Okay, so me and the wife have started to plan our Europe trip for next year before it's too late for us to have a holiday like that by ourselves ever again. Haha. Two of my absolute must places are Greece and Italy and I was thinking a week at each location as of right now. I have to plan far enough in advance as my schedule fills up relatively quickly. The maximum I think I will be able to do is 2 weeks, give or take a couple of days depending on what is available. The first stretch of two weeks that I can do is in April and that too will require me to move some stuff around to empty up the time. But that is approximately when we are planning to do this.
So what I need is help in planning our itinerary in as much detail as possible. I am all up for spontaneity when it comes to activities etc, however, I'd like to make sure that we have the stay portion at least sorted out for all of the days. In Greece, I would like to visit Santorini and Athens (if safe) at least - but open to more location suggestions within Greece. I've always been fascinated by Greece pictures of a beautiful island with white buildings everywhere in contrast to the blue water and understand that is what Santorini is like. Recommendations on hotels, resorts etc are welcome. I am looking for nice, higher-end resorts etc.
Italy is where I am more confused because from what I understand it's such a beautiful country with so many places to visit. I am not sure on where to go here but of course would like to do all the touristy things like Vatican City, Coliseum, Leaning Tower and whatever else is worth seeing out there. I guess Rome and Venice would be must-do's? Split the week between the two? Elsewhere? Suggestions for specific hotels etc are always also welcome.
If there are any other must see places other than these two that are somewhere around the area and can be worked out, please feel free to throw out suggestions. Like I said, this is possibly the our last trip alone together for a while at the very least, so I want to do it big and I want to do it right. Another idea that crosses my mind is doing a week of Greece and doing a week long Mediterranean Cruise (goes around Italy) and cover Italy that way...so I may look into that as well. Of course suggestions are welcome.