Italy Road Trip

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So where to begin? In 2021 we took a road trip in Italy with our 3 boys ages 4 to 8 it was an amazing trip we have lots of amazing memories! Looking back we probably went to too many places for one week with young kids, if I would plan it again I would probably not do so many places. Anyway let’s dive in!

Tuesday Milan
Day one we landed in Milan noon time we rented a car in the airport we had some trouble getting the car we ended up having to pay more but bh we got our car.
And we’re on our way, first food! We stopped at a dairy kosher restaurant (I’m sorry don’t remember the name but there is quite a few kosher restaurants in Milan) the ice cream was so delicious my kids still dream about that!
Now that our bellies was full, time to head out.
We drove to Duomo de Milano we walked around in the square we took small guided tuk tuk bikes and went to a few popular spots, the kids were already so exhausted from the flight that this was perfect, no walking necessary!
It was still kind of Covid at the time but in Italy you didn’t need to wear the mask outdoors but every store we had to wear them.
Okay moving on from Milan we drove to Lake Garda to a small town called Sirmiona. at the time there was a small kosher hotel there. We didn’t stay in the hotel but we stayed 8 min walk from there.
When we arrived we went for dinner and then bed!

Wednesday Lake Garda
We woke up Thursday morning or rather I’m the mother that woke my kids to go see places.
Sirmione is a beautiful little town in Lake Garda we loved walking around in the old city we took a small boat we biked around, the weather was hot but we loved that. It’s a very touristy place but really beautiful lots of pebble stones and Roman buildings.
Dinner was again in the kosher hotel.
The Food was nothing fancy but was home made and it did the job.
Friday morning we traveled to a place called Malcesine it’s another town surrounding lake Garda- I should explain lake Garda is this beautiful big lake with lots of towns surrounding it. It’s breathtaking! It took us about 1,5 hours to get there the views driving up there is stunning the lake is a clear blue color and the further you drive the more mountains you see it’s on the way to Dolomites so you get higher.
We arrived there our plan was to take the cable car up a mountain with a 380 view due to a few flops we didn’t make it it was a bit upsetting to be honest. But nonetheless we enjoyed the town we walked around and sat by the lake you can swim there and it’s just very tranquil. We came back with a few hours to spare kids still enjoyed hotel pool and we got ready for shabbos.
Shabbos was beautiful we went to eat at the kosher hotel. shabbos morning we had a history lesson about Italy and WW2.

Sunday Venice
Sunday morning was another travel day we woke up early went for breakfast and we were in our way. Lake Garda to Venice it’s about a 2 hour drive we made it at around noon we had a little trouble finding our way after parking the car, you’re supposed to park the car outside Venice and the signs and instructions weren’t the best but we figured it out.
We enjoyed walking around in the city. It was murder hot the kids were complaining from the heat. Looking back we should have made more stops and taken it a bit slower but we did love the city- it’s beautiful. We took taxi on the canal, there is also a boat that acts like a bus that we enjoyed. We walked around the ghetto- there was a ton of people here too but we don’t mind people so that’s okay.

We ended our day in one of the kosher restaurants- I don’t remember the name but it was delicious!
Around 8/9 we made our way back to the car and we had another long way- we traveled from Venice to Lucca it took about 3 hours.
We arrived late at night with sleepy kids.

Monday Lucca
We woke up in our cute little apartment with a view of the town market was pretty cute. Today we decided to do a kids friendly day. There was no kosher in Lucca so we had some tuna and crackers for breakfast.
We went to a park called Pinocchio- the kids really enjoyed! We came back and walked around town a bit, it was also a very typical old Italian town. Most of Italian towns are old beautiful architecture and cobble stones and just cute- we loved that about Italy! We scheduled our Covid test here since we needed it for our flight, so we did it in a pharmacy and time to head out.
We bought some cereal and some fruits to have for the way.

Today was another long travel day- we went from Lucca to Cinque Terre with a stop to Pisa to see the famous crooked tower of Pisa.
We arrived in Pisa we made a small stop for some photos and then we were on our way to La Spezia, a town closest to Cinque Terra.
It was already late so we had some noodle soup and then bed. La Spezia reminded me of Paris- the town has similar vibe.

Tuesday Cinque Terre
Tuesday morning we had another tuna breakfast and headed out- today we hired a boat to take us around in Cinque Terre.
Cinque Terre is 5 towns located on the coast- it’s super beautiful.

From the water you see mountains with a lot of small cute houses. The boat took us the all the way to the 5th town and we saw all the towns along the way. That day the water was very choppy and stormy- we all felt kind of nauseous- going back I would definitely just go to one town and explore rather then seeing all five and being on the water for so long.
There is also a ferry instead of a private boat that I would do differently this time if I ever come back.
My husband dislocated a shoulder here falling of the boat- that wasn’t fun. He got an ambulance ride and we waited for our bill but then we learned if you’re a tourist in Italy you don’t pay for medical injuries.
We made our way back to La Spezia, the water was so windy I was sure we are all falling into the water!
Now it was time to head back.
Our 1 week trip came to an end as we traveled from La Spezia to Milan, another 3 hour ride. We ate dinner in Milan in one of the kosher restaurants.
We booked a hotel close to airport to be ready for our flight the next morning. We went to London for a weekend to visit family, and then after Shabbos it was home sweet home.

Our road trip was a loop- it was perfect. We went to Lucca because I didn’t want to go out of the way, but it might be wiser to go to Florence instead, since there are many kosher restaurants there.
All in all we had an amazing time- we can’t wait to see more of Italy one day.
For more trips you can follow me on Instagram @chaniengel.photography.

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Chani engel