From Rome we headed to Florence, via Ottaviano, a picturesque, walled city situated on top of a rocky outcrop. Everything you imagine from a Tuscan city. It had a beautiful Duomo and lovely winding cobbled streets, lined with shops selling pottery which the village is famous for. After holding up the bus due to our over-enthusiastic sight-seeing, we headed to Florence. We only had an afternoon in Florence, we headed out to see as much as possible, which turned out to be not so much, when you compared it to Rome. However, Florence is a very beautiful and artistic city, home to the famous David, the third largest dome in the world after St Peter's and St Paul's, and many well-stocked art galleries. Unfortunately we saw none of these. We did see the fake David, the Duomo was still magnificent from the outside, and we walked across the famous jewellery shop-lined Ponte Vecchio, a bridge that crosses the river Arno.
After our short stay here; it was off to the Cinque Terre, via Pisa. The leaning tower was not quite as large as we thought it would be, but we took our photos with it and carried on. We were dropped off in a town near the Cinque Terre, and caught a train from there, through the tunnels under the mountains to our destination, and caught a few glimpses of what was to come. After dropping our bags at the hostel, we headed straight to the beach and went for a much needed swim. The next day we headed for the Cinque Terre. The Cinque Terre, for those who don,t know, is a world heritage site, with five villages spaced out over 9 kms of mountainous terrain. The first three are the most popular, as they are quite a low grade hike, and although they manage to bring up a sweat, are not overly difficult. The next two hikes are about an hour and a half each, and although we didnt know it at the time, are a lot more difficult. We decided (foolishly) that we would start at the easy end and work from there as the largest "free beach" was at the last town. We strolled along, admiring the beautiful view of ancient towns, coloured buildings, sparkling Mediterranen sea and beautiful coastline. All the while, complimenting ourselves on what great hikers we were. This all changed midway through the walk between the third and the fourth town. The sun had reached its peak, and sweat was starting to pour off us, our legs felt like jelly and every step was that bit harder. We carried on the fourth town, where it was worth it to see the beauty of the town. We stopped for a long lunch, where Shaun managed to order the oiliest pizza in the world (perfect hiking food). After our rest, we hit the last and most arduous part of the track. We had been warned by a few hikers on the way that it would be more difficult, but we didnt think it would be much harder than the last section. About ten minutes in, we realised it was, and managed to struggle along. All the while, admiring the beautiful scenery. Finally, we made it to the last town, for a well deserved swim. It was a beautiful walk, with amazing scenery, the likes of which are not to be seen anywhere else in the world.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Rome -
We are at the end of our time in Rome now, and what an amazing city it is. It exceeded all our expectations, and was truly amazing. On our first day we headed to the Vatican City bright and early, to be in the queue before it even opened. Once inside, we made our way to the Sistine Chapel, which was absolutely incredible, with the paintings covering every inch of the ceiling and walls. We stood staring at this for as long as our necks would allow, and then went to explore the Vatican Museum. With the help of a very informative guide-book (thanks to Julia's mum) we were able to make some sense of the maze-like museum, which has a huge collection of art and treasures, including Greek and Roman items, huge map and tapestry galleries and lots of beautiful religious paintings. We peered out the windows into the lovely gardens of the Vatican City but no sighting of the pope....After over four hours, we emerged from the Vatican City, and raced around the corner to join the queue to get into St Peter's Basilica.
We were wowed again by the size and elaborate decoration of St Peter's. All the paintings, mosaics, immense statues, the dome...it was hard to absorb it all. It is truly beautiful. We wandered around inside, once again getting sore necks as we stared at the dome and the ceiling. After this, we took a well-deserved rest in the St Peter's square, which is also huge, and surrounded by four rows of massive pillars, which are topped by statues. We left St Peter's and walked along the river, past amazing bridges decorated with more statues, past castles and palaces, to the Trevi Fountain. This is also huge, and attracts a huge number of tourists. We had to fight our way through the crowds to get a seat beside the fountain, but it was worth it.
Next to the Pantheon, originally a temple, and later a Catholic church. The Pantheon's amazing feature is the dome, which is an "architectural marvel" (and also huge) with a hole at the top, allowing light in. We then explored some of the squares of Rome - Piazza Navona and Campo de Fiori, lively squares surrounded by restaurants. After wandering the streets some more, and discovering various amazing churches (including the church of St Ignatius of Loyola - a very impressive church!) and buildings, we retired to the hostel, to collapse and recover after an amazing day.
The next day we headed first to the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill - lots of ruins, of temples churches, triumphal arches and some of unknown origins (we did try to eavesdrop on tour groups, which are EVERYWHERE). After admiring the obvious wealth of history, we headed over to the Colosseum. This was massive, and we really appreciated this when we climbed to the second level and looked down on the arena, and imagined the atmosphere inside when it was full of people. It is interesting to see the extensive network of tunnels that would once have been under the floor.
Once outside again, we started walking around the city again. This was becoming increasingly hard, as the sun was beating down, and it was 34 degrees! But we battled on, to see the Circus Maximus, a long field where they once raced chariots, the Piazza del Campiodoglia, a square with a museum bordering it, and then to the monument to Vittorio Emmanuelle, which again is absolutely HUGE, and towers above Rome, with two sets of horse-drawn chariots that can be seen from all over the city. Up close, everything was a lot larger and very impressive, with numerous statues representing the different regions and cities of Italy. We were even whistled and gestured angrily at for sitting down on a ledge. After all this walking, we had to head back to the hostel to escape the overwhelming heat.
After a rest, we headed out for our first experience of Italian food (travelling frugally means buying most meals from the supermarket) and went to a restaurant on Campo de Fiori, which attracts tourist and Italians alike, to sit around the square and watch all the action in the square, including buskers, performers and many interesting and humourous dogs. We feasted on fried olives stuffed with meat, pizza, ravioli and even tiramisu for dessert. We made our way home via the Trevi Fountain (still as crowded at night) and threw the obligatory coins over our shoulders.
Our last day in Rome was spent tying up loose ends - climbed the dome of St Peter's ( all 500 and something steps) for an amazing view over Rome, and an up-close look at the mosaics on the inside of the dome. We then headed to the Piazza del Popolo (huge square, big fountain etc), the Spanish steps (big set of steps), a few other impressive buildings, and then most importantly, to taste the best coffee in Italy, if not the world! From Caffe Sant'Eustachio, near the Pantheon, we drank it in true Italian style, at the bar, as quickly as possible. It has been producing practically perfect coffee for over 60 years, and getting rave reviews from the New York Times (saying it was the best coffee in Italy) . We were very impressed, and once we had achieved this feat, felt we could leave Rome satisfied. Off to the next Italian city - Florence!
We were wowed again by the size and elaborate decoration of St Peter's. All the paintings, mosaics, immense statues, the dome...it was hard to absorb it all. It is truly beautiful. We wandered around inside, once again getting sore necks as we stared at the dome and the ceiling. After this, we took a well-deserved rest in the St Peter's square, which is also huge, and surrounded by four rows of massive pillars, which are topped by statues. We left St Peter's and walked along the river, past amazing bridges decorated with more statues, past castles and palaces, to the Trevi Fountain. This is also huge, and attracts a huge number of tourists. We had to fight our way through the crowds to get a seat beside the fountain, but it was worth it.
Next to the Pantheon, originally a temple, and later a Catholic church. The Pantheon's amazing feature is the dome, which is an "architectural marvel" (and also huge) with a hole at the top, allowing light in. We then explored some of the squares of Rome - Piazza Navona and Campo de Fiori, lively squares surrounded by restaurants. After wandering the streets some more, and discovering various amazing churches (including the church of St Ignatius of Loyola - a very impressive church!) and buildings, we retired to the hostel, to collapse and recover after an amazing day.
The next day we headed first to the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill - lots of ruins, of temples churches, triumphal arches and some of unknown origins (we did try to eavesdrop on tour groups, which are EVERYWHERE). After admiring the obvious wealth of history, we headed over to the Colosseum. This was massive, and we really appreciated this when we climbed to the second level and looked down on the arena, and imagined the atmosphere inside when it was full of people. It is interesting to see the extensive network of tunnels that would once have been under the floor.
Once outside again, we started walking around the city again. This was becoming increasingly hard, as the sun was beating down, and it was 34 degrees! But we battled on, to see the Circus Maximus, a long field where they once raced chariots, the Piazza del Campiodoglia, a square with a museum bordering it, and then to the monument to Vittorio Emmanuelle, which again is absolutely HUGE, and towers above Rome, with two sets of horse-drawn chariots that can be seen from all over the city. Up close, everything was a lot larger and very impressive, with numerous statues representing the different regions and cities of Italy. We were even whistled and gestured angrily at for sitting down on a ledge. After all this walking, we had to head back to the hostel to escape the overwhelming heat.
After a rest, we headed out for our first experience of Italian food (travelling frugally means buying most meals from the supermarket) and went to a restaurant on Campo de Fiori, which attracts tourist and Italians alike, to sit around the square and watch all the action in the square, including buskers, performers and many interesting and humourous dogs. We feasted on fried olives stuffed with meat, pizza, ravioli and even tiramisu for dessert. We made our way home via the Trevi Fountain (still as crowded at night) and threw the obligatory coins over our shoulders.
Our last day in Rome was spent tying up loose ends - climbed the dome of St Peter's ( all 500 and something steps) for an amazing view over Rome, and an up-close look at the mosaics on the inside of the dome. We then headed to the Piazza del Popolo (huge square, big fountain etc), the Spanish steps (big set of steps), a few other impressive buildings, and then most importantly, to taste the best coffee in Italy, if not the world! From Caffe Sant'Eustachio, near the Pantheon, we drank it in true Italian style, at the bar, as quickly as possible. It has been producing practically perfect coffee for over 60 years, and getting rave reviews from the New York Times (saying it was the best coffee in Italy) . We were very impressed, and once we had achieved this feat, felt we could leave Rome satisfied. Off to the next Italian city - Florence!
Monday, September 8, 2008
Venice
So September the 2nd saw us leaving our home for the past year and then some, in search of warmer climates. We arrived at Gatwick airport with 2 hours to spare for our flight, which was promptly delayed for an hour and a half. By the time we finally took off and made it to Italy, there was little time to spare to get the last bus to our accomodation. After a short detour through the aiport carpark, we managed to backtrack and find the bus stand. We waited for a short while, then the bus we wanted almost didn't stop, so we had to chase it down(little did we know it was pulling into another bus stop). After travelling through some countryside and a couple of small townships, Shaun approached the driver to ask when our stop would be. After some furious finger-shaking, we were informed we had headed the opposite way, and as that was the last bus, we hopped off to find ourselves stranded in the middle of nowhere. After walking up and down the road, and some failed attempts at getting Italians to call us a taxi, we had almost given up on everything. We decided to give it one last go, and asked a waitress at a pizza restaurant to call us a taxi. She turned out to be nicest Italian we have yet to meet, with near fluent English. After a twenty minute wait outside, she came out to inform us that the robot that answered the phone couldn't understand her directions, and she said she would keep trying. Finally, at 1am, a taxi appeared, and much to our relief and delight we made it to our accomodation.
The next day saw us sleeping in, and then off to Venice, which was amazing from the first glimpse, driving across the bridge that connects the island city to the shore. It was like stepping into a different world. The heat, the sun, the canals, the architecture, the boats, the gondolas, the hordes of tourists and crazy Italians...We started by catching a water taxi from one end of the grand canal to the other, with an incredible variety of buildings, water-crafts and colours along the way. We got off the taxi at the Piazza San Marco, Venice's most famous square. It is bordered by the Basilica di San Marco, the Palazzo Ducale and a huge bell tower, and filled with lots and lots of tourists and pigeons. We then headed in amongst the cobbled lanes, to what we thought was the shopping district, with shop after shop selling masquerade masks and glass from Murano Island. We wandered through lane after lane, past an endless number of shops and churches. We crossed the Ponte di Rialto, one of the main bridges across the canal. This bridge is large enough to host a shopping arcade through the middle.
The second day we decided to head to Murano Island, famous for it's glass-blowing factories. We took a water taxi out, passing the walled island of San Michelle. Once on the island,we first witnessed a very tourist-oriented glass-blowing display, after which we were herded into their shop. We managed to escape this and later on found some less commercial factories, and were fortunate enough to see a ball of molten glass be transformed into a beautiful swan. We then headed back to Venice, for one last wander through the lanes, and said goodbye to the magestic city of Venice.
The next day saw us sleeping in, and then off to Venice, which was amazing from the first glimpse, driving across the bridge that connects the island city to the shore. It was like stepping into a different world. The heat, the sun, the canals, the architecture, the boats, the gondolas, the hordes of tourists and crazy Italians...We started by catching a water taxi from one end of the grand canal to the other, with an incredible variety of buildings, water-crafts and colours along the way. We got off the taxi at the Piazza San Marco, Venice's most famous square. It is bordered by the Basilica di San Marco, the Palazzo Ducale and a huge bell tower, and filled with lots and lots of tourists and pigeons. We then headed in amongst the cobbled lanes, to what we thought was the shopping district, with shop after shop selling masquerade masks and glass from Murano Island. We wandered through lane after lane, past an endless number of shops and churches. We crossed the Ponte di Rialto, one of the main bridges across the canal. This bridge is large enough to host a shopping arcade through the middle.
The second day we decided to head to Murano Island, famous for it's glass-blowing factories. We took a water taxi out, passing the walled island of San Michelle. Once on the island,we first witnessed a very tourist-oriented glass-blowing display, after which we were herded into their shop. We managed to escape this and later on found some less commercial factories, and were fortunate enough to see a ball of molten glass be transformed into a beautiful swan. We then headed back to Venice, for one last wander through the lanes, and said goodbye to the magestic city of Venice.
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