Travel As You Are

We rented a car to drive to the Amalfi Coast

king.brian.84 — Tue, 25 Feb 2025 19:21:14 +0000

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Wedding in Ostuni

king.brian.84 — Mon, 10 Feb 2025 17:40:06 +0000

Festival of Us:

A Five Day Wedding Celebration

Finally we’ve arrived at the reason for our trip! To celebrate our friends Rebecca and Andy as they started the next chapter of their lives together! To say that we’re absolutely over the moon for these two is an understatement and while this week was a whirlwind of events and bonding time with our crew, we really need to come back and see the area when we’re not committed to a wedding.

That being said, we wanted to just give some of the highlights of the week here before we move on.

First we arrived at the Bari Centrale train station and then we headed south for about an hour to Ostuni where we were greeted at the most amazing villa ever!

The Ostuni Art Resort (https://www.ostuniartresort.com/) was going to be our home for the next 5 days and I’m not actually sure if we’ve ever stayed in such an incredible location before. Containing a few Trulli-style bedrooms and lined with Olive trees, you could feel how special the next few days were about to be.

After a great meal and a good nights rest we headed to Lido Bambu (https://www.lidobambu.it/en/) for a beach day. It was a little overcast but the weather held up and we finally got to put our feet into the Adriatic Sea for the first time. Tell us this photo of us above doesn’t look like Albert and Armand from The Birdcage? Haha!

The next day we head to Ostuni town to check it out for the day with our friends Jess, Brittany & Derek. This was the day we got the most rain so while the town was beautiful, it’s another spot we need to come back to. We did get the chance to stop at a stunning restaurant named L’Arco deli Sapori (https://www.arcodeisapori.it/) for dinner which was so good, but honestly, everything is good in Italy.

Before we begin talking about the wedding ceremony and reception, I just want to shout out a few people who truly made this event something incredible and gave two of our favorite people the wedding of their dreams.

While most of the photos you see on our blog are from Brian and I, RK and Andy hired a photographer from Danilo & Sharon (https://www.instagram.com/daniloandsharon?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igsh=ZDNlZDc0MzIxNw==) to be on site and handle a lot of these pics for us as a group, so we’ve included some of them here.

Also a big shout out to Giusy for being a wonderful wedding planner and making everything so easy for all of us (https://www.instagram.com/giusyweddings/)

Under a beautiful tree, draped in disco balls, our friend Mark officiated their nuptials, while we all worked hard to keep it together (and failed).

“I think that you two were destined for each other. I think spiritually you two were created and then separated and then divinely chosen to meet again.”

That’s what our friend Tunde said about Rebecca and Andy while we had dinner after the reception. A few people gave speeches that night which of course led to more tears and more love but dancing is in our DNA and we couldn’t wait to change for the reception and get to the floor!

There was one moment of the night when we were all on the dance floor and the DJ played “Innerbloom” by Rüfüs Du Sol and we all just instinctively made a circle around RK & Andy and took in all the specialness of us being together in that moment. A core memory indeed.

If you knew Rebecca, you’d know she loves a good reference so we were all told that the next day was the La Dolce Vita Pool Party and for outfit inspos to look at the photography of Slim Aarons. And I don’t know, but I kinda feel like we all slayed this one!

Another thing to note about Rebecca and Andy – they love a boat day – so it felt like that would be the only way to wrap up this magical week. We drove to the town of Taranto and while we waited for our boat to arrive, we walked around the area near the docks which was so beautiful.

It truly is a rare thing to get so many of our schedules to work at the same time and coordinate a week like this. It’s hard to put into words how special it is to be able to share love and BE love with a group of people like this. Truly a once in a blue moon opportunity and I’m so glad we did it. RK & Andy, we love you both SO much and it was an honor to be a part of it all!

…but the Amalfi Coast was waiting for us next.

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Rome to Bari

king.brian.84 — Sun, 02 Feb 2025 12:00:00 +0000

From Rome To Bari:

First Time Traveling By Train Across The Italian Countryside

There are many trains you can take throughout Italy and choosing the right one can seem daunting in a new country. Especially because Roma Termini Station is *always* busy.

While doing research about the trains we saw people saying how busy they are/can be and that they had trouble purchasing them day of, during peak times, so we bought ours months in advance via the Trenitalia app.

If you do need someone to talk to about your route or ticket, there are workers in red vests standing all around the station waiting to answer any questions. There are boards all over the station with the train times on them but know that the trains are often not on time and to allow time for that. We read a lot of blogs that said that and it was absolutely true each time we used a train to travel in Italy.

We were taking the Frecciarossa (Red Arrow) train which offers four classes of service: Standard, Premium, Business, and Executive. Passengers in higher classes enjoy extra amenities such as leather seats, more legroom, and complimentary refreshments. We spent the extra to get Business class because it wasn’t a huge difference and we wanted the extra space with a table. Make sure you’re there early to board because while there was space for everyone’s luggage, it did get used up quickly.

Once we settled in it was a 4 & 1/2 hour ride to Bari with only a few stops along the way so we had plenty of time to soak up the beautiful countryside views.

Once we arrived in Bari Centrale, we were then scooped up for an hour or so ride to the Ostuni Art Resort to begin the week of Rebecca & Andy’s “Festival Of Us”.

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Civita

king.brian.84 — Sun, 02 Feb 2025 12:00:00 +0000

Civita di Bagnoregio, Italy

On September 12th, we arrived at Rome Fiumicino Airport at 4:45 PM where we hopped into a car and headed up the E80 Highway to Civita di Bagnoregio. We had just 2 short days before we’d have to head back down to Rome to then make our way to Bari for our friends Rebecca & Andy’s wedding.

It was also our 10 year anniversary and we couldn’t believe that we were about. to spend 18 days in Italy.

Once we knew that the wedding was going to be held in Ostuni, Italy, we immediately got to preparing, which led to one day discovering the breathtaking hilltop village of Civita di Bagnoregio, about 120 km north of Rome.

Founded by the Etruscans over 2,500 years ago, it’s been nicknamed “La città che muore” or “The Dying City” due to the gradual erosion of the fragile tuff (volcanic rock) that it’s built on.

Due to that erosion, Civita is only accessible via a pedestrian bridge, which connects it to the neighboring town of Bagnoregio.

We arrived in the evening and it really is a wild sight to see… especially because you can’t quite grasp how scenic it’s about to be in the morning…

When we woke up the next morning (and we tend to be early morning people when on vacation), we went to the open cafe in the center square which is where we had breakfast both days we were there.

Now, seeing as Civita has fewer than 20 permanent residents, this small population primarily consists of locals who manage shops, restaurants, or accommodations catering to tourists. The number of people in the town increases significantly during the tourist season as visitors flock to see its stunning architecture and breathtaking views.

While the locals are super sweet and hospitable, the other thing we noticed immediately was that there were other locals as well, and they were the cats… and they were everywhere. So, JM spent quite a lot of time with them as well

If you’re looking for stuff “to do”, the list is short, but it’s worth the downshift in pace for. Getting up early (the church bells begin quite early in the am too lol) and walking slow through the streets really is a simple joy. Coming from NYC, it sometimes takes us a little while to mentally shift into just being and this was the perfect spot to adjust in.

Now, while it would be hard to imagine you’d find bad food anywhere, the restaurants we ate at were:

Taverna Bistrot – Amazing dinner

La Piazzetta – Lunch and snacks

San Donato – Breakfast and lunch spot.

There are other amazing viewpoints around the area as well like the Scale per Civita (which is a staircase to the top of a viewpoint with a cafe) that offers the view below. Map Link

And then a short ride to the town of Lubriano has a spot where you can pull over and see a side view of Civitta as well known as the Terrazza di Lubriano.

Our Air BnB host was super helpful and the breakfast at the cafe we mentioned earlier was included with our stay. We just had to tell them our hosts name. Everyone literally knows everyone <3

Know however that on the weekends you do get daytrippers that arrive by bus to walk around and take photos and enjoy the food and scenery, so both the morning time and evening times are the most peaceful and it’s kinda amazing actually. It really forces you to be in the moment and enjoy the most simple things.

One thing to note – That footbridge is no joke, especially when you’re carrying your luggage up and down it (this is a theme we would see developing pretty quickly in Italy, but more about that later lol), so just make sure you have the appropriate footwear when you arrive because there are no vehicles allowed up or down except municipal ones.

After a truly stunning few days in Civita, we made our way back to Rome for one day before we would head to Rebecca and Andy’s wedding for one stunning week together.

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