Living in Denmark

Our first holiday in 2023 summer! Off we go to Italy: Pisa >>> Florence >>> Tuscany >>> Cinque Terra

Wasn’t too sure what to expect since it’s our first time driving in Europe and also with a friend and their family. a little shook when we arrived at the airport as I had forgotten how crazy most European airports are during summer. The amount of crowd is probably like 3 times more than the normal times, but Copenhagen airport is very efficient and that we are flying within Schengen area so no worries!

Arrived at Pisa airport and immediately we felt the warmth! South of Europe is usually wayyyy warmer in summer compared to the scandi countries. Some hiccups with the car rental, another learning lesson and off we go on the road! Every travel or vacation is like a learning journey, something or somehow there will be a hiccup and then we will have to accept and deal with it and move on. Maybe that is also the reason why i love to travel… Its always an opportunity to learn more about myself especially when I am traveling with different groups of people and also in different countries.

Driving in Italy has it perks! On the highways, the scenery is always so pretty! But of course its stressful driving in the cities… I never had to navigate my husband through so many roundabout and i have learnt to count the number of exits to direct him in a clear mannner when he drives.

Leaning Tower of Pisa

First pizzeria for our dinner!

Heading back to our airbnb

Day 2: Florence

It was such a joy having a little Harry on the trip! I am amazed how friendly and well-behaved this little boy is bringing us so much joy and laughter on the trip. He literally walked all the distance with us on this entire trip. Today was just visiting a nearby castle, and exploring Florence.

Got advice from a colleague who is Italian that its a bad idea to drive and park in the city, so we parked at a tram station somewhere a short distance from Florence and took a tram in. I love these little travel tips, as much as driving a car is so much more convenient, parking is always the big headache!

Tram was cheap too! For a round trip, just 3EUR! Definitely worth it instead of worrying about parking spaces!

Headed back to our home earlier after our groceries and took a dip in the pool ☺️ glad we got a nice and affordable air bnb. Driving to the accomodation is quite a challenge so everyday we are just beating sunlight to make sure we dont have to drive in the dark. On the bright side, since its summer, sun sets only at 9pm. So lucky us, we have alot of daylight ☺️

Dinner were made by the boys! We had really delicious pasta for the night! The trip is going really well! With the exception of the nasty mosquitoes that feed on us relentlessly. 😖

DAY 3: winery and the mall!

We kinda split up for the day due to the difference in our preference of activities. Me and adam decided to visit the wineries ☺️ while the rest head off for shopping at the outlet mall!

It was crazy beautiful to look at the journey when we are driving from places to places in Italy. Headed off to the popular vineyard which has many chianti classic wines and is one of the most beautiful wineries. You have to booked the wine tours in advance for this place and even for lunch as it is a very very popular area. We went there to visit to take some photos and buy some wines!

They provide shipping within too, just that you have to be in person to make the order for the shipping! the architecture and the place was really very beautiful. Unlucky us, we didn’t have a space for lunch walk in at the restaurant so we had to find another area. One thing we forgot was that lunch time in Italy is always till 230pm or max 3 pm and there after the kitchen close for dinner. So we headed off to the mall firenze for lunch instead. Since the likelihood of getting food there is higher and its near to our wine tasting place in the evening.

wine tasting was at il palagio which is a vineyard opened by Sting and his wife Trudie. We had a really good wine tasting session where we had a glass of white (surprisingly very good), a rose (my husband loves it) and a red (which is good but would be better if its aged for a few more years). We were so full from wine tasting as there were cheese and ham platters. But we still need dinner here before we head back. It was a very cosy alfresco dinning concept and i love it. The music, the atmosphere and also the food! It was a very fruitful trip here for the past 3 days since we kinda wing our way through with the minimal planning we had. I was actually a little stressed about cinque terra tomorrow as its the furthest, and the place where i have the least information on traveling to. But lets just wing it! sometimes there are things to learn when you do things differently from what you usually do. Stepping out of your comfort zone.

Day 4: cinque terra

we knew that it would be crowded to drive up to cinque terra and that parking in crazy, so we decided to drive to the nearest city in La Spezia to park and take a train up. But what we didnt know was that everyone does that and so even in that little city, parking was such a pain. the parking space nearest the central station was so packed that we had to circle around a few times to finally get a parking a distance away but at a yacht area. Thankfully we managed to have lunch also before every restaurant decide to close for lunch for their break. It was a nice quick and affordable cafe called YOLO at Porto Mirabello.

After lunch, its back to figuring our way out to the train station. After a few trail and errors we managed to get bus tickets, head to the train station and then took a train to cinque terra. To my surprise, cinque terra is so popular and crowded. I haven seen so much crowds before! I guess Europeans really love the beaches and summer 😀