Settle in, lushes! We are crossing the pond and drinking abroad today! We highly recommend this episode if you’re planning a trip to Greece or Italy, or if you’d like to live vicariously through one of the Boozy Blondes and her fabulous trip overseas!
The DOE is aperol spritz (3 parts Champagne, 2 parts aperol, 1 part sparkling water over ice). In Italy spritz is big, made with any aperitif + Champagne + fizzy water. All the locals drink spritzes (especially as a day drink) and most often they are served with crisps (chips) or snack towers. This is your pro tip – order a spritz, it’s the best value – for about 5€ you get a drink and snacks!
Chrissy’s trip spanned over 19 days – and it was full of planes, trains and automobiles. And boats. Her trip was in late March/early April which is typically the off-season in Italy and Greece. During the off-season you can expect a low amount of tourists, it’s easy to get into restaurants, hotel rates are discounted, but the weather is hit or miss and not everything is open. Locals recommend traveling In September.
In this episode Chrissy shares travel tips, favorite bars and differences in the drinking culture as she takes listeners through her adventures in Italy and and cruising through Greece. She visits:
- Milan, Italy
- Venice, Italy
- Padua/Padova, Italy
- Verona, Italy
- Madonna della Corona, Italy
- Bolzano, Italy
- Kotor, Montenegro
- Mykonos, Greece
- Santorini, Greece
- Bari, Italy
One drinking culture difference in Italy – the coffee game is strong. Coffee bars are actual bars, and there are different trends for different times of day. In the morning grab coffee and snacks, breakfast pastries or meatballs. Meatballs for breakfast?! This may be the one exception to Molly’s “no morning meat” rule. They sound delish. Don’t get comfy though; locals enjoy their coffee and snacks while standing at the bar and move on. Starting around 11am the coffee bars start serving spritz and chips (crisps) – unlike breakfast, you can sit down for this one. Later in day, around 7 pm-ish is cicchetti (happy hour), then after 8pm, it’s time for wine with dinner.
Chrissy’s favorite bars in Italy:
– Vino Vero (Venice) – Chrissy enjoyed a cooking class in Venice with Lorenzo. (Lorenzo’s house made the favorite bar list too). He recommended his favorite at Vino Vero, Amarone wine.
– Sophias cafe (best craft beer)
– Santa Maria (brewery in Verona – taproom)
– Retro Wine & Cocktail Bar (Venice)
– Cafe Rialto (Venice)
– Caffe Vergnano (comparable to Starbucks)
– Bottega Vini (Verona with 198 pages of wine)
– Antica gelateria del corso (base of the Madonna della Corona church – Spiazzi, Italy)
– Hopfen & Co (Bolzano, Italy)
Chrissy boarded her cruise ship from Venice and immediately noticed a big difference from the cruises the Boozy Blondes frequent in the Caribbean (listen to Episode 013 Booze Cruise for tips to making the most out of your weekend cruise). This particular European cruise was filled with young families, the drink package was not a priority (she was willing to bet she and Phil were the only ones with a drink package – they were ship favorites with the bartenders!), the activities were not in English, and it was a “commuter cruise” – people were boarding and debarking in all the ports. But similar to the Caribbean cruises, the ship docked in beautiful places!
The first stop was Kotor, Montenegro which was so picturesque or rather, Game of Thrones-esque, as Chrissy describes it. There were cats everywhere (they are protected), and Christmas is very big there. Chrissy recommends Caesar’s Wine Bar for the best charcuterie board and inexpensive wine.
The next port was Mykonos – a party place in season, but it was pretty much shut down when Chrissy was there. It reminded her of a little Venice and she visited Mykonos Brewing Company with Yoshi! (This is the only brewery on the island). She recommends Katerina’s Bar on water with great views and Captain’s.
There was one place Chrissy wanted to visit more than anywhere else – Santorini! “I had happy tears the whole time!” she says. While more places were open here than in Mykonos there still weren’t many tourists. If you visit, go to the Meteor Cafe in Oia and the Venetsanos Winery. Guests can take a tour here, and they offer a tasting flight with a meat and cheese board.
The last port was Bari, but Chrissy didn’t get off the boat this day. Perhaps an excuse to go back?
Chrissy’s parting tips in this episode:
- You know it’s a long day of travel to get overseas – it helps to have airline club level (check out airline credit card deals if you aren’t currently a member) – long layovers = expensive bar trips otherwise
- book First class on trains – she experienced both First and General fares and the ease of logistics and lack of stress in First Class is well worth the price
- Pay for the international data plan for phones – download google maps and gps routes to avoid getting lost when there is no service or Internet
- When in Venice, splurge for a private water taxi, not a vaparetto (Chrissy describes a vaparetto as a bus on water – it’s only 7 to 15 euro OW or you can buy daily, weekly or monthly passes, whereas a private taxi is about 90 euro but it takes your door to door rather than a random vaparetto stop. When you arrive in Venice, depending where the stop is in relation to your lodging, you may have to drag your luggage through streets quite a ways
Have you traveled to any of these locations? What are some of your must-sees?
Boozy Blondes 