Sophie's Croatia Itinerary

1. A few days in a tiny town on the coast called Drasnice. We enjoyed the white pebble beaches and lack of other tourists. Most visitors to the town were Croatians who grew up going to Drasnice with their families for the summer.

2. A day in Dubrovnik. This ancient walled city has marble sidewalks and is perched on a gorgeous cliff on the coast.

3. A couple days in Hvar. Croatia has many beautiful islands that are scattered across its coastline. We went to Hvar and its eponymous main city for some great meals and cool oceanside hangouts.

4. A few days on the island Vis. This tiny island was closed off to tourists as a military base until the 1990s. The island is still relatively undiscovered and maintains its old-world charm. There are two ancient industries there: wine and fishing, so needless to say the dining experience was amazing! This is where Adam proposed, but it would have been my favorite place we visited either way.

Sophie's Italy Itinerary

1. A few days in Bologna. Despite the "feels like" temperature of 120˚, Bologna was quite an amazing experience. We welcomed delicious ragu after a few too many octopus and whole-fish meals on the coast, and toured the city by the enchanting covered promenades.

2. A few days to hike Cinque Terre. This portion of the Italian Riviera is made up of 5 beautiful towns perched on the rugged coastline. The rigorous hike that connects the towns took us about a day, with a stop for a snack in each breathtaking village. My vote for the most charming town is Vernazza, and we were lucky enough to stay there for a couple nights!

3. A few days in Lake Como. When looking for a place to stay on the lake, there were several towns to choose from, and all were equally tempting. We chose, in my opinion, the best one: Varenna! Most towns are easily accessible by the ferries that frequently traverse the lake, so we spent our days hopping from one town to the next, and we spent our evenings dining by the water in Varenna. There's a spectacular hike to the top of the mountain above the town Menaggio... half way up we were gazing down onto sea planes touring the lake. On the top we could see the entire lake and into neighboring Switzerland.