After adventuring across Paris and reading our vows again in we Switzerland, we travelled by train to Italy and took a water taxi out to the small town of Bellagio on Lake Como. The town is incredibly romantic, with tiny winding streets and historic details around every corner. It’s known as one of the most famous towns on Lake Como, but we did discover on arrival that the town was basically closed for the season – the hotels, restaurants, and parks were shut down. We did get to know some of the locals at the grocery store and cafe in town, and I found it deeply charming.
Our honeymoon was just short of a month, and it worked out with my dad’s schedule that he could join us for the final leg of our trip in Italy, which was just a great opportunity to run around Europe together! The last week of our trip was definitely our busiest – we rented a car and drove all across Northern Italy on teeny tiny mountain roads, enough roundabouts to make your head spin and a few major highways. There are more stories on that topic, but I’ll just say that Google Maps is truly one of the most useful travel tools around.
Here are a few images from our time in Como, Italy.
From there, we traveled to fair Verona, which is most famous to being the settling of Shakespeare’s “Romeo & Juliet.” A great city to walk, with tons of places to explore.
“Verona had its own unique history and flavor- sure, there are the areas which cater exclusively to tourist traffic. But, there’s great cuisine, history, and beauty to be discovered too. The Adige river cutting through the city makes for a beautiful framing, not unlike the Seine in Paris.” – Nick
When looking at the roadmap from Verona to Merano, we saw that we could enjoy a few detours along the way, which ended up being one of our favorite days of the whole trip.
“This day revealed an ever changing scenery filled with places I wanted to explore. Castles, ruins, churches, little towns all tucked within vineyards for miles. The drama of the mountains framing this beauty makes it one of the most unique lands I’ve ever visited.” – Nick
The drive itself was a delight, but a major highpoint was visiting Santuario Madonna della Corona which is a monastery built into a vertical cliff face on Mount Baldo overlooking the ravine below, dating back to 1530.
In Merano, we stayed at the family run, boutique hotel, Ottmanngut. This might be my favorite place we stayed the whole trip. The space balanced elegance, culture, and touches of style that come from a family that loves their work. Every morning included a unique three course breakfast based on the season and region. It was incredible. The full breakfast gave us the proper fuel to walk the Tappeiner Promenade which overlooks the city of Merano and connects to various other trails which lead you around the region. I would love to return to this area again in the future. It was full of art, history and the being nestled in the Dolomites was extraordinary.
This whole trip was made possible by our friends and family. Instead of asking for physical gifts at our wedding, we asked our buddies to contribute to a honeymoon. It was the best gift we could have asked for. Our whole honeymoon was just short of a month and we had so many moving pieces and a short time to plan the trip, so I reached out to one my favorite couples, Sarah & Tom – you might remember these two from their Edelweiss Backyard Wedding. They run the boutique travel company, Pathways Active Travel and plan incredible trips all over the world. Sarah helped us with planning, logistics and gave us so much insight and expertise! I would highly recommend Pathways for the adventurous traveler.
After our tour across Paris, Switzerland and Italy, we were off to Washington DC for Meagan & Akheil’s Destination Wedding!
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