Epic Honeymoon - Day 22 - Sintra

Pena Palace, Sintra.

Our last full day in Lisbon, we took a day trip out to the popular tourist town of Sintra. Home to the Pena Palaca – previous residence of the royal family – among other landmarks, you need to ensure to get there early to beat the crowds. We didn’t follow our own advice, but we fared okay in this regard. To get there, you must board the overland train from Restauradores station; you might read that it’s Rossio, but the Rossio metro station is at Rossio square, while the overland train leaves from Rossio main station... where the Restauradores metro stop is... go figure! Tickets can be bought on the machines or at the counter for a little over €2, and a return will be two singles (no saving if you buy a return or buy them individually).

Epic Honeymoon - Day 21 - Lisbon

Rooftops and cruise ships; a Lisboa kind of view!

Just as we would emerge from the hillside suburb where we were staying, we would meet a small square in front of Igreja de São Domingos. Adjacent to the church sits the barfront shop of A Ginjinha, which serves up the cherry liqueur we had been treated to at Tabuas two nights earlier. You will get a shot for €1.40 and can drink it right there on the square. It’s quite the popular spot!

Epic Honeymoon - Day 20 - Lisbon & Belém

Padrão dos Descobrimentos

The next morning, we took the metro down to Cais do Sodre and transferred to the overland train to visit Belém. Situated about 6km to the west of Lisbon, Belém watches over the mouth of the Tagus as it meets the Atlantic Ocean.

Epic Honeymoon - Day 18 & 19 - Lisbon

Praça do Comércio, Lisbon

Our next stop along the Epic Honeymoon trail was actually a noteworthy one for me: it was a new country to add to my list. With all the travel in my job, I have racked up a nice list of countries, but my recent years had seen me lacking any new places. Part 6 of our journey, though, brought my age and number of countries back to even: 33 countries at age 33. And while my list of countries will surpass my age later in the trip, for now, we explore Lisbon, Portugal.

Epic Honeymoon - Day 17 & 18 - Rome

The wonderfully touristy Fontana di Trevi.

Our last full day in Rome was dedicated to exploring the main touristy haunts of the city centre, starting with the annoyingly crowded Trevi Fountain. If you’re not aware, the story is that you take a coin in your right hand, back to the fountain, and throw the coin over your left shoulder into the water, wishing for a safe return to Rome. If you’ve done this before and you are back, your safe return has been granted, and so you now wish for something else. But apart from the coin-tossing tradition, the carvings of the fountain are quite spectacular. It’s hard to get a good photo of it, with the crowds around, but you can, relatively easily, get close enough to appreciate it.

Epic Honeymoon - Day 16 - Rome & Vatican City

The exit stairs in the Musei Vaticani.

On Saturday, 30^th September, we had made plans to visit the country within the city of Rome: The Vatican. As a separate city-state, crossing into Vatican City technically counts as visiting a new country – not that you get a stamp on your passport or anything. Obviously you can’t just wander around the entire grounds, but you can visit the various holy sites and museums to learn a bit about the history of the Catholic Church.

Epic Honeymoon - Day 15 - Rome

The exposed foundations of the Colosseum.

The next morning, we walked from our AirBnB to the Colosseum; an easy 10-15 minute stroll. This iconic and immense structure sits proudly at the south-eastern corner of Rome, neighbouring the ruins of the Roman Forum. I had seen the Colosseum on my Contiki Tour in 2011, but didn’t have the chance to go inside. On this occasion, I read up on it in advance and bought the tickets online before leaving home. 

Epic Honeymoon - Day 14 - Rome

Proverbially, all the roads will lead you here; it was the centre of the Roman Empire in the early days, and a powerhouse example of rich versus poor. The ritualistic executions by wild animals did not last, but thankfully, some of the amazing architecture has. Welcome, one and all, to the majesty of Rome.

Epic Honeymoon - Day 13 - Pisa

Our last full day in Florence was actually not in Florence – we took a train across the countryside to visit Pisa and its infamous Tower.

From Florence, it's an easy train ride across to Pisa, arriving in about 1 hour. There's no need to pre-book tickets for this one: just roll up at Santa Maria Novella and buy a ticket from the machine. It will only set you back about €8 per person.

Epic Honeymoon - Day 12 - Florence

The next day was a pre-designated as a day or art and culture, as we had pre-booked to visit the Uffizi Gallery, home to and incredibly huge collection of some of the most famous art from Italy’s Renaissance, and Galleria Accademia, which is of course known as the house of David.

We got going nice and early, arriving to Uffizi to find the crowds that pre-booking will get you past. You can save a couple of euros by getting yourself out of bed at the crack of dawn, if you so choose. But who needs that when you're on holiday??