It was exactly a year ago my boyfriend and I embarked on our European Adventure for my 21st birthday. My boyfriend and I each picked places we wanted to go. He chose Spain because he has studied Spanish for years, I chose Italy because I'm in love with the culture. It was the most amazing.. dangerous.... fun.....love-filled and probably hilarious experience of my life. Don't worry, I'll explain why as I show photos from our trip..... Hope you enjoy :)
Here's a shot taken from our airplane window. Anxiously arriving in Barcelona, Spain after a 14 hour flight from Canada. All the buildings looked so foreign to us, we couldn't wait to land!
After a 7 hour train ride down the coast of Spain, we arrived in Denia, Spain.
Denia is a small coastal town right on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, which is absolutely breathtaking.
Not many people speak English, or are willing to speak English in Denia. Thankfully, my boyfriend is almost fluent in Spanish or we would have had an incredibly hard time navigating.
We stayed at Parque Denia Club, which was a few miles outside of the town of Denia. It was so beautiful and colorful. Every detail had a little Spanish twist. From the tile on the stairs, to the rounded window and door arches in the photo below.
We were probably the youngest couple staying at the club, it mostly consisted of retired couples. There were many different languages and accents heard around, which is why our front desk clerk informed us she spoke about 7 different languages!
Walking around the next morning taking photos and looking at all the gorgeous flowers and other beautiful surroundings. There were so many vivid colors everywhere. No wonder the Spanish culture has such bright colors infused throughout their art, food and clothes. It's enchanting.
The day after we arrived, it was time to go explore. My boyfriend and I set out to go downtown. We walked instead of taking a taxi, which left us with sore feet and blisters. It was well worth it though because all the gorgeous sights along the way.
Our first look at the ocean! We followed the boardwalk that led us into downtown Denia. There were a lot of locals working on their already tanned skin-some topless, and people of all ages.
Back at the hotel we had an amazing pool, we did lots of sun bathing, relaxing, reading. What more could you want?
So far our vacation had been absolute paradise...
.........Until.
We rented a scooter, and well....as you can see.. wrecked it!
Since our hotel was pretty far out of town, we thought it would be cheaper to rent a scooter instead of taking taxis all the time.
After riding around the countryside for a few hours (which was a blast), we came back into town to go grocery shopping. We were entering a round-a-bout when we were nearly hit by a car.
Now, if you've been to Europe, you should know how absolutely bonkers the drivers are. Spain has not only crazy drivers, but crazy drivers with fast cars. It was terrifying. My boyfriend and I were flung over the scooter, resulting in bad road rash, a knee the size of a grapefruit and a frustrating trip to the hospital. Luckily nothing was broken, we were just happy to be alive!
(My knee)
My boyfriend was such a good sport, he didn't want me to miss out on anything during our trip, so he insisted we go out and do everything as if he weren't on crutches.
Also, I'd like to add that the hospital charged him 99 Euro for the Ace bandages they wrapped his knee in, and 400 Euro for x-rays. So be careful when traveling in Spain, hospitals aren't cheap!
Every morning in Denia I woke up around 5:30am to watch the sun come up over the ocean and make my boyfriend and I breakfast. I took a picture of this particular one because my boyfriend wanted the left over pizza from the night before which was pretty comical. I had eggs, toast, and apples with Nutella, yummm.
( Just another day hanging out on our own terrace.)
(Our Living room.)
Our last night in Denia we went out to dinner by the pier. Drank good wine and walked around browsing all the fun shops, it was really romantic.
The next day we were off to our next destination, Barcelona!
After another 7 hour train ride we arrived in the exciting city of:
Barcelona!
My boyfriend was still on a crutch, but he was getting around much better. We couldn't wait to check out all the amazing sights that Barcelona had to offer!
Barcelona is such an amazing city, filled with artistic touches everywhere!
We saw some really incredible graffiti. Which added a lot of personality to the city.
The market dates back to 1840 and was built to put all the best products from Catalonia in one place. It was seriously amazing. A complete sensory overload, so many different colors and smells.
Next:
Las Ramblas
Las Ramblas is a boulevard right in the heart of Barcelona. It's a huge tourists attraction because of the colorful array of entertainment. We found some awesome human statues (like above) Performance artists, stands, and restaurants.
Next:
The statue of Columbus in the center of Plaça de la Porta de Pau.
This beautiful statue was put in the place that Columbus arrived in 1493 after his discovery of America the year before.
We had to pose by the lions!
When we got back to the hotel we decided to have a drink at our Bar, which is where my boyfriend made friends with the Bartender. They spoke Spanish for about an hour. Although I didn't have a clue what they were talking about it was still fun listening and trying to pick out words similar enough to English to understand.
After drinks it was time to go out to dinner and check out the nightlife!
On our way to dinner we spotted our first Ferrari sighting which of course my boyfriend went nuts over!
The nightlife was insane! Everywhere we went we could hear music (usually The Black Eyed Peas) blasting, we really wanted to go dancing but Destry was still on a crutch and I was unusually tired. Which brings us to the 2nd unfortunate event of the trip..
I didn't know it at the time, but I had contracted E.coli somewhere along our trip. The last night we were in Barcelona, I was too tired to go out. Now, if you know me at all, you know I love nothing more than to dance. For me to want to stay in a hotel room instead of going out is a good indication that something is wrong.
The next day we were off to Italy which was the part of the trip I was looking forward to the most. I was praying that it was just a 24 hour flu bug, sadly, I was wrong.
On the flight to Rome I started getting a fever with the chills. I was sweating uncontrollably, my head was pounding and I felt like I was going to loose my breakfast at any moment.
We finally arrived in Assisi by rental car, it was more beautiful than I ever anticipated..
Although I wasn't feeling well, I couldn't help but fall in love with the beautiful countryside that surrounds this lovely hill town.
An ancient city surrounded by golden fields of sunflowers, dirt roads, and sprinkled throughout with hidden treasures.
This is a picture of Rocca Maggiore. This medieval castle dominates the entire city, giving the quaint city it's ancient feel.
The Basilica of St. Francis was extraordinary. I took this picture from the car, but you can still get the idea of how magnificent it truly is.
Here are a few more photos I took from around the city, you can see why I fell in love with this place:
Unfortunately, my symptoms kept getting worse, and eventually I had to go to the hospital. After hours in the emergency room trying to describe my symptoms to a non English speaking Italian doctor, I was given blood tests and an I.V. to help with dehydration. They still couldn't figure out what was wrong with me, so they sent me to a pharmacy to pick up some medication to calm down my stomach.
I was so thankful to have my boyfriend with me to take care of me. I was in really bad shape but he always managed to make me feel better. He was so sweet, and I'll never forget it.
Thankfully, the I.V. from the hospital made me feel a little better and I was able to go on a lovely car ride to explore the beautiful vineyards surrounding our hotel.
I really wish I would have been healthy because Assisi was so remarkably beautiful.
I guess I'll just have to go back someday!
Next stop, our favorite city of the trip:
Florence!
With my boyfriend finally rid of his crutches, and myself feeling a bit better.
Life was Good, again.
Here are some photos I took around the city of Florence:
The Uffizi museum was one of our favorite places in Florence. We were lucky enough to see the Caravaggio expedition on display, which was phenomenal. My boyfriend and I both love art so it was really special for us.
A photo I took of the Beautiful Arno river that runs through Florence.
So happy !
The best Gelato in the world!
Amazing street artist.
The famous Duomo!
Our own terrace at the hotel overlooking the city!
Time for more Gelato!
We made a new friend, the owner of the Gelato shop across the street from our hotel, Vetulio Bondi!!
Spending our last evening in Florence with our new friend Tulio!
We asked him where he would like to travel, and Ironic enough he said the Northwest of the U.S. We told him if he ever makes it in our area to look us up!
(We're now facebook friends and still keep in touch)
Next stop, our last destination:
Rome!
The remarkable Colosseum
Hop-on-hop-off bus tour. I'm so glad we took this, we saw all the sights we wanted to see, learned interesting facts, and got to get on and off whenever we wanted!
Out of all the amazing sights in Rome, the most impressive to me were the
Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's Basilica!
Though you can't take pictures in the Sistine Chapel, you can all you want in St. Peter's.
Here's a look:
"The first burst of the interior, in all its expansive majesty and glory: and, most of all, the looking up into the Dome; is a sensation never to be forgotten." - Charles Dickens, 1846
The baldacchino done by my favorite baroque artist Lorenzo Bernini!
(It's 90 feet tall!)
Your legs and shoulders have to be covered in the church, so I bought scarves and improved an outfit.
More views around the city:
The most delicious meal we had the entire trip:
On our way to the Trevi fountain we got lost and stumbled across these magnificent ruins behind the Colosseum!
Finally, we found the famous Trevi Fountain!
Sunset in Rome.
Enjoying a cocktail..or two.
Finally I got to see the car of my dreams, the Aston Martin Vanquish.
It was beautiful..
For our last night, we decided to go out to an American Bar named the Scholar's Lounge. We endured horrible karaoke, had multiple conversations with random people from all over the world. Met a hilarious Irish women we could barely understand, and watched 7 different Ferraris pass us on the street.
It was the perfect ending, to our not-so-perfect, but absolutely amazing trip.
( After we got home I started loosing hair some hair and still was experiencing symptoms, so I went to my doctor for further testing and this was when I found out it was E.Coli. After some heavy duty anti-biotics I was finally cured and back to my healthy self!)
