Italy is perfect, so far. We ended up here early because we wanted to visit Greece and managed to get flights for $40 from Milan to Athens. This meant we had seven days to see some of Italy before heading to Greece. We chose to visit the North so that we didn’t have to come back up this way after visiting Greece.

We caught an 8 hour bus from Munich to Milan where we spent one night. The following day we got up early and visited the city centre and cathedral. The people there really are super stylish! From Milan we caught the train to Lake Como where we then caught another bus to the small village of Menaggio.

Menaggio is exactly what I thought Italy would be like and more. Extremely relaxed, picturesque with amazing food. We stayed in a private hostel room here with a view of the lake and spent two days walking around the lake, eating and drinking. Any tourist restaurants with a lake view are naturally way overpriced so we had long lunches at this great little place in a back street. The owner was delightful, we didn’t see another tourist there the whole time. The lunch special of a pizza or pasta with a glass of wine followed by an espresso coffee for 7 euro speaks for itself. On day two we took the ferry to Bellagio, another village across the lake. Also gorgeous, but more and expensive and busier than Menaggio. No 7 euro lunches or 4 euro apérol spritz over there.

After a couple of days we caught the train back to Milan and then on to Verona. Elemeno P got some plays the night before. I thought Lake Como was the perfect Italy I had in my head but then Verona really completed the picture. It is a divine Italian city with a strong roman influence, the second most roman city with original architecture after Rome itself. We only spent one night here and if I were to go back, would have spent longer. We enjoyed wandering the streets here. Also, amazing clothing boutiques in Verona, oh for an endless budget and bag space! Will have to come back 😉

After a night in Verona we caught the train to Venice where we finally caught up with all of the tourists we had heard about in Italy. We booked accomodation for two nights at a pretty cheap guest house in a great location where we walked everywhere around the city. Venice is one of those places where the tourism is out of control but you can see why. It is an absolutely beautiful city and one of the most unique and fascinating places we have visited. Coming here we had read about the crowds and the over inflated prices. Both are somewhat true. The main square was absolutely jam packed most of the day, as were the five direct roads on each side of it. However, once you get past that we found ourselves completely alone down many of the side roads. Restaurants surrounding the square are also way overpriced and probably not that good. We again had success with finding a place on google maps with great reviews and low prices on the menu. 12 euro for a fresh scallop ravioli and a 3 euro aperol spritz cannot be beaten. Because of the cheap food and decent accomodation we had an awesome time in Venice without going over budget, even once!

A rare photo captured in transit after coffee on the way back to Milan from Lake Como.

So that is where Italy currently ends. We caught the bus from Venice to Milan where we stayed one more night before flying to Athens the following day. I am currently writing this poolside in Santorini. After 10 days in Greece we fly to Rome to finish our Italian travels. On the list are Rome, Naples, Pompéi, Florence and Cinque Terre. Oh what a life. Next post on Greece (I love it).

Ps. On the way from Munich to Milan we stopped in Switzerland for half an hour. It was nice