The Italian Riviera, A Fascist Youth Camp, and Vernazza

View from Duomo di Cathedral in Milano.

When we travel, we try to research everything as best as we can especially when it comes to bus prices, car prices, food prices, basically anything that involves money and budgeting; we try to research. However, the Italian culture has slowly reminded us that there are some trips you cannot budget for or plan for no matter how much you plan or research. 

I'm more of a spontaneous person myself, however, I really enjoy researching local food spots and coffee shops that are low prices and full of locals. I did my best to research as we explored many parts of Italy. Than after the final preparations, we had our itinerary which is something we never have, but since it's our honeymoon I guess we should try to keep it more organized right?

Honeymoon Itinerary:
 

. Milano - Explore the city for two days, check out old churches, and enjoy Milano food. 

. Genova - Drive down to the south and get lost in the city of Genova and hike to some of the coastal villages.

. Chiavari - Rest stop for one night.

. La Spezia - Explore the Cinque Terre one day and explore La Spezia and sit in cozy cafes the next.

. Piacenza - Rest stop.

. Milan0 - Return car, rest for one night and take the train to Geneva Switzerland. 
 

Our main purpose for going to Italy was for three reasons:

1. Plane Tickets to Milan were extremely cheap from Iceland

2. Milan is close to Geneva Switzerland, which was our end goal.

3. The food. 
 

We left Keflavik Iceland around 00:45 with AirBerlin to Dusseldorf Germany where we endured a 9 hour layover. With hardly any sleep, we still decided to head into the city to find some coffee and food. It was a fairly cheap journey to the city center and did not take very long either which gave us even more time in the city. We walked around, had some decent coffee, delicious sandwiches, and made it back to the airport with plenty of time. Our flight was than delayed by an hour, not including the extra 30 minutes we had to wait on the runway. Needless to say we were absolutely exhausted.

After an 18 hour journey, we finally arrived to our cute and very cozy AirBnb flat in Milano Italy. 

Milano is known as a fashion city and ranks number 3 in the world for fashion. We weren't sure what we would make of Milano which is why we only gave ourselves 2 nights in the city. Quickly, we realized we made a mistake as we fell in love with the Italian city. There is so much history in Milano and beautiful buildings and architecture. 

The Italian food culture is everything. It's really as good as everyone makes it out to be! But like with any touristy city, you need to research and know where to go and what to avoid. We tried to avoid any restaurant with English menus, over priced pasta and pizza, and anything within touristic villages. A typical Italian pizza should cost no more than 8-10 Euros, and even that can be quite high. The most expensive pizza Simon and I bought was in Milano. We stumbled across this tiny pizza joint after the original place we were going to was closed. Everything was in Italian and the staff didn't speak much English but the food and hospitality were incredible. Every restaurant we went to, we were welcomed with broken English, smiles, and laughter. We never felt like a nusience and we always felt welcomed and wanted. Now about the pizza at this place... 

That pizza was the best pizza I've ever had.
Period.
That's it, I can die happy now.
 

I couldn't believe how well it was made and how the vegetables were cooked. Later that night we researched the restaurant to see how good the reviews were only to discover that the restaurant was one of the best pizza places in Milano and the head pizza chef has won best pizza maker in the entire world! We were truly amazed and had no idea. Sometimes, the best places you can find while traveling are discovered randomly and last minute.

After an amazing few days, we rented a car and headed to Genova. This region of Italy is known for it's cheesy focaccia and Pesto. Being the foodies that Simon and I are, we had to try the absolute best. 

The city of Genova was wonderful and is known for its aquarium which is rated one of the best in Europe. The cost was around 25 euros per person so sadly, Simon and I skipped the aquarium and spent that money on a nice dinner instead. 

It was my first taste of Italian pasta. I had a tortellini like pasta filled with cheese and it was everything! The thought of eating pasta outside of Italy is almost offensive to me now as it is made so well, it's so fresh, and the wonderful Italian pride and culture is poured into it. 

Before leaving Genova, we had to buy some pesto. We bought enough to munch on the road. Each area of Italy makes pesto different, some add more garlic, some basil, and this particular pesto had more parmesan. It was just delicious, especially because Iceland doesn't have the best pesto to buy, this was such a treat. 

Looking back, I wish I could have taken more photos of the food we ate but we were on our honeymoon, so I really didn't think too much about being professional.
 

This is when our trip got... well interesting and everything went unplanned. We highly regret stopping in the little city of Chiavari as our AirBnB host made us feel awkward, the food was rubbish, and it felt incredibly eerie and unwelcoming. I've done some research on this little village as something just did not feel right in the atmosphere (If you're into that kind of stuff) I quickly found out why exactly this little city felt very eerie. 

As Simon and I were walking along the seaside, we discovered what seemed to be an abandon resort. The beach was deserted and felt almost... creepy. We weren't sure why or what was up with this place so I decided to do a little research. We discovered that this abandon "resort" was actually a youth camp for fascists in the 1900's. It operated during the Mussolini regime and was designed to shape the minds of the nation's youth. However, during World War II, the youth building was transformed into a military hospital. Now, it is completely abandoned and run down with terrible reviews on TripAdvisor. Honestly, we could still feel the oppression and eerie like feel to the entire city. I wouldn't say this ruined our time in Chiavari, but instead reminded us of Italy's history. I will say, we wish the abandon building was open to the public because I'm sure we could have taken some amazing photos. 

The Cinque Terre

The famous and beautiful five villages of the Italian Riviera. I have dreamed of seeing these villages ever since google images was invented. I would type in the word Italy and the villages would show up and flood the google image browser. I was in love, and I had to see them. 

Now... sadly, the Cinque Terre website and information regarding trains and walking routes is not up to date which caused us trouble. 

Originally, we planned on going to the villages from La Spezia, but there was to be lots and lots of rain. So we decided to do the trip one day early from Chiavari which turned out to be much more expensive. The cost threw us off and my wonderful husband ordered the wrong tickets in the midst of panic. Instead of seeing all five villages, we somehow ended up with a ticket only allowing us to see two. I'm not really sure how that happened... but it did making our "Cinque Terre" trip a simple "Dose Terre" trip.

Simon and I are normally much better at these things, but due to the language barrier, the queue of people behind us at the ticket booth, and the train arrival time, we panicked. 

We are still disappointed that our trip was somehow cut short, however, we luckily were able to see the most beautiful village that the Cinque Terre had to offer. Vernazza. 

Overrun with tourists, over priced gelato, and horrible pizza, we remembered how touristic Italy really was and that we might not find the most authentic food within the Cinque Terre. It was ok though, we sucked it up and bought some crappy pizza and hiked within the village to the view I've been dying to see. There are two routes you can take within the city. One leads you up to the church tower that costs 2 euros each to get in. We didn't realize the euro price till we hiked up the stairs to the church tower entrance. Sadly, we didn't have any cash on us only card, so we hiked back down... but I was determined to find this panoramic view for free. 

We climbed more stairs, hiked through the most beautiful little back alleys of Vernazza and eventually found the path that lead to the famous panoramic view. The best part was it was completely free and there was hardly anyone there! 

I remember reaching the main point of the hike where two photographers with tripods were snapping away and gazing out into the distance. We looked over and saw the most beautiful view we have ever seen. The cliff that Vernazza sticks out on stretched out with the church tower on top, and you could see the blue Mediterranean sea along with another village in the distance. It was truly breath taking. 

We hiked a little more up and found a restaurant stretched out on a cliff over looking the view of Vernazza. We couldn't help ourselves, it's our honeymoon and we wanted to live a little. We purchased a half liter of wine, were given some amazing olives, and had the best table that overlooked Vernazza perfectly. 

That moment, is hard to describe except for one word, peace.

Simon and I were still dealing with so much stress even during our honeymoon. This past year has been unbelievably stressful. I lost my visa, we were separated, I went through so much pain and loss during my time in the states, and Simon almost lost his father this summer. This year has had it's ups and downs. Tears, and laugher. Remorse, but also some new revelation. Although we bought the wrong tickets and were only able to see two villages, it was all worth it for this one moment... sitting up on the top of the mountain with the love of my life, sipping on some overpriced wine, looking at the most gorgeous view, with perfect weather and a slight breeze... I couldn't ask for anything better. That moment has made all the stress worth it, because here we are now together, with our own home, with my visa being finalized, with friends all around, and new dreams and visions for Iceland filling our hearts. 

Honestly, I won't even go into detail of the other village (or the third village we snuck into) as they were super nice and cute, but nothing like Vernazza. That moment will be in our hearts for ever, and we can't wait till next year when we can go back to the Cinque Terre, and see the remaining villages and once again climb to this magical spot, sip on wine, and realize how wonderful life is and remember the new season that is approaching. 

Next week, I will finish my Honeymoon blog by talking about our trip to Piacenza, an amazing coffee house in Milano, where to get the best focaccia, and our trip to Geneva Switzerland.