Paris & southern Italy

In Spring 2023, Adam and I took one month off of work for a Europe trip that took us from Paris to Southern Italy, and then southern Germany to visit my sister. Adam has taken over the bulk of the travel planning for our trips and allowed me to be a (mostly) stress-free passenger princess, and he’s done such a good job!

The only cameras I brought on this trip were my iPhone 14 Pro, a point and shoot film camera, and a mock panorama film camera I found online for $5. For film stock, I experimented for the first time with Cinestill!

We were mainly in Paris because of flight convenience, but I will never pass up an opportunity to spend a few days in one of my favourite cities (I will fight you if you call it over rated!) We stayed at a lovely boutique hotel in the Montmartre district - a somewhat less touristy neighbourhood. That said, we killed our feet walking to the main attractions along the Seine, and though we love discovering hidden gem cafes and shops along the way, we switched to metro travel after the first day.

Of course a priority for me in Paris is the art galleries. My favourites are the Centre Pompidou, Musée d'Orsay, and Louvre. I’ve been to the Louvre twice, so we skipped that one this time to prioritize time wandering the Parisian streets and sitting at cafes.

The highlight of our stay was going to a late night show at the Moulin Rouge. The theatre is full of adorable little lamp-lit tables and you can order bottles of champage and snacks before the show starts. I recommend booking ahead and including the champagne in the booking. Ordering on location is the same price and the pre-ordered bottle service is prioritized. The show itself was so fun and lively — we couldn’t stop laughing at the craziness of it all.

And then we were off to Italy! My first time, and Adam’s second, we didn’t want to rush around and see everything, but focus on one specific area and moved at a slower pace. We rented a car which is the best way to get around the southern region. You can see the joy in Adam’s face the first morning in Castelmezzano, taking a stroll to the local farmers market for fresh pasta and cheese.

Castelmezzano is an underrated, tiny mountain town that Adam found during his research. He found an Airbnb with the best possible view, with a host who was happy to facetime us when we got lost, give restaurant recommendations, and invite us on a guided hike in the surrounding mountains. There was potential we’d run out of things to do in such a small, isolated location, but with our hosts help we were never bored.

A strange, but wonderful, feature of Castelmezzano was the Michelin star restaurant Al Becco della Civetta. We didn’t expect to be able to go out for a fancy meal in a remote Italian mountain town!

Our next stop was Matera, one of the oldest inhabited cities in the world, known for its caves, views, and featured in movies like 007: No Time to Die. We chose another AirBNB with a spectacular view of the city and perfect little terrace for evenings in. It was such a good vantage point, that when we showed up, there was an enormous crowd of tourists lingering outside our door taking photos (see photo in grid below). Fortunately, they didn’t stick around all day and we still felt like we had a good amount of privacy.

Unlike Castelmezzano, Matera is very much a tourist town. There are two main attractions: the pedestrian-only, ancient stone city itself, and the caves spotting the cliffs opposite the town. Rather than driving around, we jumped a fence and hiked down from the town into a river valley and up to the caves.

For the Puglia region, we decided to use Ostoni as a basecamp from where we could take little day trips to the surrounding towns. On that list were Bari, Polignano a Mare, Alberobello, and Molfetta. We actually did stay one night in Molfetta because Adam found a cool spot inside the fortress walls that looked over the water, but there was unseasonably bad weather and we ended up hiding away from the rain for our short visit.

Ostuni was a very interesting little town built on a hill overlooking the Adriatic Sea. It felt like we were there in the off season and that if we had come during the warmer months it would have felt more like a vacation beach town and we would have spent time at their beach clubs. Regardless, the landscape was interesting, the food was amazing, and we had a fantastic rooftop patio.

Ostuni is where I finally broke out my little panorama point and shoot camera! I can’t believe how successful these images were!

Adam has started making a habit of injuring himself on trips. This time it was a minor slip which broke a bone in his foot and forced him to wear a walking cast for a couple of weeks. The day after his injury, we decided the best way to handle his lack of mobility was to seek out a winery in the area. We ended up at Essenza Di Pulglia — a stunning, family owned, organic winery that featured 2000 year old olive trees and offered private wine and olive oil tastings. Note that we did have to call ahead to make a tasting appointment.

And then it was time for the Amalfi Coast. It was busier and more expensive than our other stays (by a lot) but I understand why it’s so popular. It’s gorgeous! I especially loved visiting Capri.

We stayed in Vico Equense, which is actually on the north side of the coast line, but was a more budget-friendly option that gave us access to the Amalfi Coast and Capri Island via boat tours. We stayed at the cute boutique Hotel Mary with an amazing view of the Gulf of Naples, a lovely pool with drink service (my favourite thing), and a fantastic complimentary breakfast spread.

Our boat schedule allowed us a few hours in each town. We used that time to grab drinks, hike around the hills a bit, and book chairs at beach clubs.

Rome was the best city I didn’t know I needed to visit. I wasn’t expecting much and ended up LOVING it! Maybe it was the convenience of where we stayed or the great weather which made our experience so great, but to me Rome felt like Paris with palm trees.

A highlight of Rome was walking around the city centre at night with Adam. My other top recommendation is to not take restaurant recommendations. There was an amazing place to eat on every corner, so don’t waste time tracking down that one random spot you heard about online.

A low point was the torrential rain while visiting Pompeii which forced us to buy a cheap umbrella and huddle under ruins to stay dry. It wasn’t fun, but Adam is such a history buff he still enjoyed himself.

After Rome, we flew to Munich and spent a week with my sister and her family before heading home. All-in-all an amazing trip and I’m already anxious to get back to Italy!