Memories of Greece & Italy to share.

A month ago today I was on a plane returning from what feels like a dream. Two weeks of pure European wonder spent in Greece and Italy with my guy. Swoon! After so many years spent together, the opportunity to get out and experience the world and make US a priority presented itself and we jumped at the chance. After all, you never know when the stars will align perfectly again. To say it was heaven is a total understatement. Words or pictures will never do our experience justice because it’s one of those you had to see it with your own eyes type of things…

If I’m being honest, it was the little things that made this trip for me. It was the authentic food and the countless bottles of wine and the ambiance and the company and the conversation. I brought a journal along and by the end of the trip, I had filled every single page with memories. Like watching the sunrise in Santorini on the rooftop of our room, barefoot. Hiking down the side of the island – 246 of the largest steps you’ve ever seen in your life! – to make it down to Ammoudi Bay and trespass so that we could jump off cliffs and get our first taste of the salty Mediterranean.  Eating dinner in Oia among locals and watching a woman so entranced by the live musicians that she danced with a ceramic jug on top of her head.

It was things like driving a manual transmission car, in the rain, on foreign windy roads as we made our way to San Gimignano, Italy. Sitting on the steps of the Collegiata in the Piazza del Duomo, huddled around a cup of the best pistachio gelato in the world, watching the amateur orchestra perform. Tear-filled life talks over beers in Florence. Biking along the walls surrounding Lucca, overlooking the charming city. Walking into a tiny Sorrento storefront and letting a man who spoke no english whatsoever make sandals for me with his own two hands. Or my favorite day, renting a boat in Capri driving around the entire island stopping for a swim in the Grotta Verde, parking our boat to share lunch and a bottle of prosecco and finally, driving through the Faraglioni. What a glorious day!

My favorite memory though, was one I did not expect. On our last day in Rome, Steven and I attended morning mass at the Basilica di San Pietro. I had purchased a ceramic cross as a gift for my mom and I really wanted it blessed in the Holy city. I stood in the cathedral for what felt like hours before I worked up the nerve to approach anyone. Finally, I walked up to a Priest, pulled out the cross from my bag and blurted out padre, vi benedira questa croce per la mia mamma per favore? (I don’t know where it came from, divine intervention maybe, but ask Steven, I said it in perfect Italian!) He smiled and there, in the middle of St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City in Rome, the Priest, Steven and I huddled around as he blessed the cross for my mom in Italian. At that moment, I felt so much gratitude – for my life, for my family, for this world, for the opportunity to be there – that I lost control of my emotions and literally wept in the middle of the Basilica. It was such a special memory and one that is so meaningful to my heart.

Lastly, I can’t thank Katie Frederick of Ever After Honeymoons enough for her help in planning our trip. She took care of everything for us, selecting the perfect apartments, hotels, cities. She even recommended restaurants as she followed along our journey on Instagram! She truly knows her way around the world and it was a pleasure working with someone so knowledgable about our destinations.

Here are a few of my favorite captures from our dream trip…