Euro Trip (2022) Part One: Napoli - Ischia - Casamicciola - Ravelo

Written on: March 06, 2023

Originally started as a conversation between myself and Ian, I want to make sure my notes (memories) don't get lost when Slack deletes them. So, now they will live here!

This is long overdue but now that I find myself with more free time I’m getting around to finally looking through my Euro trip (2022) photos and I wanted to share the trip highlights with you. I figure it will be best to do it in country/region chunks so I’ll write up a short summary first to give you some context for the trip overall and then off to Southern Italy we go!

So, how did this trip even come about?! Well, Sesha and I love to travel, especially for longer periods of time. We feel that longer trips (3 weeks+) give us the chance to really get out of our comfort zones and interact with other cultures/ideas/places in a more natural way, unlike when we’re vacationing and trying to relax rather than explore.

Timing wise it worked out really well due to several factors. First, we hadn’t hadn’t travelled for a long period of time since our 6 month trip to Asia a decade previous. Second, Sesha was reaching the end of her schooling and was on track to graduate with her PhD (yay!). And finally, I was starting to feel some burnout at work so it felt like a good opportunity to disconnect for a while.

Our initial plans had us spending ~3-4weeks in each country and going from South to North Italy, Spain, Portugal and Morocco. However, with these trips we don’t like to plan too far in advance as it takes away some of the flexibility of “going with the flow”. Over time we found that we like having the option to stay in a place if we really like it, or move on if we don’t.

As far as logistics go, we each had a carry-on suitcase and a day pack (small backpack). We used trains ~90% of the time and buses and Ubers/Taxis for when trains weren’t available. We were able to use AirBnB the whole way (hotels were an option but they were always more expensive) which was pretty cool because we’d stay in residential areas a lot of the times and get a chance to interact with the local who was renting the place out.

Aug 30th - Sep 11th: Milan - Naples - Ischia - Ravello

Iceland - Milan

We had a long layover in Iceland so we decided to go to the Blue Lagoon (my pictures don’t do it justice) and it was pretty cool! Definitely worth a day visit if you are ever there. Although there are other spas which may be nicer if you’ve got the time to explore.
Milan was not on either of our must-see lists and in general was kind of underwhelming for us. But still, a good place to adjust from jet lag.
Visited the Duomo in Milan but getting in required tickets booked well ahead of time, which we did not have. So, we admired from the outside
And a couple of shots around Milan. I really liked the color of their buildings and it seemed like every block had people just hanging out in their balconies/windows, watching life go by down below.

Naples

Naples was probably the highlight of our whole trip for me. It just felt so raw and Italian, and in your face. I loved it! Walking through enclosed alleyways with people living their lives in the streets was really reminiscent of Asia, but European. Everything from the architecture to the people was full of life and history and it didn’t hold back in any sense. We spent ~1 week there I have more stories from that city than anywhere else on our trip. It’s just an absolutely unique city and one of my favorite places I’ve ever been.
Of course, we had to go get the best pizza in Italy…only waited an hour in line! And it was worth it! We later learned a trick from Sesha’s friend who now lives in Naples…if you go to a certain cafe across the street, the wait staff there is friends with the pizza place staff. So, you can go to the cafe, get a drink and they will put the order in for you and you will wait about half of the time you usually would. Apparently this is locals-only trick because they won’t do it for obvious tourists
We also stopped by an archeological museum which had some really old and really “fun” art

Ischia

Gorgeous scenery around Ischia and a hike up to the Aragonese castle. The water was very refreshing for swimming, not too hot and not too cold.
For the second half of our stay in Ischia we moved to a smaller village called Casamicciola. We were able to get a steal of a deal on an incredible AirBnB due to the shoulder season and lack of guests.

Ravello

Finally, Ravello. One of Sesha’s old co-workers now lives in the outskirts of Naples with her husband so they very graciously took us on a day trip around the Amalfi coast. We did not plan to go there because of a lack of transportation options as well as the cost of staying there. I’m very thankful they were able to take us though because it’s like something out of a fairy tale. The gardens, the colors and the architecture along the coast can give you whiplash because there is just so much to take in. Ravello was pretty full of tourists but even so, walking down these old alleyways and coming out to a view of perfectly manicured gardens or fruit groves, backset with the ocean was unforgettable. They have music festivals there throughout the year and I’d love to at some point in my life go for one of them and listen to the music as it rolls over the buildings and villages below.