Over spring break, Zach and I went to Italy!
It was a big, exciting trip for us in a lot of ways:
First of all: um…Italy!
It was also the first time ever that we’ve been away from our kids together overnight. We’ve each been away from them separately many times, but together? Never! We have a 9-year-old people. It was about time. (The boys stayed with their grandma and grandpa in Iowa and had a fantastic time.)
We were also very fortunate that the trip was hosted by the company my husband works for which allowed us to travel in a style to which we are generally unaccustomed.
I’m not going to bore you with 500 photos, but here are some of the highlights:
The resort we visited — the Borgo Egnazia — was stunning. It was all white stone, white furniture and beautiful views through arched windows. This was the view from the terrace outside our room. Those are ancient olive groves with hills (mountains?) in the distance.
We ate and ate and ate some more. I really don’t think we had a bad meal the whole trip. The night we arrived we went to a dinner where a guy was making mozzarella cheese right there. He would mix it up in this big vat, then slip it into the serving bowl when you walked up to the table.
The region we visited is known for these round stone buildings with conical roofs called “trulli”. Our second day there we ate lunch in a restaurant that was built in a restored village of trulli. It felt like we were in a fairy tale.
We also loved our visit to Ostuni, an ancient city built on a hill. Almost the entire city is painted white and it’s filled with narrow roads and twisty, arched stairways.
I took approximately one million photos while we were there, but I’m going to show great restraint and only post this one.
- Arched passageway? Check!
- Twisting stone stairs? Check!
- Light blue doors? Check!
- Little scooter parked at the bottom? Check!
There! Now you feel like you went to Italy too!
I also learned to make my own pasta. Guess what! It’s not that hard. I’ve been scared to make pasta for years, but now I’m not. I’m probably not going to be making it on a week night or anything, but it’s on my to do list. I think I look a little crazy in the photo…Crazy for home made pasta!
After the group activities died down, we had a day to ourselves. We rented bikes and rode around in the olive groves for a bit before heading down to the Adriatic Sea. The Adriatic has the bluest water I have ever seen in real life. Apparently it is lovely to swim in in the warm summer months but because we were there in April we mostly just looked at the water, commented on how blue it was and chased my hat as it was blown off over and over.
And finally, here is a picture of gelato. Because you can’t go to Italy and not take a picture of gelato.
