Where to Eat: Turin and Florence, Italy - Athens and Santorini, Greece

Bryan and I are not what you would consider foodies. Sure, we love a good meal as much as the next person, but we also believe we can find a good meal without breaking the bank. And in Italy and Greece, it's hard to find a BAD meal. That being said, we wanted to eat well on this trip, but going to the best rated places was not our intention.

Before we even left, we did what everyone would and should do - asked our friends for recommendations. I had a list and a Google Maps layout of so many suggestions. Our thought was, if we happened to be near one of those places, we'd eat there, but we weren't going to go out of our way many stops.

There were so many great places we ate at - I'm just going to run through the summaries and our recommendations below. Keep in mind, these aren't all of our stops. We made several quick visits to cafes for breakfast, quick pizza joints for a slice, etc. These are the places we sat and experienced and enjoyed the ambiance and hope that you do also.

Turin:

Check out the burrata in the background!

Bottega Baretti. Known for their pizza and happened to be two blocks from our hotel. We liked this place so much we went back a second night (and also, a lot of places were closed since it was a Sunday). Get anything with burrata, you won't be disappointed. I dipped my crust into it, it was so good. And we dream of going back there the first chance we get.

100 Montaditos. Translates to 100 Sandwiches. A chain restaurant you can find even in the States, but the sandwiches were true to the region. I only include this one in the post because it was a great stop when a lot of places were closed for Sunday church. Super inexpensive but very tasty!

Del Cambio Pharmacy. We came here for apertivo so can't make a recommendation on food. But it is a great stop in the middle of the square, perfect for people watching.

Florence:

Gnocchi

Osteria Santo Spirito. Known for their gnocchi which we got as an appetizer. We even overheard some exchange students saying they had waited all semester to come and try the gnocchi. Make a reservation because it fills up fast - and ask for a seat on the patio. They will provide blankets.

Acqual Al'2. Known for their blueberry steak. I didn't want to get steak because we're in Italy, why not get pasta everywhere you go?! However, this day I hadn't been feeling well and really needed some protein, so went for the steak. It didn't disappoint. Even Bryan was jealous he didn't try it. Make a reservation here also, because it gets slammed. Even with a reservation we had to wait about 20 minutes.

Blueberry steak

Mercato Centrale. An open air market, similar to the food halls that are popping up in Denver. The first floor is a traditional market where you can buy whatever food you need. The second level is a food court with all sorts of delicacies - Italian, Chinese, you name it. This is near the train station, so a great stop before you leave town, or if you need a place to grab some food before heading out on a tour.

Golden View Firenze. This place I found on Instagram, their pictures will make you dream of going to Florence. From their dining room, you have a great view of the Ponte Vecchio in Florence, and if you are eating dinner, you can sit on the open air patio staring at the bridge. They have brunch, lunch, dinner and everything in between. We went for an apertivo and did a flight of wine tastings. 

Il Vivandiere - Cantina Vinicola. This was the place that wasn't meant to be. Returning from Cinque Terre, we spoke with our tour guide, Sarah, who lives in the Santa Croce neighborhood (where we were staying). We asked for recommendations on a good place to eat that wasn't super fancy or wouldn't require a reservation and this was her recommendation. She said she goes to it all the time and the owners know her by name - they serve smaller plates. Well, we tried to find it, but just couldn't. There wasn't a name on the outside so we got lost and were tired and hungry. Looking back we realized we HAD found it, but the place looked fancier than we expected, so we figured it couldn't be it. I add this to the list, because a local recommended it as one of her faves. Go check it out for us!


All'Antico Vinaio. Last but certainly not least. Everyone knows of this sandwich joint in Florence. We were staying close to it, so made a pit stop right when we got into town. Be prepared to wait in line, but the line moves fast. But then make sure you're ready to order! The sandwiches are enormous, cheap and delicious. I think it's a rite of passage that you have to stop here at least once!

Santorini:

Ammoudi Fish Tavern(Oia). Right on the water, seriously. Their menu is expensive and prices change with the season, but you can't get seafood any fresher than this. They catch their seafood every day and the options are all over the place! We made a reservation ahead of time, which cost 20 euros, but that could then be applied to our final bill. Depending on the time of year and day you plan to go, a reservation probably isn't needed, but we figured better safe than sorry.

Pitogyros (Oia). Think Greek fast food. After all day on the boat, we wanted some more grub before heading to bed. This came recommended to us by friends, and our bus driver. They have a walk up window you can order at and they call your name when the food is ready. A large selection of meats to include in your gyro also. And don't let the fact that it's 'fast food' deter you - it is delicious. It also helped that we took it to our private hotel patio and enjoyed the view while eating. :)

Athens:

Monsieur Barbu. I found this restaurant on a list of top new joints in Koukaki (the neighborhood we stayed in). We got to them right when they opened and had a great lunch on the patio. This was our last meal in Athens so we topped it off with our last liter of Rose of the trip.

Yum!

Kalyvas. When getting a ride to our AirBnB, our driver told us he lives in the neighborhood we were staying in (Koukaki), so we asked him for a recommendation on where to eat. He recommended this spot as a family owned, fast casual restaurant, but one of his faves. It happened to be across the street from our house, so we tried it at. This place is not to be missed. The food was amazing and the price was unreal. Seriously, we thought they forgot to include something. We ordered stuffed peppers for an appetizer (stuffed with feta and tomatoes) and gyros. Both orders were bigger than our heads. Add in the half liter of rose (which was also delicious) and our tab was only 13 euros. Unbelievable! And one of the many menu items we've tried to recreate.

Happy eating!

Where to Stay - Italy and Greece

Lodging can certainly make or break a trip in terms of budget. And while we knew we couldn't afford top of the line everywhere we went (budget-savvy travelers!), we also didn't want to stay somewhere that was unsafe or unsanitary.

When it came to booking lodging for Italy and Greece, the planner in me started looking immediately after we had our flights booked. I did this for a couple of reasons. First, I wanted to get a better feel of what it would cost in case we needed to budget more money, and next, I figured if we found a good deal, we should snag it before it was gone!

Our front door - Room 110

First up was Santorini, for no other reason except we knew we would splurge here. I had been eyeing a hotel for quite some time, but when it came to actually booking it, the price for one night was our budget for three, so back to the drawing board! I knew in Santorini that I wanted to stay in the neighborhood of Oia, and try to stay in a cave hotel. With our small budget, this gave us limited options, but we found a great place in the Residence Suites. Residence Suites has several sister locations in Santorini, and ours was the most affordable option. As you read from our previous post, though, it was an excellent option because the private patio and view we had of the caldera was worth every penny. This hotel does not have a pool, but does have a hot tub and a cold water tub (their version of the pool). They also do not have a restaurant, but we didn't mind, it gave us a reason to go exploring. 

Sunrise from our patio

Be prepared with Residence Suites, there is no formal front desk, you have to check in at the bus stop. This did not bother us, but I read several complaints online prior, mainly because people weren't aware. As long as you know, then no worries. If you stay at this hotel and book online with them directly, you can also get a complimentary shuttle from the airport. To get our room, ask for room 110 - you won't regret it!

Would we stay here again? Absolutely! But to mix things up we would probably try somewhere new. This was our take on it: By staying in Oia, we could explore in the morning without the crazy crowds and enjoy it. Plus, we had easy access to Ammoudi Bay, beautiful sunsets, the domes, etc. Now that we've been, we would probably stay in a neighborhood like Imergovli where we can enjoy sunsets from our hotel room, and ATV over to Oia. As long as you prepare yourself for crowds, you can't go wrong!

In Athens, we just felt like AirBnb was the way to go. When looking online, I found the cutest place that had a private rooftop patio (yes, please!), called island in the sky. When I showed it to Bryan, he fell in love and started looking at the neighborhood, Koukaki. Turns out, AirBnb named this neighborhood as one of the top five in the world! Well, this just sold us on it and the price was great! What was interesting about this place is that it was the only room on the 6th floor, which is why we had a private rooftop patio. We would take the elevator up five floors, and walk up one (small) flight of stairs to the top. The apartment as a whole was fairly small, but again, we're not there to stay in the room! Our hosts were also incredibly accommodating and were quick to answer any questions we had! Such a peaceful way to end our trip! Would we stay in Koukaki again? Maybe. While the neighborhood was adorable and had incredible food, we weren't exactly close to anything in Athens. Not that it takes long to walk, but sometimes it's nice to just pop out to where you need to go!

One last thing to note about Greece lodging - you can't flush the toilet paper! This one threw us off big time. The plumbing is not great, so everywhere we stayed, you had to put the toilet paper in the trash can, not the toilet. I forgot a few times myself, but did my best. Not something you're used to in America!

To search for lodging in Italy, we started with Rome. We went back and forth on what and where to stay here since we knew it would be a very short stay. After some time, we decided to spend a tad more money than we normally would and get a hotel since it would be our first stop after a long day of travelling. The hotel was called Hotel Raffaello. We read through our Frommer's book and the various neighborhoods and landed on Monti. This neighborhood in Rome is a trendy spot in the city, with a lot of great restaurants and night clubs and it just sounded fun to us. It also helped that it was only about a ten minute walk from both the Colosseum (which was our only tour in Rome) and the train station. The hotel offered a car service for a fee, which we happily reserved. They also had a lot of great amenities we could use - including having a bottle of prosecco waiting for us when we arrived. The hotel even had breakfast (for a small cost) which was a great way to start our day! Would we stay here again? Absolutely! And we would definitely go back to that neighborhood!

Breakfast nook at the hotel

Florence was the next city we booked and we knew we wanted something fun since we would be there three nights. We went to AirBnb again and found this great place called, 'Your Happy Home in Florence'. The pictures caught my eye right away, and then because of the price it kept popping up on our radar. It wasn't until, again, we read about the various neighborhoods and realized this one is in Santa Croce. This spot is east of Florence city center and not 'close' to your typical hot spots, but that's exactly why we liked it. Everything in Florence is walkable and the home was off the beaten path, so just perfect for us! We had plenty of space to spread out, only walked up two flights of stairs and the hosts gave us a welcome bottle of wine upon arrival! And quite a few of the places we wanted to visit ended up being in Santa Croce, so you can't beat that! The only downside for us was that several of our tours met at the train or bus station, which is on the opposite end of town. Not exactly convenient, but again, if you know this going into it (which we did) then just enjoy the walk along the way! Would we stay here again? Oh yeah!

The entrance to the hotel

Last up was Turin. This one was a bit tricky because none of our friends had ever been before, and there wasn't much to read about online in terms of neighborhoods. So we did it the old fashioned way. I looked at both AirBnb and online for hotels to find places we liked that were in our budget. After that, I looked at the neighborhoods they were in and if it was close to the train station and picked it from there. We ended up staying at a boutique hotel called Apart Hotel Torino. So boutique that if we didn't get there by 6pm, we couldn't check in. Also, we knew that it was going to be hard to find based on reviews, but we still had trouble. It was only about a 10 minute walk from the train station (yay), but the door looks like a garage door, which you then walk through a courtyard looking thing before going up two flights of stairs for check in. Wow! A little much. But again, this place was beautiful. It was in the neighborhood called San Salvario was we learned is also the trendy new spot to be in! Incredible restaurants within walking distance and so much more. Would we stay here again? Absolutely!

Street view in Turin

With the exception of Florence, every single one of our homes (in Italy and Greece) had its own private balcony or rooftop which was such an extra bonus. And each was in such a fun and trendy neighborhood - we just got lucky with that one - but so fun to experience!

Gotta keep the power on!

Lessons learned in Italy? Our two hotels and their lights are powered by the hotel keys. You cannot have AC or electricity without the key being plugged into the wall. When we landed in Rome and couldn't figure this out, we were tired and cranky. By the time we realized what was happening, we just laughed because it was so absurd! Another lesson, more advice, determine what you want in your lodging location. Are you looking for something away from tourists? Do you want easy access to all of the main sites? Amenities including food, car service, etc? While planning on a budget, it's hard to find all of these so figure out which is most important to help narrow down your final destination!

Italy's Original Capital, Turin

When planning this trip, we made the decision to go visit Turin, because Bryan's favorite soccer team, Juventus, plays in this city. Plus, it is the original capital of Italy and has a lot of great history here as well. It was also home to the 2006 Winter Olympics. Yet, our favorite part about planning this was everyone asking where Turin is. :) For the record, Turin is in northern Italy, in the Piedmont region. It's about a 45 minute train ride, south and west of Milan.

About two weeks before we left, we went to purchase soccer tickets (that's when they become available) and had a hard time finding a reasonably priced ticket. Then, we came across the unfortunate news that the game had been rescheduled. Yup, we (mostly) planned this entire trip around that game, and now it was no longer. Since Juventus (had) been doing good earlier in the season, there was a chance they would have another game close to this one, so they changed the schedule and we missed out. We contemplated not going to Turin at all because of this change, but thought it would still be fun to visit this town since most people typically don't.

Hard to find this hotel

After getting off the train from Rome, we had about a 10 minute walk to our hotel. Well, it would have been 10 minutes if we could figure out where we were going. Again, I'll post more about the hotels later, but this one was a bit tricky to find. Nevertheless, we found our way and settled into our room. After cleaning up, we headed to dinner at one of our fave restaurants of the entire trip, Bottega Baretti. More to come about restaurants too, but just add this one to your list. Following dinner, we called it an early night. This was our first full night in Italy and after having gone to the Colosseum earlier in the day, we needed some sleep!

The next morning, we hit the streets of Turin. Since we were no longer going to the soccer game, we had the day to do what we wanted. A few blocks down from the hotel, we found a great cafe where I ordered my first Italian coffee and nutella-filled pastry. Trip made. We were staying in the San Salvario neighborhood, and just across the street from the cafe was an open air market. It was fun to wander through and see lots of local and handmade items for sale.

Mole Antonelliana

From there, we made our way through town, first visiting Mole Antonelliana. Mole in Italian is a building of monumental proportions, and this place is believed to be the largest museum in the world. What was once used as a synagogue, now houses the National Museum of Cinema.

Next we found our way to the Royal Palace of Turin, the former palace of the House of Savoy. The House of Savoy, led the unification of Italy and ruled the Kingdom of Italy until 1946. Their palace was then turned into a museum and became a UNESCO world heritage site in 1997. The Royal Palace also is home to the Chapel of the Holy Shroud, which is believed to have the Shroud of Turin. The Shroud of Turin is believed to be the cloth that was used for the burial of Jesus. We chose not to go 'see' the Shroud of Turin, because it is buried in a thick wall with nothing to actually see. Instead we wandered the palace grounds and the public garden in the back. 

In the square of the Royal Palace (Palazzo Reale), is the Palazzo Madama. This housed the first Senate of the Italian Kingdom and is now home to a museum of ancient art of Turin. Heading south from here, we stopped in Piazza San Carlo, one of the more famous piazzas of Turin. Here, we finally had our first gelato of Italy. I know, I know, it took us this long to get some. But well worth the stop. :) And THEN we had lunch. Priorities!

Apreol spritz in the park

Following lunch, we went to Parco del Valentino, a giant green space. This spot reminded us exactly of Wash Park in Denver. Space to play volleyball, sit with friends, walk your dog, the list goes on. There were even small concession stands where you could order food or drink. It was here we decided we needed to try our first (and what ended up being only) Aperol spritz. Aperol spritz is a drink very popular in Italy, particularly in this part of the country, made of Aperol and prosecco. It was very bitter, so not our favorite thing, but at least we tried it! We sat under these beautiful trees and enjoyed the view of the River Po. 

After the park, we kept walking through town. Since we couldn't go to the Juventus game, we decided to try the next best thing and visit the Juventus store - had to see what we could get!

Following all of this walking, it was time for a drink! Also popular in Italy is called apertivo - basically our version of happy hour. The apertif was made famous in this part of Italy, the state of Piedmont. Most places you can purchase a drink and food comes along with it at no additional cost. We stopped at a place called Del Cambio Pharmacy that came highly recommended and it did not disappoint. We had a great spot outside on the square and relaxed and enjoyed the view. Following apertivo, we made our way back to the hotel so we could start thinking about dinner. We stopped at a variety of stores along the way, to window shop, but found out the hard way that a lot of places were closed since it was Sunday. It actually made our dinner choices that night slim as well.....twist our arm, we went back to Bottega Barretti for a second night. That's how much we loved it. :)
Turin was definitely a great town to explore - we had over 26,000 steps that day - so much to see! While I know it's not anywhere near the top of someone's list of places to visit in Italy, because it's so far off the beaten path and still has so much history, Bryan and I would definitely recommend you try to stop if your path takes you near it!