were both ready for breakfast.  We started walking in the direction of the Duomo and stopped off at a cute little sidewalk café for a brunch of tea, a shared veggie panino and a café gourmand, which was a coffee that came with a teeny tiny ice cream bar that came in foil like butter. Delicious!

We detoured a bit after eating and found ourselves walking up and down the streets with the most high-end stores like Fifth Avenue.  Many of the stores were familiar, but some I had never heard of, and we enjoyed window shopping (and I almost bought a leather jacket, but I couldn’t buy something like that in the first store I entered in Italy… could I?).

As we approached the Duomo, the sky started to open and luckily the line was short so we got inside the massive cathedral before getting soaked.  Entry was free, but it costs two Euros for a wristband if you want to take pictures inside.  It was beautiful with detailed stained glass windows throughout, but to be honest, I thought many of the cathedrals in Spain (particularly in Malaga and Sevilla) were even more stunning.

Being Monday, many of the museums were closed, so we opted for walking around (luckily the rain was short-lived) and eventually had lunch at Antica Focacceria San Francesco, a delicious café serving Sicilian specialties mixed with international cuisines and filled with locals on their lunch break.  Then, we had our very first gelato (of many) - yummm!

I then allowed my mom to rest a bit (after walking another mile or so to our hotel) by relaxing in our hotel spa.  We each got a massage which was very nice except we had to walk through the hotel lobby in our bathrobe and slippers – awkward!  I wouldn’t let my mom go to sleep or take a nap and succumb to jet lag, so we kept moving and arrived at the Navigli district just in time for my favorite Milan tradition:  aperitivo.

Aperitivo (the Italian version of happy hour) is common throughout much of Italy, but only in Milan is it customary to have a free buffet with your drink.  Kind of like ordering a drink in Granada, Spain and receiving a free tapa, except more food to choose from!  We enjoyed a sampling of all kinds of Italian food and drink while looking out at the canal and people going in and out of bars and restaurants.

Finally, we ended the night with some live music outside the Duomo where the philharmonic was performing.  Two friends of a friend back home were nice enough to take me (and my mom) out and we enjoyed cocktails on the rooftop bar of La Rinascente, the famous high-end department store.

It was a long, fun day and a great way to kick off our stay in Italy!