Holiblog: Northern Italy Edition 🇮🇹

Hey guys 👋🏻


This Feb Half Term, we embarked on our latest Italian adventure, this time in Northern Italy. This trip was sort of inspired by our 2020 Italy trip that never was (thanks, Covid!)

We changed the plans a little from the original idea, as we only had a week half term instead of the Summer Hols, but we knew we wanted to travel around more of Northern Italy. I found some cheap flights to and from Verona, and we went from there.

Let’s see what we got up to!

Day 1 – Travelling to Italy

Sat 17th – Today was mainly spent travelling to Italy. It was pretty uneventful (and actually an ok flight, and that’s coming from someone who isn’t very fond of flying)

We arrived in Verona at 7 pm and after a short bus ride and a check-in at our hotel we went in search of food.

The little Pizzeria (Rio’s) that we found nearest to our hotel did not disappoint. It was one of the best pizzas I’ve ever had in Italy.

Day 2 – Verona

Sun 18th – Today, we spent the day in Verona, exploring the town.

We did lots of walking.

We had a short tour of the Verona Arena, which was really cool!

It’s the best preserved Arena in Italy! 

The Arena was probably my favourite ‘sight’ of the trip.

In the early evening, we travelled to Lake Garda, the next destination of our trip.

Day 3 – Lake Garda

Mon 19th – Today, was we visited Salo in Lake Garda.

It is home to the longest promenade in Italy.

& it is very beautiful.

They also do a bangin’ sandwich. This was an insanely good lunch. That bread 🤤

We had a lovely time walking up and down the promenade as well as looking through the city streets.

We rounded off the day with a delicious dinner, Caprese, Rosemary Foccacia, Risotto, and Tiramsu – so good.

Day 4 – Lake Garda

Tues 20th – We started off Day 4 with another yummy breakfast at our lovely B&B  before we headed off to get our bus tickets for the day.

We didn’t realise a market was on, and it was quite extensive. There were some amazing food stalls, including fruit, veg, soooo much cheese and meats.

We decided to pick up some bits and create our own lunch. We chose a delicious fresh tomato, a fresh ball of Mozzarella, a fresh Foccacia, and some amazing strawberries. Delicious.

These made a yummy picnic.

In the afternoon, we headed off to explore another part of Lake Garda – Sirmione.

They are known for their delicious gelato, so we had some in the sunshine when we arrived!

We then had a walk through the castle and town on our way to the ruins of a Roman villa. There was a museum and the ruins itself so that was really interesting to see.

The ruins were so vast.

Once again, the weather was amazing.

We went back to freshen up before having a delicious dinner and a chilled evening in our room.

Day 5 – Milan

Wed 21st – Today we travelled to Milan! We were sad to leave our lovely accommodation in Garda.

Milan Centrale Station is massive! It gives Grand Central Station NYC Vibes for sure.

We spent the day doing LOTS of walking around Milan, seeing the city on foot, there is some cool architecture and graffiti. We picked up some more delicious ice cream, and we went to the Leonardo Di Vinic museum to round off the day.

We had these incredible crepes for dessert from those amazing Gelatoria that we discovered first in Verona.

Day 6 – Milan/Verona

Thurs 22nd – Today, we travelled back to our starting point, Verona, for our final leg of the trip!

Once we made it back Verona (after a 40 min delay at Milan) we freshened up and spent some time just chilling/reading in our hotel room.

It rained in the evening, so we just ventured out nearby to get some food. We didn’t stay out for long before heading back and watching a film in bed.

Day 7 – Verona

Fri 23rd – Today was the only day it rained pretty much all day. We had been so lucky with the weather so far. Typically, we had our Verona Walking Tour.

We didn’t let the rain dampen our spirits and we both thoroughly enjoyed the tour of the city. It was so interesting and Verona is such a beautiful place.

Booking a tour is well worth it!

We grabbed a spot of lunch from a place near the end of the tour, as recommended by our tour guide. The fresh pasta was delicious, and the tiramisu was insannnne.

We were very glad to have such a lovely shower in our hotel room because we were freeeeeezing 🥶 after walking back in the rain. 

And of course, we had another delicious dinner to round off the day!

Day 8 – Verona

Sat 24th – Today was our last full day 🥲

The weather was beautiful, which was great for our final day. We headed over to a cafe that we heard was really nice. We had yet another delicious coffee and pastry.

We spent the rest of the morning/early afternoon looking around the castles museum – it was really interesting with our audio guide, and at the top, you get soke beautiful views of Verona.

After all that exploring and walking around, we enjoyed a lazy afternoon in the hotel.

In the evening…

WE WENT TO VENICE!!! My favourite 😍

It was beautiful as always ❤️

We had a delicious pasta dinner when we arrived…

… before heading to our favourite gelatoria!! 🍨 Su So is incredible. We had to squeeze some in for dessert.

It was buzzing in Venice as it was the Venice Carnival that weekend.

Venice is truly unique.

I love sitting by the Grand Canal. It’s so peaceful.

💗

Day 9 – Home time

Sun 25th – Today, it was time to go home!

We enjoyed a nice walk into the city centre of Verona to find a nice cafe for breakfast again. We really enjoyed doing this the day before.

We had a final delicious coffee, pastry (and Lasagne for Tim 🤣)

We then had a walk around a bit more, including the arena before heading back to make our way to the airport.



We had such a brilliant trip and it was great to see so many new parts of our favourite country.

Until Next Time,

Roseanne 🙂

Summer diaries: Week Two, Three & Four!

Apologies for the delay! But my ‘Holiblog’ series kind of took over!

But, the summer hols are only just over so I thought I would finish the series up and update you guys on how I spent the middle weeks of the holidays.

The reason I’ve lumped a few weeks together is because I’m not going to actually explain what I did in weeks Two and Three as that is when we were in Florida…Instead I will leave the links to my holiblogs…

Weeks Two and Three

Florida 18 Holiblog pt1

Florida 18 Holiblog pt2

Florida 18 Holiblog pt3

Week Four

Thursday 23rd/Friday 24th August 2018

Tonight (Thurs) I slept over at my twin sister Sarah’s house.

We had a treat dinner before heading to bed ready for the celebrations the next day.

Friday 24th August 2018 marks two years since my beautiful youngest nephew Casey James was born.

I am so happy I am waking up there and being able to experience his birthday with him first thing. We have a fun day planned!

Our first stop was the cinema to watch

‘Luis and the aliens’

It was brilliant and we had a great time, especially with some yummy snacks and drinks included.

The film was one of the best kids films I’ve seen in ages!

Next stop! McDonald’s for a birthday treat lunch.

Stop number three, Pennikkity Pots!

Here we did something a bit different but fun and creative. The boys both chose a ceramic and they painted it. Casey chose a fish whilst Noah painted a shark.

They loved it!

Nana & Grandads in the evening for more presents opening and cake!!

It was a jammed packed but fun day to celebrate Casey turning two!

Saturday 25th August 2018

Me & my friend from work met up this evening to have a meal together.

Nandos was delicious as usual and the halloumi starter proved as difficult to avoid as always.

It was great to catch up after my holiday and have a good old chat!

Sunday 26th August 2018

Casey Jame’s second birthday party.

It’s kind of a tradition to have a little party each year, with all the family! So of course this year was no exception.

At Sarah & Dans we had party food, present opening, fun, games and of course cake!

There was a definite dino theme amongst his presents and he loved his dinosaur Jurassic World birthday cake.

We rounded off the day with a delicious impromptu (always the best kind) Chinese takeaway.

That’s the penultimate week done, its the last week next week 😱

Until next time,

Roseanne 🙂