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Venice
Gondola spinning through the canalIt's a strange thought, knowing you're on your way to Venice. A place that you've heard of all your life, but are not sure what to expect. A city containing 118 islands and 400 bridges. Our train finally pulled into the last stop, so we got off and went to find out. As we walked through the train station on Apr. 28th, we were approached by a couple different guys wanting us to stay at their hotels. Happily enough, the prices they quoted were less then we thought we were going to be paying in Venice, which is notoriously expensive.
Leaving the station, we made our way to the first hotel. Right away, we noticed the beauty of Venice and quickly found out why people from all over the globe dream of visiting there. There were canals everywhere, with water flowing by just outside many doorsteps. Narrow streets were lined with shops, filled with souvenirs, knickknacks, carnivale masks and Murano blown glass. Restaurants served up pastas and fresh seafood. This place was made for tourists! No wonder Venice gets up to twenty million visitors per year.
We eventually made it to the hotel, where we turned down the first
Venice
Outdoor vegetable market room they showed us, because it was ridiculously tiny, and not what we had been promised by the guy at the train station. We asked to see a better one, and for the same price we happily took the second option, a room decorated in white and gold furniture, painted with pink and blue flowers, and filled with blown glass lamps and chandeliers. The room price included a buffet breakfast, which was huge and delicious. We would enjoy a great feast every morning before heading out to explore the streets of Venice.
The first morning, we left our hotel, and quickly stopped at a small shop to buy an umbrella. This ended up being our favorite purchase, and an essential item for us to have in Venice. We had to use it much of the time that we were there. But we were happy to have it, walking through the swirling masses of coloured umbrellas that filled the alleys. Hundreds of umbrellas filled the streets, a strange but very neat sight. The rain and mist created a sense of mystery, and just added to the already atmospheric buzz in the Venetian air. But the poor gondola guys weren't getting
Venice
Reflections on a narrow canal much business, especially on our first day.
Venice was an easy place to get lost in; many of the streets would end at a canal, with no way to cross it. It is full of narrow, cobble stone alleys, as well as little bridges that go over the 150 canals that are everywhere you turn. The best way to navigate is to give up on trying to follow a map, and just wander around, weaving through the streets and admiring the beauty of it all. Eventually we would end up in the right spot, usually at the Ponte di Rialto, one of only three large bridges that cross the Grand Canal, which runs through the heart of Venice. Basically, if we couldn't find one of these, we couldn't get across.
There were gondolas cruising along everywhere, taking couples and families up and down the canals. A couple times, a gondola would pass by, with someone singing and playing an accordion into a microphone for all to enjoy. Tourists flicked pictures at them, as they slowly coasted by below. There's nothing like taking a picture of a guy in tight black pants, wearing a funny ribbon-tied hat, rowing people
Venice
A very rainy day around while standing in the back of an Italian version of a canoe. Looking back on our photos, we were obviously caught up and enchanted by it too.
The next place that we visited was the huge Piazza San Marco. Many would gather to hang out, and take pictures of the incredible Basilica di San Marco. We waited in a long line to see the inside of the basilica, which was beautiful, home to lots of gold, gems, and relics. It also contains the remains of St. Mark, which were stolen from Egypt and brought to Venice in a barrel!
The piazza itself was filled with visitors, gazing around and wanting their picture taken in front of the hundreds of pigeons, balloon vendors, and expensive gift shops. There were vendors selling feed to give the very tame pigeons, which would land on everyone with food, like tame parrots. 'Don't feed the birds' does not exist in Venice. If it did, there would be a lot of locals out of a job, and a lot of hungry pigeons.
We also visited the Gallerie dell' Accademia, which (surprise) contains the worlds largest collection of Venetian art. Paintings by artists
Venice
Carnivale masks for sale such as Bellini and Tintoretto lined the walls, some very interesting stuff. There was a temporary exhibit of Titian's works, our favorite part, which was interesting, showing x-rays of his art, so that you could see how he often reused canvases and painted over top of previous paintings.
We never took a gondola ride, since they were pretty expensive. Instead we opted for the next best thing, the 'poor man's gondola', better known as a 'vaporetto', or small, local passenger ferry. It was only a fraction of the price, but with all the joys of cruising the canals.
We bought a return ticket that was good for an hour, and climbed on board. It was the perfect amount of time to go all the way down the Grand Canal to Piazza San Marco and back to the train station. It was fantastic; we passed cargo boats, taxi ferries, and gondolas, as we and the others packed onto the boat took pictures, and enjoyed the ride.
We found a great place by the water, near our hotel and away from all other tourists. There we could sit, relax, and watch all types of boats go by. We returned
Venice
Canal waters lapping at a balcony to our hotel on our last night in Venice, to reminisce about the sights, and pack our bags. In the morning, after our last tasty breakfast, we rushed out to the train station, and climbed on to go to our next spot on the map, Verona.
Arriving in Verona, the home of Shakespeare's 'Romeo and Juliet', we decided to walk to the town centre, where we would hopefully find a hotel. We didn't know until we finally got there was that it was much farther away than we had guessed. This is something we should have learned by now, but we apparently enjoy the punishment of walking long distances with our bags!
Feeling the thrill of victory, we arrived at our chosen hotel, and set up camp. We only had one day to spend exploring Verona, so we left the hotel right away. We cut through crowds of people wandering around, enjoying themselves.
At it's centre, Verona is built up around an ancient Roman amphitheatre. It's the third largest in existence and was built in the first century AD. The tiered amphitheatre also doubles as Verona's opera house and can hold around twenty thousand people. If something
is still in good shape, why stop using it?
We wandered around there for a bit, and watched as guys were setting up the props for the opera 'Aida', with lots of sphinxes and Egyptian pillars. From the top walls, we could look down on the piazza below, which was like a huge outdoor patio, filled with people dining at tables and watching the crowds go by.
We continued on to see the famous balcony of Romeo and Juliet, at the Casa di Giulietta (Juliet's house). We could tell we were getting close, because all of a sudden there were hoards of people crowded in the street, snapping pictures. Right away, we saw loads of graffiti all over the walls, written by fans of the famous fictional couple.
Once we walked through a small, graffiti coated tunnel, there it was, the balcony. Just below it there was a bronze, life-sized statue of Juliet. The courtyard was free to visit, and was packed with tourists wanting their picture taken with Juliet.
Legend has it that if you rub Juliet's right breast, you will get a new lover. So many people do this every day that Juliet's breast
is shiny from many groping hands. Men, woman, and children were all taking turns, lining up to get a picture with Juliet and her breast. It was insane to see how many people were doing this. Of course, Andy had to get up there and have his picture taken with Juliet too, so ladies, watch out.
Afterwards we toured the Piazza delle Erbe, filled with food stalls selling fruit, candy, chocolate, and gift stalls with all types of purses, jewelry and souvenirs. Next to the piazza was the high tower, the Torre del Lambertini, which we climbed up for some fantastic views of the city and countryside beyond.
Verona was a great place, full of friends, families, and lovers. Thanks to William Shakespeare, this is one of the most romantic places to visit in Europe. Romantic or not, we had to move on, and the next morning we jumped on a train to another popular place in Italy, Milan.
Again, we only had one day to explore, and ended up taking a hotel near the train station, after looking at a couple that weren't even up to our cheapie standards. Our original plan was to tour Milan
Basilica di San Marco, Venice
People waiting to get in the Duomo and see one of the most famous paintings of all time, Leonardo da Vinci's 'The Last Supper'. But sadly, this didn't happen, because there was a waiting list at least two weeks long, and we were only staying that day. Oh well, you can't see them all. This was a bit of a disappointment, but it gave us time to see the Duomo of Milan, which is apparently the largest Gothic cathedral in the world.
We headed down to the Piazza del Duomo, which was lined with shops and had a very modern and cosmopolitan feel. The cathedral itself was commissioned in 1386, and finally finished 600 years later. The outside was so impressive and ornate, shining white and decorated with over 3400 statues and 155 gargoyles. The inside was lit up by gorgeous stained glass windows, and it's vast interior has room to hold up to 40,000 people. It was such an incredible piece of architecture.
We really just wanted to relax while in Milan, so what better way to do it than to have a picnic in a park. We hit a market, then found the beautiful Giardini Publici, a park where people jogged, walked their
Venice
Murano blown glass dogs, sunbathed and relaxed. It was nice; in Italy you can have some beer or wine in the park with your lunch, and no one even looks at you, or cares, for that matter.
Our picnic was briefly interrupted twice by a fashionably dressed transvestite, whose two tiny Chihuahuas with pink bows wanted some of our lunch. This made for some great entertainment and laughs. In the end, although we didn't see 'The Last Supper', we sure had a great lunch.
We woke early the next morning, knowing that we had a long journey ahead of us. It would suck, but in the end, be worth it, as always. We were heading to the west coast of Italy, to enjoy the breathtaking sights of the Parco Nazionale delle Cinque Terre. This place is a UNESCO world heritage sight of five picturesque coastal villages connected by hiking trails with spectacular views, all contained within a national park.
The journey wasn't nearly as bad, since we started early. Arriving by train in Genoa, we had an hour and a half wait, but rewarded ourselves with tasty cappuccinos and delicious paninis filled with mozzarella and tomato, so the wait flew
Piazza San Marco, Venice
The pigeons love it here by. From there, we continued by train to Monterosso, the first village, where we hoped to find a room.
Once off our last train ride of the day, we left the station and noticed the popular beach to laze on, filled with people on a quest for the perfect tan. The beaches were beautiful, sandy and crowded, but it was the weekend. This was a really small town with a really nice beach.
Being the weekend, we had a horrible time trying to find a hotel. The first place was crappy and overpriced, the second was too expensive, and the others were all full. After that, we got lost while looking for another option, then decided to give up and just pick one of the first two. We must have walked around for over an hour with our bags and it was around thirty degrees. We decided to splurge on the expensive room and settled down to finally relax. We picked up some food from the grocery store, and had dinner while enjoying our private patio attached to our room.
The main attractions of Cinque Terre are not just the gorgeous, sandy beaches, but the beautiful location
Venice
Gondola guy working hard and great hiking. It is named for the five little villages that we got up early the next morning to hike through. First we left Monterosso, the village where we were staying. The well marked path climbed high above the sea, giving us some great views as we walked past vineyards and fields filled with lemon and olive trees, flowers, and the odd, tiny cottage.
We reached Vernazza, a colourful village built jutting out over the sea, and stopped for a snack. Continuing on, we walked along jagged paths, and up steep stairs, making our way to the next village. That was Corniglia, where we took a lunch break down by the ocean.
Then we hit the trails again, to Manorola and then finally at the end of the day, Riomaggiore. In each village we would stop and relax, looking through the town for a bit before moving on to the next one. It was the perfect setup.
It was pretty sweet, a hiker's paradise, and also convenient, because there were train stations at each village. If someone got too tired, there was always the option of taking the train, instead of walking the whole way back,
Venice
One bridge down, 399 to go! a heck of a long walk. It was good to feel like we weren't in the big city for a change.
After a long day of walking, we caught the train from Riomaggiore, the last village, and went back to our hotel in Monterosso, the first one, to enjoy one more sleep. The next morning we were setting off on another long journey. Only this time, we would be crossing the border into new territory, the South of France.
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