~Carmen Toledo is an ancient Spanish city that is located southeast of Madrid.  You can easily get to Toledo from Madrid by train in less than an hour, making it an easy day trip from the nation’s capital city!  Toledo is known for its medieval architecture with Arab, Jewish, Christian, and Ancient Roman influences.  Known......

~Carmen When planning a trip to Spain, Madrid makes for an ideal base city.  As the capital of Spain, there is an abundance of museums, shopping, and historic attractions.  With frequent cheap, direct flights from the United States, Madrid is an easy destination in which to start and end any trip to Spain.  We planned......

~Carmen When planning a trip to Spain, what to eat and drink should be included in your itinerary! Throughout its varied history, the Iberian Peninsula had adopted and adapted different cultural aspects from the civilizations that conquered it.  The Romans brought mushroom-inspired cuisine.  When the Greeks and Phoenicians colonized the area, grapes (wine) and olives......

~Carmen This past summer we were able to check off a major bucket list destination—VENICE!  In totally, we spent 9 days in Northern Italy, 5 days in Milan and the surrounding area (See 5 Days in Northern Italy) and the other 4 days in the Veneto Region, which includes Venice & Verona, Italy. To really experience......

~Carmen Verona may be best known as the setting of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, but it is much more than that.  One of northern Italy’s most captivating and romantic cities, it is filled with cobblestoned streets and beautiful piazzas.  Its city center has many Roman ruins (only Rome has more), and thanks to Caesar Augustus,......

~ Carmen Murano and Burano are two popular islands in the Venetian Lagoon off of the northeastern coast of Italy.  The most popular island being Venice (Read How to Spend 2 Days in Venice).  The lagoon provides a calm barrier between the Adriatic Sea and the Italian Coast.  From Venice, you can easily reach these......

~ Carmen Venice is one of those destinations that people either love or hate.  I’ve heard friends say that it was beautiful, romantic, and a-trip-of-a-lifetime.  I’ve also had friends who thought it was too crowded, smelled bad, and overpriced.  My honest opinion is that Venice is all of the above.  However, for me its romantic......

~Carmen Northern Italy has always been high on our bucket list.  This summer we were able to spend a couple of weeks traversing this historic and beautiful part of the world.  The first 5 days of our trip involved using Milan as a home base and taking several day trips to other prime Northern Italy......

~Carmen Cinque Terre (meaning Five Lands) is a group of 5 colorful, picturesque towns off of the northwestern coast of Italy.  This area is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and was made an Italian National Park in 1999.  Cinque Terre can be explored over the course of a week, but you can hit the highlights......

~Carmen Lake Como (Lago di Como) is Italy’s deepest lake and third largest.  With a setting at the base of the Alps, it is considered by many to be Italy’s most beautiful lake.  It is shaped like a large upside-down Y, with its meandering shoreline dotted with exquisite 19th-century towns and villas.  Because of Lake......