Italy - there and back again
I am slowly emerging from the post-holiday getting-settled-back-in week of job craziness and sorting out my flat.
The two weeks in Italy, while not completely hassle free, were absolutely amazing. My sister and I would not have minded staying another week or two since there was so much else to do and see.
Also, due to using airbnb and pre-booking our local train tickets, we managed to stay well within budget.
The first leg of our trip was Milano.
After arriving in the downpour of the century and getting completely drenched on the way to the hotel we spent the rest of our day trying to dry of our clothes and suitcases as much as possible. This left Monday morning as the only time to explore the city. After having breakfast at Princi (yes akkajemo, THAT Princi) we set out to explore the Galleria and the cathedral. The architecture of both is simply stunning and I could have spent hours exploring them further, however, our train beckoned.
Arriving in Florence we settled into our first accommodation and thanked the gods that we had booked something with a washing machine.
The place we stayed at was on the Southside of the river and a lovely path leads from there all the way to the Ponte Vecchio.
For the next two days we enjoyed the lovely flair of Florence. We visited the Uffizi and the Palazzo Vecchio, climbed the cupola of the Dom and enjoyed ice-cream at GROM.
All too soon we had to repack our bags in order to head for Rome. As in Florence, we had decided to stay in a local area with good public transport connections, although those are of no use if there’s a strike. Still, we managed to make it work due to starting out before the transport got suspended and not returning home until after it had resumed. In order to get to Vatican City we braved the masses of rush hour combined with the tourists who had similar ideas.
Once we reached we became somewhat more mobile again due to the OMNIA card we had booked. That’s a city card that really worked for us since it combines two cards: one for the Vatican (with a hop on-hop off bus attached to it) and the ROMA card that grants you free access to public transport. Both of the cards are valid for three days once activated. So if you plan your trip cleverly enough you are golden for six days.
Since we were at Sankt Peter’s we decided to start right there by visiting the cathedral. This was followed by a couple of hours spent in the fantastic Vatican Museum. An uncle of mine had pointed out that one could easily manage to walk about 15-20 km when visiting the Vatican. After that day I am sure he was absolutely right, which is why we were just glad to rest our feet while the bus drove us all over town, giving us an overview of the city from the comfort of our seats.
The next day was a Saturday and we decided to mix it up a bit. So we started at the Spanish steps (not as impressive as one might think), strolled to the Trevi fountain (now that one lived up to the imagination) and continued to walk to the Piazza Venezia with its hideous Vittoriano, whose only redeeming quality is a viewing platform high above the city. And quite the view it is.
From there we hopped on the bus again to visit The Lateran Complex. Within the church a bishop was holding a Latin Confirmation mess. Leaving we literally stumbled into Roma Pride on our way back to the bus. What a contrast both in terms of music and vibe within less than half an hour and half a block...
Day three saw us exploring the Forum Romano and Palatine Hill. We both felt that the sites lacked some more descriptive plates and visualizations of what the buildings might have looked like, but were otherwise quite intrigued. Due to the heat we decided to call it a day and have a lazy afternoon on our balcony back at the flat.
So we started our fourth day with the last itinerary point from the previous day: the Coliseum. From there we made our way to Trastevere. Everybody had told us, that it was a typical old Roman neighborhood with small, quaint shops. Unfortunately that no longer seems the case, all we saw were restaurants upon restaurants. So we crossed the river again and headed for the Piazza Navona with its famous fountain. There we actually started finding interesting shops and these continued to line our way to the Pantheon. Now here’s a building that even after two thousand years can, in both its simplicity and genius, still impress and dazzle you. I want a natural skylight like that, which still manages to keep the rain out…
On our last day we only visited the Bocca della Verita and then decided to give the exploration of a normal Roman neighborhood another chance by sticking close to home (that would have been the area around San Paolo).
On Wednesday morning we left bright and early in order to brave our 4 hour train ride to Venice. Once we had stored our luggage away we headed into the City for lunch.
Since our cousin’s husband was supposed to pick us up at 5pm we decided to stick to the two boroughs closest to the station: Santa Croce & San Polo. While both of us are geographers it took us a little while to get the hang of all the dead ends and private walk-throughs that exist here. What we enjoyed the most was that there are no cars. After the traffic craziness that is Rome it was heavenly not having to check out of the corner of your eye every minute if you needed to jump out of the way of a car. This meant that we could concentrate more on what we were seeing.
After a lovely evening with our cousin & her family we headed back into Venice early next morning in hopes of seeing loads before the 38 degrees were due to hit around lunchtime. This time we ventured into San Marco with its famous Piazza and basilica. We also took a peek at the Rialto Bridge. However, yet again with some directions from my cousin’s hubby, who is a real estate agent, we headed into two of the more local areas: Cannaregio and Dorsoduro.
The rest of the holiday was spent hanging out at my cousin’s house socializing and babysitting our niece.
The two weeks in Italy, while not completely hassle free, were absolutely amazing. My sister and I would not have minded staying another week or two since there was so much else to do and see.
Also, due to using airbnb and pre-booking our local train tickets, we managed to stay well within budget.
The first leg of our trip was Milano.
After arriving in the downpour of the century and getting completely drenched on the way to the hotel we spent the rest of our day trying to dry of our clothes and suitcases as much as possible. This left Monday morning as the only time to explore the city. After having breakfast at Princi (yes akkajemo, THAT Princi) we set out to explore the Galleria and the cathedral. The architecture of both is simply stunning and I could have spent hours exploring them further, however, our train beckoned.
Arriving in Florence we settled into our first accommodation and thanked the gods that we had booked something with a washing machine.
The place we stayed at was on the Southside of the river and a lovely path leads from there all the way to the Ponte Vecchio.
For the next two days we enjoyed the lovely flair of Florence. We visited the Uffizi and the Palazzo Vecchio, climbed the cupola of the Dom and enjoyed ice-cream at GROM.
All too soon we had to repack our bags in order to head for Rome. As in Florence, we had decided to stay in a local area with good public transport connections, although those are of no use if there’s a strike. Still, we managed to make it work due to starting out before the transport got suspended and not returning home until after it had resumed. In order to get to Vatican City we braved the masses of rush hour combined with the tourists who had similar ideas.
Once we reached we became somewhat more mobile again due to the OMNIA card we had booked. That’s a city card that really worked for us since it combines two cards: one for the Vatican (with a hop on-hop off bus attached to it) and the ROMA card that grants you free access to public transport. Both of the cards are valid for three days once activated. So if you plan your trip cleverly enough you are golden for six days.
Since we were at Sankt Peter’s we decided to start right there by visiting the cathedral. This was followed by a couple of hours spent in the fantastic Vatican Museum. An uncle of mine had pointed out that one could easily manage to walk about 15-20 km when visiting the Vatican. After that day I am sure he was absolutely right, which is why we were just glad to rest our feet while the bus drove us all over town, giving us an overview of the city from the comfort of our seats.
The next day was a Saturday and we decided to mix it up a bit. So we started at the Spanish steps (not as impressive as one might think), strolled to the Trevi fountain (now that one lived up to the imagination) and continued to walk to the Piazza Venezia with its hideous Vittoriano, whose only redeeming quality is a viewing platform high above the city. And quite the view it is.
From there we hopped on the bus again to visit The Lateran Complex. Within the church a bishop was holding a Latin Confirmation mess. Leaving we literally stumbled into Roma Pride on our way back to the bus. What a contrast both in terms of music and vibe within less than half an hour and half a block...
Day three saw us exploring the Forum Romano and Palatine Hill. We both felt that the sites lacked some more descriptive plates and visualizations of what the buildings might have looked like, but were otherwise quite intrigued. Due to the heat we decided to call it a day and have a lazy afternoon on our balcony back at the flat.
So we started our fourth day with the last itinerary point from the previous day: the Coliseum. From there we made our way to Trastevere. Everybody had told us, that it was a typical old Roman neighborhood with small, quaint shops. Unfortunately that no longer seems the case, all we saw were restaurants upon restaurants. So we crossed the river again and headed for the Piazza Navona with its famous fountain. There we actually started finding interesting shops and these continued to line our way to the Pantheon. Now here’s a building that even after two thousand years can, in both its simplicity and genius, still impress and dazzle you. I want a natural skylight like that, which still manages to keep the rain out…
On our last day we only visited the Bocca della Verita and then decided to give the exploration of a normal Roman neighborhood another chance by sticking close to home (that would have been the area around San Paolo).
On Wednesday morning we left bright and early in order to brave our 4 hour train ride to Venice. Once we had stored our luggage away we headed into the City for lunch.
Since our cousin’s husband was supposed to pick us up at 5pm we decided to stick to the two boroughs closest to the station: Santa Croce & San Polo. While both of us are geographers it took us a little while to get the hang of all the dead ends and private walk-throughs that exist here. What we enjoyed the most was that there are no cars. After the traffic craziness that is Rome it was heavenly not having to check out of the corner of your eye every minute if you needed to jump out of the way of a car. This meant that we could concentrate more on what we were seeing.
After a lovely evening with our cousin & her family we headed back into Venice early next morning in hopes of seeing loads before the 38 degrees were due to hit around lunchtime. This time we ventured into San Marco with its famous Piazza and basilica. We also took a peek at the Rialto Bridge. However, yet again with some directions from my cousin’s hubby, who is a real estate agent, we headed into two of the more local areas: Cannaregio and Dorsoduro.
The rest of the holiday was spent hanging out at my cousin’s house socializing and babysitting our niece.