As our Uber drove us from the Lisbon airport to our AirBnb, I couldn't help but stare out the window at the gorgeous ceramic tile covering the front of most buildings. The bright colors and patterns seemed to convey a sense of fun and joy that was less serious than Italy's vibe.
Read MoreSamantha and I arrived in Venice at mid day and it was HOT. Luckily, the airbnb we had booked was only a short walk from the train station, though it did take us a little while to find it as the entrance was tucked between some shops and a restaurant. It was a small flat but it had air conditioning so it was perfect. We only had 3 nights in Venice and wanted to make sure we made the most of it. We had some things on the agenda that we knew for sure we wanted to do, like spending some time exploring St. Mark's and taking a gondola ride, but otherwise we just wanted to explore and take in the city.
Read MoreAfter leaving the Netherlands, Samantha and I were feeling like we wanted to slow down a little bit and have some down time. We also only had to return our rental car back in Milan, so we figured we'd head south and spend some time in the small French town of Metz. On our way we stopped at a third trappist monastery, Orval Abbey, for a couple beers and some trappist cheese.
Read MoreAs we made the rainy drive across the countryside from Bruges to Amsterdam I got more and more excited. We booked an especially nice hotel in downtown Amsterdam for our first wedding anniversary, and I was looking forward to a little luxury!
A minor anxiety attack crept up on me as we entered Amsterdam. Roads were blocked off and people were EVERYWHERE.
Read MoreWe had a great time in Brussels, drinking all the beer and eating way too much chocolate. We got on the road, headed west towards Bruges. I have been before, right after graduating from high school in 2007. Fortunately, not very much about the city has changed. It is a beautiful old city, protected by UNESCO, full of canals, cobble-stoned streets and medieval buildings. We didn’t have the best weather, but fortunately we managed to stay mostly dry.
Read MoreAfter Prague, we decided it was time to satisfy Charles' desire for beer from Belgium, so we hopped back in our rental car and headed west across Germany. Along the way, we stopped at Eltz Castle, which was recommended to us by my mother, Barb, as one of her favorite sites in Germany.
We stopped for a single night to break up the drive in a tiny town near the castle called Macken. The town was so small we struggled to find dinner that night, but when we did we had another taste of traditional German schnitzel in a restaurant where everyone knew each other, except for us.
Read MoreWe arrived in Prague after a four-hour bus ride, since we weren't allowed to take our trusty rental car into the Czech Republic. Even though it was overcast and gray when we arrived, the "City of a Hundred Spires" immediately charmed us with window displays of its famous crystal and creepy marionettes. The sugary scent of trdelník--a spiral-shaped pastry stuffed with cream and fruit or chocolate--floated on the air, and bars with cheap, delicious beer seemed to beckon to us.
Read MoreAfter Munich, Samantha and I drove "the Romantic Road" north. It's a tourist initiative to increase the flow of tourists to southern Germany, but it's also an unbelievably beautiful drive. Due to some unforeseen events, we swapped out our Opel Corsa for a Fiat 500 soft top. This obviously added to our enjoyment of the drive. Its mostly through small agrarian villages, which are gorgeous in their own right, but the real gems are Nordinglen and Rothenburg, two medieval walled cities dating back centuries.
Read MoreWe drove north out of Switzerland to Schwangau, Germany and stayed just one night to check out Neuschwanstein Castle and Hohenschwangau Castle. These two incredible castles are at the southern tip of The Romantic Road. More on that in a minute!
If one of these castles looks familiar to you, that's because Disneyland's Sleeping Beauty Castle was designed after this model.
Read MoreFollowing our month long excursion in Italy, Samantha and I headed north to the lakeside town of Lugano in Switzerland. We stayed with my friend James' parents, who both work at a school there (The American School in Switzerland). They have a lovely basement apartment and were gracious enough to let us stay for a while. I love having dinner with Samantha every night but, it was really nice to have a few more English speakers around to dine with! They also were able to suggest some really lovely restaurants and hikes to really soak in the culture.
Read MoreThe first day Chuck fired up our crappy rental car to drive up the Amalfi coast. It felt much like the Cinque Terre—steep, rocky cliffsides tumbling down into the crisp, clear sea below. Lemon, olive, and grape crops clung to the walls on terraces and hung over the roads. The houses stack up the sides of the coast in any place that seems even slightly horizontal (and many places that are not) with roads crammed in between them barely big enough for a single car to pass.
Read MoreAfter Florence, Sam and I drove the couple hours south to Rome. It rained our last night in Florence which meant that it had finally cooled down a little bit. We booked and Airbnb geared towards "lovers" which we thought was strange at first, but made perfect sense when we arrived. Everything was red and almost everything had a heart on it. The bed had satin sheets and a satin bed spread. It was weird. But the location was incredible and it had an enormous patio furnished with a big table for dinners. We were a short walk, about five minutes, from Vatican City, and maybe 30 minutes to central Rome.
Read MoreWe left our little villa in rural Italy and steeled ourselves for hordes of tourists in Florence. Our AirBNB was across the Ponte Vecchio bridge and past the Pitti Palace, which made for some picturesque walks each day. The weather was incredibly hot, and we were grateful to have a washing machine and two air conditioners in our apartment.
Read MoreAfter the mountain-town vibes of Ortisei, Chuck and I decided it was time to relax on the beach for a few days. We headed south towards the Italian Cinque Terre, a string of centuries-old seaside villages known for the hand-built terraces marching up the steep slopes from the sea. It's another UNESCO world heritage site.
We decided to stay in Manarola, and were lucky enough to be upgraded to an ocean-view apartment. You can see our view below, but we didn't really take too many pictures. Instead, we spent two full days laying on the beaches in nearby Monterosso, consuming books and beer.
Read MoreWe have a new and improved interactive map! If you click the map header, you can see an up to date and interactive map of where we've been so far! I will try and keep this as up to date as possible! Check it out!
In Milan we picked up our gem of a rental car. Its an a little Opel hatchback that struggles with just about everything. But for $20 per day it’s tough to complain, and the AC works great! We left Milan and headed up North to the Dolomites (part of the Italian Alps) on recommendation from Dad and Cindy. We stayed in the beautiful ski resort town of Ortisei, which while technically in Italy has a very Austrian feel. This meant real beer (!) and hearty food.
Read MoreOne of the first items on our agenda once we got to Rovinj (pronounced "row-VIN") was to relax and have a beach day. We drove down to a national park called Kamenjak, pausing at a supermarket and a roadside fruit stand to buy cherries and sandwich fixings. Instead of butter, we bought a jar of something red with pesto-like consistency, mainly because we couldn't figure out what it was. I'm still not sure, but it was delicious!
The beaches in Croatia are all rocky, so we spread our towels on the hot black rocks between pine trees and the sea.
Read MoreWe only stopped in Krka National Park in Croatia for a few hours before heading on to our final destination of the day -- Plitvice National Park.
We spent one night in Plitvice, getting up early the next morning for what we thought would be a long, strenuous hike.
Read MoreWe left Montenegro to cross the border back into Croatia and make our way up the Dalmatian Coast. Split, Croatia's second-largest city (and largest city in the Dalmatian region) was a great place to stay for a few days. Split is home to Diocletian's Palace, which is a palace built in the fourth century for a Roman emperor of the same name.
This huge, fortress-like structure is enmeshed in the heart of the city.
Read MoreAfter meeting Reyn and Cindy in Dubrovnik, Charles and I rented a car and drove a few hours across the Croatian border into neighboring Montenegro, where we spent a few nights on the shores of the lovely Bay of Kotor. Kotor is another walled city, though less "prettified" for tourists than Dubrovnik.
Since we had a car, we stayed along the shores of the bay in neighboring Dobrota, about a 10 minute drive from Kotor. It was nice to have a little peace and quiet, and our AirBnb had a great view of the bay.
Read MoreSamantha and Charles Parsons went a little overboard when planning their honeymoon. Instead of a few short weeks of travel, they opted for a year-long adventure around the world! Follow along as they leave their home in Denver, Colorado in the United States to travel the globe.
Just click on the logo of the store you want to shop at, and every purchase you make at that retailer will get the Parsons team around 4% - 8% of the cost of your order!
It costs you nothing!
Charles & Samantha Parsons
parsonsworldonline@gmail.com
