Semana Santa-Italy

Ok, so if you want to know about Madrid ask Mom, Nathan, or Jeremy, the week after was forgettable, and Salamanca wasn't incredibly interesting(They have an old university), so here goes the epically long blog post about my trip to Italy:


Rome Day 1 "3 countries, 1 day"

Ok so traveling summary, Left from Salamanca after group excursion on bus, stayed in Madrid airport overnight, took train into Rome from airport, walked to hostel and my room wasn't ready, so I went out. Basically didn't sleep that whole time, so very tired.

Decided to go to the Vatican that day, so I walked to the opposite side of the city(long walk). The first thing you see is the Conciliation Way(street lined with trees and street lamps that leads straight to St. Peter's. Waited in a long line at least a quarter of a mile long to get through security. Ok so I knew St. Peter's was big, but not that big, it is massively massive. The decorations themselves weren't all that interesting, but the dome is huge and designed by Michelangelo also the alter(made of bronze with twisting piers over St. Peter's tomb) was impressive.

After that i went to the Vatican Museum, which is huge, it takes forever to get through, but it had tons of Roman and Greeks marble statues; Egyptian mummies, hieroglyphics, etc.; frescoes(the ceilings were beautiful); and tapestries. I got about halfway through it before i got really impatient and I went as fast as I could to the Sistine Chapel. It was well-painted, but really not as grand as I expected, I have seen a lot of artwork and it was nothing spectacular(but i was also really tired when I saw it so...

Anyways after that I headed to the Piazza de Popolo(north side of Rome, Vatican is in the Northwest corner). It is a giant plaza that i can't really describe you'll just have to look at the pictures(which will be up within the week). From there i walked down the Via del Corso, which is Rome's fashion mall basically Gucci, Prada, Armani and other top designers' stores were everywhere. On that note I have never seen a guy "look like a million bucks" until I saw the guys in the Italian suits(I really want one, but maybe when the taxpayers are paying my salary I can buy one). There was also a Ferrari merchandise store there. I also saw a Bently dealer, Ferrari's(the cars), Porsche's, and Benz's were all over the place.

Afterwards, I went to the Spanish Steps(a lot of Steps with a lot of people on them) and Trevi Fountain(now that I think about it the single most beautiful thing in Rome). It is amazing have tons of pics of it. Speaking of Roman water(in the fountains and the Tiber River)is the most interesting/beautiful color. Aquamarine is the best description of it. After that went out the hostel rested went to a nearby restaurant and got a full pizza and water for 7E(cheap). It was really good (thin crust, lots of fresh tomato sauce, and good cheese and mushrooms layered thinly to top it off).

Rome Day 2 "Ancient Rome still exists"

Long day. Started off by going to the Monument to Victor Emmanuel II. Basically a huge white Roman styled monument, again have to see pictures. Then I got "lost" on the way to the Colosseum and ended up finding Circus Maximus a massive field now(easily 4+ football fields)that used to be a chariot racing Stadium in Ancient Rome. Next the Colosseum, the outside was every bit as cool as the pictures, but the inside(which you had to pay for) was kind of a let down, all you saw was the old underground passages where gladiators and animals were kept, as well as the gutted seating area(didn't see anything that resembled a place where spectators would have sat). After that I went to the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill where a lot of Roman ruins are. The Roman Forum was a large field littered with columns and other ruins in the middle with temples lining the side and arches(one was the Arch of Titus) capping the ends. The Arch of Titus and Arch of Constanine(by the Colosseum) were both really interesting (made with white marble and intensely decorated). Palatine was much the same except it was mostly the ruins of houses such as that of Augustus and a large garden(the oldest botanical garden in the world). Also there was another giant stadium.

Afterwards, I walked along the Tiber River(It is surrounded by walls with large sidewalks along the bottom kind of like Brush Creek)Like I said earlier the color is mesmerizing even the Caribbean doesn't stack up. From there I got some gelato(amazing italian ice cream and really refreshing)lemon and strawberry. For future reference i had gelato everyday including the previous(had cream of lemon, good) and after this day lemon was always one of the flavors because it is so delicious I spent about 20E on gelato making it my biggest food expense.

Then I went Plaza hopping. First the Plaza de Navona, 3 fountains and an obelisk. Next Campo de Fiori a large outdoor market there, but it was closing when I got there. Then I saw the Pantheon that dome is gigantic, bigger than St. Peter's and quite impressive especially for the time it was made. On the way to the Spanish Steps I saw the St. Igantius de Loyoala Church and Adriano Templo. I walked up the Spanish Steps and went down a boulevard which overlooked Rome and got some good pictures. Finally, I ended up in the Piazza de Popolo again and sat at the obelisk and people-watched for an hour or so(highly recommend people watching in Italy it is as good as some sights(fashion is interesting and miles ahead of US and even Spain) and it is free). Left there and stopped at Triton fountain(the only bronze in Rome on the way to my hostel.

Rested there for a bit then went out to dinner with Hernan(An Argentinian IT guy that i met in the hostel). We talked about Argentina, the U.S., Spain, and Italy as well as some philosophy, politics, and real world matters. We ate at a cheap, but nice little restaurant, Luzzi, near the Colosseum. There we shared a liter of cheap wine and I had some spicy pasta. Since it was dark we took pictures of the Colosseum(really cool) as well as Trevi which was even more amazing at night.

Pompeii Day 3 "Breakfast in Rome, Lunch in Naples, and dinner in Florence"

Left Rome around 9 for Naples then from Naples headed to Pompeii in a nice local train. It was nice is the keyword to remember there. Pompeii was a lot different than I expected, not so much lava encrusted stuff as you would expect, but more just really old ruins of ancient city. I wondered around the city for about 3 hours. Saw a few temples to various gods such as Venus. There also was a main forum where a lot of columns and other ruins were, with the temples flanking it. From here you could see the infamous Mt. Vesuvius. It was really quite cool, because it looked like two mountains a bigger and smaller one smushed together(the hole is what was taken off by the blast).Also saw a theater and the outside of a much smaller Colosseum. The streets were probably the most interesting thing. First of all, they are made of giant stones that are spread out so the streets are really uneven. Secondly, there are chariot ruts in some of the streets which is pretty cool. Finally, the curbs are literally a 1.5 feet tall no joke, i did a lot of jumping on and off these just to walk around.

I left there went back to Naples on a sketchy sketchy train(apparently the nice one on the way there is just it seem like all of them are like that. However, I got to Naples and had a couple of hours to kill, so i looked for some food. Failed pretty bad at finding good food, but found some cheap giant hot pocket sort of things that filled me up despite not being the best food in the city. Also Naples is filthy, has to be the most disgusting city in the Western World. There are giant trash piles on every corner and all the streets and sidewalks are littered with paper cardboard, plastic, papers, and other miscellaneous trash items. Anyways after that went to Florence found my hostel and went to bed.

Florence Day 4 "Machiavelli and the City of Art"

First of all not only is Florence a city full of beautiful artwork, but I thought the city itself was beautiful with a European Charm I haven't really seen before. Anyways, I started the day by going to the Uffizi Gallery, a really good art museum and the most well-known in Florence. I waited about an hour in line to get in, which apparently is almost nothing compared to the usual lines. There they had paintings from Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Botticelli, and Raphael among others. Not a big art buff, but I recognized some paintings and could tell this was a world-class collection(I would say on the next tier down from the Louvre and Prado). Then I headed towards the Accademia(where the famous statue of David is) stopping in the Plaza de Duomo on the way. The Duomo is the largest Cathedral in Florence and is absolutely beautiful. It is made of white marble, some forest green colored stone, and an earthen red stone along with its magnificent and huge red dome(the world's largest made of masonry(brick) and larger than both the Pantheon and St. Peter's). Additionally, there is Giralda(Campanile) next to the church which is equally large and quite an impressive sight. At the Accademia all there was Michelangelo's 4 slaves and David. The Four Slaves were actually pretty cool. They are half-finished statues, so the figures are stuck in the stone. The statues are also contorted as if they are trying to escape their stone prisons. Then there was David which was huuuuge. He is about 17ft tall and really well detailed(veins and tendons show) it was quite impressive unfortunately no photos(i got some of a copy in a square in Florence).

After all that art I headed to the hostel picked up my copy of Machiavelli's The Prince(Famous book considered the first on politics and probably my favorite political theorist). So with that I went on a Machiavelli Tour of Florence. First I went to a star fort which had a park with a pond next to it. Machiavelli wrote of war a lot, so it felt appropriate, so I read a bit there. Then I headed to this church where he is buried called St. Croce. I stopped to get gelato at a place that uses all natural ingredients called Grom and had Lemon and Mandarin Orange, mmm. The church was really nice, but I have seen so many that well it was just another. The actual sites in the Church were the tombs of Michelangelo, Galileo, and Machiavelli of course. So there I read some of his most famous passages and moved on. I headed to the Pitti Palace, going over the Ponte Vecchio on the way. Ok fun story, the Ponte Vecchio was used by butchers and the like and therefore smelled really bad. So the ruling family the Medici(will explain later) did not like this smell on their way to work, so they kicked them out and set up diamond cutters and goldsmiths, talk about rich and powerful. Anyways the Pitti Palace was home to the Medici who dominated Florence absolutely dominated that city for a while. They were bankers who got mixed in with the nobles(four of them were popes, and the Medici's eventually became Grand Dukes of Tuscany. From the late 1500's to the early 1700's they owned Florence, fostering most of the artwork seen today. Well Machiavelli had written "The Prince" to gain favor with them, so I read a bit there. Then I went and had a Kebab(pork, lettuce and other greens, and creamy sauce = delicious.) Then I went back to the hostel and a dinner there with a couples girls(who were staying in the same room) that go to a woman's college in Massachusetts, we talked for a bit then I headed to bed.

Cinque Terre Day 5 "Zen and the PESTO, THE PESTO"

Left Florence at 6:30 AM on a train went to Pisa then La Spezia and finally Corneglia(a town in Cinque Terre) at around 10:30. Cinque Terre is a national park there with five towns dotting the mountains along the ocean. There I met up with two girls from the ISU group(Angela and Claire) that were staying there for the week. They showed me around the town, all of it took about 5 minutes, it is tiny. Then we walked along the ocean to a neighboring town called Manarola. We stopped in a couple of places to take pictures from the rocks along the shore, but it was only a 30-45 minute walk non-stop. There we bought lunch, I got 3 blood oranges(oranges but less tart and half red hence the blood name)a hunk of bread, and a chunk of Swiss cheese for 3E or $5(easily would cost $10+ in the States). We also shared a jar of Pesto(which is the best thing God has ever created, it is amazingly delicious(I can't do it justice in words). Also we shared a nice(not cheap) bottle of wine that I had bought in Florence. We ate all this at a bench overlooking the ocean while basking in the warm sun talking with the sounds of the sea in the background. We called this the Cinque Terre Zen and it is beautiful I think it was Italians mean by "la dolce vita" or "the sweet life". After that we meandered to the next town Riomaggiore and found spots to just zen it(yes i made it a verb). Then we went for the required gelato. I had white chocolate and lemon(not a good mix, but good separately). We continued to zen it while meandering, talking, sitting, and watching the ocean...it was beautiful(life at its best). Around 7 I headed to the train back to Florence after buying some bread, mozzarella, pesto, and blood oranges for the next day. I got in around 12 and was very sleepy, so i went to bed.

Florence/Venice Day 6 "A Tale of Two Beautiful Cities"

In Florence I did some shopping in the local market and admired the beauty of the city for the last time before heading to the train station. I arrived in Venice around 3:30, dropped my stuff off at the hostel, and went exploring. First i ate lunch on a dock, the aforementioned food. Then I went to Plaza of San Marco the main square in Venice, where all the tourists are. There I saw the Basilica which was really ornately decorated with gold and paintings in the archways. After that I wondered around Venice stopping to take pictures of various bridges, churches, and interesting buildings.

That night at the hostel I met some people from Britain, the guide from Australia, some girls from the Basque country in Spain, some guys from Hungary, a guy from Norway, and a guy from Chicago. We had dinner there and talked a bunch. Then around 12 AM the guide told us that San Marco floods, so our hostel and it's sister hostel(about 30 people) went walking through the streets of Venice barefoot(because it was flooded). We got to the plaza walked around a bit and then set up some tables and chairs(the chair bottoms were only a couple inches off the water). Also the water was quite cold, but not unbearable. There I met a couple people from the other hostel from a small university in Indiana, that were studying abroad near Rome. They showed me where Brad and Angelina were staying (which was by their hostel) to film a movie in Venice. Then I ran to my hostel barefoot and a group of people look at me weird and said, "Is he running barefoot?" it was funny.


Venice/Milan Day 7 "Good Place, Better Food, and Great People"

That morning I met up with the Indiana kids to walk around Venice. We walked around the city just enjoying the sights, and the sun which finally came out. They knew what was up in Italy, so we went on a gastronomy tour of Italy. First I had a Cannoli mmmm really good the cream was so rich. Next I had proscuitto pizza which came fresh out of the oven and was amazing. Then a chocolate cake with actual chocolate on the top instead of frosting and apricot jam in the middle, excellent! Finally, the some of the best gelato I had lemon, strawberry cream, and nutella(chocolate basically). Also they spoke Italian, which was really helpful since my Españalian(Spanish and Italian) was a difficult way to communicate.

At 3ish I left for Milan and got there around 7:30ish. So in Milan you can buy drink at some places and get a whole buffet(dinner) for free, so I did that it was really good and a lot of food. I was tired, so I went to bed after that.

Milan Day 8 "The Final Day"

Ok so I took the metro to the Duomo in Milan, which is the second largest cathedral in the world after St. Peter's. This cathedral is really beautifully decorated with statues and gargoyles covering the skyward shooting towers and columns. There I went into it first and a mass was going in the church. So I watched for about half an hour as the sage smoke crawled into every corner of the cathedral and the haunting hymns were being sung by the various leaders of the church. After that I went up to the roof, literally the roof. From there you could see all of Milan as it stretched into the distance as well as the church in detail. It was really cool. Then I walked along this a street full of shops and good food places. There I stopped for a crepe with nutella(it had been recommended by the Indiana kids) it was really really good. Then for my final gelato, mango and lemon, which was very very good. The rest of the day I spent shopping for souvenirs and that night I took a bus to the Malpensa airport(an hour outside of town) and waited for my plane home. And that was trip to Italia.

**Bonus**
Awards Time

Rome
+
City I could most see myself living in.
Best display of power. (Romans, Vatican, and Italian Government today)
Best Water(Most Beautiful and Tasty)
Most Pictures in One(Well actually two but whatever)City
Biggest Cathedral
Most Quintessentially Italian Food(pasta, pizza, and gelato)
Coolest Person I met(Argentinian)
Best Suits
-
Most walking in a city.
Most Overrated sites(Colosseum and Sistine Chapel)

Naples
-
Most Disgusting City in the Western World
Shadiest looking people

Pompeii
+
Best end to a City
Oldest Site(on average)
-
Most time trying to figure out where and what stuff was

Florence
+
Most Artistic City
Nicest Hostel Conditions(and Most Beautiful)
Best Shopping
Most Important People in Modern History(Machiavelli, Medici, Galileo, Michelangelo, Dante)
Most Beautiful City Without Canals for Streets
Most Beautiful Unadorned Cathedral
Best Giralda(clock tower)
-
Unfriendliest Hostel Staff

Cinque Terre
+
Most Beautiful Place in Italy
My Favorite Place in Italy
Best Single Food item in Italy(Pesto, Pesto!, PESTO!)
Most Relaxing Place(Cinque Terre Zen)
Best Weather
Best Meal Experience
Best and only day Spent Doing Almost Nothing(but at the same time doing everything)
-
Place I Most Wanted to Spend More Time at.

Venice
+
Most Fun Hostel
Coolest Group of People I Met
Most Random Thing I Did(Flooded Venice barefoot)
Most Beautiful City
Best Food Overall
Best Gelato(Lemon, Strawberry Cream, Nutella)
Best Day Spent Doing Something(Venice 2nd day)
Most Fun City to Get "Lost" In
Best(and first ever) Jewish Ghetto
-
Most Touristy City
Worst Hostel Conditions

Milan
+
Most Beautiful Cathedral(Duomo)Adorned
Biggest City
Best Fashion
-
Most Expensive City
Worst Weather
Least Favorite City I Spent a Day In