VERONA TRAVEL VLOG | How Much We Spent, 3 Incredible Restaurants, THE Secret Bar + Lake Garda Trip!

Hello and welcome back to another Ems and Nick travel vlog. Today we are very excited, it's been a long time since we last went away. It has, it has. I mean it's been about a month and a half. No, we went to Mexico but we didn't film that, we really took that as a bit of R and R. But today we're going to Verona. It was actually supposed to be a surprise trip, but... I was totally wrong. Essentially British Airways shafted me. They essentially told Emily where we were flying to. So it didn't quite go to plan, but we still got a few surprises in store. Yeah, Nick literally blocked all my emails from BA but it still managed to worm its way through. So Nick has planned all of our itineraries, our meals out, our restaurants, everything, the hotel. I'm really excited, even the transfers, I don't have to worry about a thing, which is so lovely. To say it hasn't been stressful would be completely lying, because Emily always hamps me, as in like we always book restaurants together. I plan everything. Yeah, essentially. Yeah, so this, I mean this could be a disaster, or it could be fantastic. So we've got three days, three nights in the home of Verona and Julia. We are in a bit of a rush, got to go to Gatwick Airport, we're driving now which is really nice, so we'll take you with us and we'll see you when we get there. We've arrived! We've arrived in Verona and it is beautiful. First impressions, smelt like cow manure. Yeah, don't be blocked by the absolute stench of cow pats. So it was about a 20-25 minute drive in a taxi here and we've just arrived at the hotel. We've had a free upgrade which is always lovely. The hotel's gorgeous, it combines the old ruins essentially with modern, so it's really really cool. We'll have to show you it in a second. And our room is pretty epic. But before we give you a tour, we thought we'd give you a little bit of background behind this trip. So, Ems and I decided at the start of the year that we were going to organise two trips to one another. So the trips were a surprise and it was my turn to go first, so essentially the deal was you had a budget of £1000 and without the other one knowing, you book a destination in Europe for three nights and then you plan the whole itinerary. And that has to include accommodation, flights, and spending money? And spending money. Really lovely because I only got my car out once. Delightful. So, so far, the flights cost me, so from London to Verona, it cost £140. So that was using some air miles that I had plus just some really low cost flights that I was able to find. The hotel, a splurge on the hotel a bit, the hotel cost me £500. So, so far, from the £1000 budget, we're running a total of £640. But if you actually look at how much it costs to stay in this hotel now, if you were to book right now, it's tripled in price? Yeah, pretty much. And I think the room that we're in is like twice at least the amount that I paid for our room. So, we're winning so far. Anyway, on to the tour. Oh, hello. Welcome to my room. Can you show me around please? So, come in. You've got a lovely, spacious hallway. Yep. Loads of room for activities. Something that we always battle over when we get away is wardrobe space. Yep. Don't think we're going to have that. Plenty of that. Loads of it. Lovely. I've got lots of my territory in there. Okay. Now, if you turn around, quick 180, we've got the bathroom. And I don't know why, I love an elevated bath. Room. Bathroom. Room of the bath. Yeah. She's in the bathroom as well. That's disgusting. I can't condone that. That is horrible. We've got robes though. Robes are always great. We've got robes. We've got slippers. Dental kit. Essential. I've got a bidet, which I also enjoy. Okay. Come around. We've got a huge full-length mirror. Another thing I appreciate in a hotel, actually, is a full-length mirror because sometimes they just don't have them. Yeah. We've got like six in here. Fantastic. And a coffee station, which is always great when we go away because we crave coffee first thing in the morning. You need one before you actually exit the room, don't you? Exactly. Got a little mini bar in there. Cute. Plasma on the wall. Hands. They're lovely. Big old bed. And then, probably the nicest thing about the room, other than the bidet, is the balcony. Amazing balcony. So it's a bit tricky to go out here because of these doors. One person at a time, essentially. But here we go. This is the street that we luck out onto. And literally all the shops are just there. We're right in the city centre. Epic. So exciting. Surprise now. We're going to probably just go straight out. And we've booked two places, haven't we, for this evening? You have, sorry. Yeah. People say we. We, yeah. I booked two places this evening and they both look fantastic. They both have great reviews. So we're going to go and check them out now. Both Michelin star. Yeah. Wow, that budget's not going to go far, is it? So we're going to go check them out, see which one we prefer, and we'll cancel whichever one we don't fancy. See you in a second. It's so cool, isn't it? It's amazing. So cool. First look at the centre of Verona. What do you think? Pretty cool. Do you know what? I think it's going to take some time. I've already got an idea. The one that we booked second. Yeah, this is the one we saw. I think this is epic. This is really good. Remember that? Take a photo. We've arrived at option two. This is actually the original one you booked. Yeah, it was. Vittoria Azzanini. It became really highly recommended and I think it's because it has a Michelin star, I'm pretty sure. I'm sat on the other one. I'm. Pretty sure we're going to go to the other one. Okay. Yeah. Consider this cancelled. Gone. Hello. Hi. We are just getting ready for our first night in Verona. Yeah. I'm very excited. When we saw this place on YouTube and we saw this guy eating, what was it? It was like a crab dish. Avocado. Yeah. Mmm. That's what I'm craving right now. And then probably a big bowl of pasta. Tiramisu. Aperol. Red wine. The full shebang. We're enjoying coffees. So. Ems, we've got to leave in about five minutes. No probs. Here she is. 6.22. 7.22. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We've got to leave in one minute. She's only gone and done it. Smashed it. Looking good. Thank you very much. That was very quiet, so there's nothing better than Ems. An Italian Aperol spritz. Enjoying the piergast? It's so nice. So this is the crab salad with exotic fruits. They said we wanted to share, so they've actually split it into two little portions, which is the sweetest thing ever. So this is the wine that we went for. Naturally, you've got to go for the local wine, don't you? Always. And it's absolutely delicious. The mains have arrived, and you've gone for the pumpkin. Mains. I think it's like a ravioli. Ravioli. Lovely. And I've gone for the seafood linguine with prawn tartare, I think. Delicious. What's the verdict? We just did the taste test. Mine wins. So we decided not to have dessert, but they have just given us this absolutely delicious shortbread. It's like almond biscotti. Oh, so good. It's not as good as what you were eating it at. Emily's demolished it. Okay, let's try it. So we're telling you what things cost as we go. This was €169, which, okay, not cheap. But this is literally our most expensive night. We went all out. €55 bottle of wine. Just went for everything. This in London would have been, honestly, £300, £400. Not too bad. Good morning from our first morning in Verona. It is so fresh and so warm. Yeah, we were up early this morning. I woke up at like 6.30 to get us up and out because I think today is going to be our best day weather-wise. It's supposed to be 16 degrees later. Yeah. It's cold at the moment, but it's going to be great. So the plan is that we're going to tick off as many of the sites that we can this morning. And then one of the great things about Verona is that it's only like a 23 minute train away from Lake Garda. So we're going to go and explore there later today, hopefully, if we manage to tick off everything on the list. But for now, we're going to go find some coffee, maybe a croissant and enjoy a viewing point. So we ended up getting sidetracked again, but it was a strategic move. Unbelievable. And this is incredible. A much needed pit stop. Croissant and two coffees, two croissants, two coffees, €11. So where are we headed to now? Juliette's. Juliette's balcony. I think it opens at nine o'clock. So we decided because time is ticking. It's twenty to nine now and we don't know whether it's going to be a situation where there's a queue or whether it's going to be super easy because it's gated, isn't it? I think so, yeah. Instagram versus reality. So we're at Juliette's balcony. Not to say an anti-climax, but I mean, it's just a balcony at the end of the day. I'm loving it. Look at this, you just stumble down a side street and next thing you know, you're in You're confronted with this incredibleness. It lets you know where we are. So I think we said earlier that there's literally no one here. The streets are dead. It's so quiet. No one. February. It might be quite cold, but it's a good time to come. There's a woman on a mission to get to the viewing point we were meant to get to. So it's safe to say it's absolutely worth the hike up here. It is. It's incredible. Especially do it on a clear day. Stunning. We've even got the drone out. And it's only just turned 10am. I feel like we've accomplished a lot today. So I think we're about to go and look at some train times to Lake Garda and hopefully we can get one of the quick ones. Fingers crossed. So we just stopped off at the Arc de Gavi, which is a Roman archway. And now we're going to head to in here. Wow. Just love the culture, don't you? Love the culture. We're at the station. And we're about to get the bullet train. Here we go. So we've just arrived at Desenzano del Garda train station and to look to see how far it was to walk to what's it called? Sirmione. Which is the main area with all the restaurants and the beautiful views. It's about an hour and a half walk. So what you do when you get here is you hop in a taxi or there's a bus. The bus it's saying is going to take 69 minutes. Probably because it's not one that regular. So we're going to hop in a taxi which is an 11 minute drive. And we'll see you there. Okay. We got here. The taxi journey was not the best. Mixture of kind of covered up sick smell. Black eyed peas. Green looks. This kind of vibe. But we're here. And the taxi cost 24 euros. Which is a bit crunchy. You might try and get an Uber on the way back. But the train ticket was only about 5 euros each. Yeah. The train's super cheap. But just getting here was a little bit more. Not as good for the crunchiness. Now we've arrived here. So hungry. We had a sense of humour failure a couple of times. Not really talking to each other. Our toxic trait is being hungry and always thinking there's something better. So searching, searching, searching. Yeah. To the point where we almost break up. Yeah. So I think we're going to find somewhere. We're going to find somewhere and go for it. These breadsticks were our saving grace. Weren't they? Literally saved us. This is exactly what we were craving. Excited? This is a bit windy. I don't know if you'll be able to hear any of this. But look at this. Not quite the weather for a boat ride. Just me and Emily on the way to lunch. Not talking to each other. Hungry. Indecisive. Couldn't even look at each other. We've just stopped for a coffee before we head back to Verona. And Ems is enjoying this little sun trap. Yeah. It's so cold. So it's starting to look nice. So after the most productive day, I'd say. We're now back at the hotel. Ems has got her face mask on. I feel so dehydrated. I just need to hydrate everything apart from my body. So yeah, after a ridiculously busy day. I mean we've been up since 6.30 and it's now I think 4.30. So we're going to have a little sleep before we go out for dinner tonight. And we're really excited. Right, we're going to go to sleep now. And next time you see us, we'll be getting ready. Just like that, we're ready. We're back out. Back out of town. If you follow our vlogs, this is something we do regularly. We often get up ridiculously early and then... Exhaust ourselves. Exhaust ourselves and then have to have a nap. Yeah. And we often wake up feeling a lot worse. Which is... Yeah, it's where I'm feeling right now. So, not great. But we are very excited about where we're going to tonight. Very excited. They're known for their amarani risotto. Yep. An extensive wine list. Yeah. So... How cool is this place? Okay, so Emily is just about to open the huge... It's like a fairy tale book. So I have gone for the fish with some crunchy vegetables. And Nick has gone for the amarani risotto. We're going to film your first bite because this is supposed to be... I think it's like a signature dish, isn't it? Yeah. Takes 25 minutes to make. Unbelievable. Fuck, that's the best risotto I've ever had. I'm not saying that, but it's unbelievable. Are you really? Now on to the tiramisu. Unbelievable. Of course it is. Well, that was unbelievable. It was so good. Best risotto in the whole world. So good. And really good value. Everything came to... So I had two huge glasses of champagne. And they literally just had pre-poured huge glasses. You had two glasses of bread. And then you had the risotto. I had the catch of the day. What else did we have? We had the tiramisu. Two espressos. Oh yeah. All of that came to 117 euros. Including the tip. Yeah. It was pretty good, I think. I think that's fantastic. It was about 110 pounds. Really, really good. I managed to go into the men's toilet for the second time in one day. That was mortifying. Made a mad dash out. And now we're going to a bar called The Soda Jerk. The Soda Jerk, yeah. And we're going to get an espresso martini or a sweet margarita. We've arrived at Soda Jerk. We were just thinking this is a bad move, but actually it looks really cool. Doesn't it look cool? Would recommend the Soda Jerk. 100%. This is so good. So, so good. Book a table. We're at the bar. Well, look at this. Here we are. Cheers. Look at this. Look at us. There's no point editing this. Oh, my God. For the vlog. I'm falling over. Unacceptable. Inappropriate. This cannot have been a vlog. Gone. Hello. Feel worse for work. The morning after the night. I feel sorry for myself. This time yesterday, we completed Verona. Yeah, I think we've done it all. Yeah. Pretty much. Literally an hour ago, this happened. Yeah. Oh, it was a heavy night last night. I don't know how much of it we documented, so we'll find out probably. It's being cut. Yeah, it's being cut. It's a little bit cooler today. It's about 7 degrees overcast, which is nice. It cleared up a little bit. It's really gorgeous and fresh. So, we're going to go get a coffee, and we'll check in with you then. How's the coffee going down? Yeah, we definitely had non-pure health last night. Yeah, we're cutting the clips. We are. No, no, no. It was the only pizza shop open at 2am. Sounds like a rock. So, you can imagine what that was like. So, we decided that hair of the dog it was. Yeah. Cheers. Absolutely unbelievable. Okay, so the time is 2 o'clock. We had lovely pizzas. Delicious. But, they have sent us into a food coma. Yeah. So, we're doing a really terrible thing. We're so embarrassed to admit it. But, we're actually going to go back to the hotel room and relax. Watch an episode of Outer Banks. Yeah, and have a herbal tea. Yeah. Gotta do it. Gotta do what you feel like. But, if you notice, we smashed it yesterday. We did so much. And they say that, well, you were telling me that people were recommending that we're in a perfect weekend place because you can do it. Exactly. If you get up and out, it is. Yeah. It's great. So, I think we're going to do that and then we're going to pop back out and then just have a little moot through some of the shops because there's so many good shops here. Loads. And then we'll go back again and then we've got a really exciting evening plan. So, we might go out a bit earlier tonight to have a drink, a whole hand, and then we've got a delicious mash and pot. Exactly. So, we are signing off. We've come to Sephora to de-puff our faces. Yep. So, we have him. We have fridge or freezer. We've got some rejuvenating eye gels. We've got sheet masks. And that is going to be it. We found the bell tower and we nearly got run over. This is probably our final stop of today. Yep. Before we go back, I feel fresh for an amazing restaurant that we went to earlier that we booked. It's called Torcolo. The pasta looks absolutely incredible. Unbelievable. It's a travel pasta kind of evening. Oh, yeah. So, come back. Second nap of the day. And what am I next to? This absolute alien. Sorted myself out. Everything we bought today. So, I've got eye mask on, sheet mask on, and then these ice cold balls, which are just fantastic. Always said, you can't beat them. Join them. We're ready. We're ready for our final night in Britain, which is super sad. We were actually both quite nervous that we weren't going to be feeding it this evening because… Too many naps. Also, I'm technically intolerant to dairy and eggs. Not good in Italy. What have I eaten whilst I'm here? A lot of that. So, we're basically… We feel like two pigs just kind of rolling around the city, essentially. But the Sephora purchases were an absolute constant. They were so, so good. Feeling so fresh. Feeling raring to go and have a big fat bowl of pasta. Yes. So, Nick has gone for the burrata. And I've gone for the salmon tartare with avocado, fennel, and caviar. So, I went for the white veal ragu with smoked ricotta. And Enz has gone for… The fettuccine, the vegetable fettuccine with prawns. And something lovely. Oh, courgette. Courgette. How is it? You don't want a dessert. Right, so we just finished our final dinner. Dinner was amazing. Couldn't have asked for anything more. It was so, so good. It was so delicious. And the service, wow, amazing. They were so lovely, weren't they? Yes, they were so, so brilliant. So brilliant. The whole dinner came to, I think, €123 in the end. Which is amazing. An amazingly gorgeous bottle of red. Yes. And that was only €45 or something. And then we had our two starters, my caviar, and then we had two mains. And the amazing, eventually, kind of dessert. Yeah. So if you do come to Rona, make sure you go to Ristorante Torcolo because it is fantastic. And also, it's Sunday evening at the moment, and every restaurant that we walked past was pretty dead. Everything. Torcolo was… Buzzing. So it is… Obviously, a good place to go. I think we were the only British people that everyone else was local. Yeah, there's a lot of locals, which is always a good sign. So yeah, Torcolo, 10 out of 10. We're going to wake up tomorrow morning, super early. We've already kind of got our place to go for coffee. And we're going to get up about 8 a.m. And then we need to leave the hotel by 9.30, and then our flight is 11.20 tomorrow. And we will be back in the UK around… Midday. Yep. Back to work. Oh, good. Good morning, and happy Monday. So nice to spend a Monday in Verona. Lovely. Okay, we've got our coffee. I'm feeling very content right now. And it felt like the right time to wrap up this vlog. So, really hope you've enjoyed it. Verona is… Stunning. Absolutely stunning. The most delicious food. The perfect place for a weekend trip, because you really can do it all. We did it actually very quickly, but you can take your time. Definitely, for sure. Like we said, there really isn't that many recommendations online. So hopefully we can give you some fantastic recommendations, because we really do feel like we've given you the best spots. There's a hidden gem for the most delicious food, the most authentic Italian food. We've also seen loads of places on the way, haven't we? So we didn't get a chance to go to some of these. But we're also pointing these out to you as well, because there are some gems that… 100%. So do follow us on Instagram, because there'll be a lot more aesthetic content on there. And if you did enjoy this, please do like and of course subscribe. And next month we're going to… Copenhagen. So we're extremely excited. And we'll see you next time. Thank you so much for watching. Bye.