Italy

---

Well after last writing you aboard the boat from Patras to Bari, I was able to find a nice place within the boat that allowed me a few hours sleep. Well that was after 2am when the disco down the stair case had stopped. I did listen to a bit of the international beats pumping, but I was glad to have the noise cancelling headphones when the Greek techno hit the DJ’s decks. It was not an amazing town Bari, yet I had a 5 hour wait till my train to Rome, so thankfully I and a New Zealand couple I meet at the port found luggage storage in the train station and went for a wander around the town to kill some time. The train ride to Rome was not that bad and I was able to get a bit of relaxation time before the shit hit the fan in Rome.

Well I got into Rome and I had no trouble locating my hostel and it looked quite nice from the outside, it was pleasant enough on the inside also. But where my problems began for the evening was that they had not met my request to leave me in the same room as I had a booking for the next day when Brett Girvan arrived. So a little peeved I headed to my hostel room to book into and my credit card had been cancelled, which I found out in Bari whilst on the Internet. I made the (thankfully) reverse charge call to Westpac to inform them that I had $1100 withdrawn over the past week and a bit by a merchant bank in the United States. After that I was forwarded to the Fraud department who informed me that these were not the only withdrawals made by a merchant company within the United States and that it had been going on for quite some time. I estimated that this must have been around $2000 being withdrawal over a period of several months. (I was later given a Statuary Declaration to fill out, which would prove that in fact $4500 had been slowly taken out of my bank in small amounts). A few of these withdrawals I had noticed over the past month, but assumed (assumption is the mother of all fuck ups) that these were the charges for accommodation in the hostels I had stayed in over the past few months. So that being the case I was not in an overly excitable mode. Add to that the fact that when I went to do my washing I located a large female tee shirt instead of the 4 day old tee shirt that Joy had sent over to me (which I loved) and was no longer there. The only explanations being, the large women’s tee was the exact same colour and I had picked it up in a rush when leaving Iso. So that dampened the mood even more. When I dropped off the washing that evening to be done I did not notice that the establishment was not 24 hour like most of the others, so I arrived to see my clothes still in the dyer, but the place had shut up shop. So I got a slice of pizza and then headed back to the hostel where I would retire to the bedroom for the remainder of the evening.

Thankfully day two of Rome brought me a new ray of light; Brett Girvan was in town to begin our leg of Italy, Croatia and Ocktoberfest. So catching up with a good mate and being able to chat to somebody that was not a back packing stranger (although the American girl who brought me a beer after hearing me on the phone to Westpac was quite helpful, even if I had sworn off beer for a week). So after checking out and then back into a new room, Girv and I could set our sites on the Ancient ruins of the Roman Empire. First stop the biggest of them all, the Colosseum. Well there was no grander place to start, the sheer size of the place is amazing. It may not be as large as the MCG, but the design was still quite amazing. We wandered around there for an hour before heading up the road to view inside the ground of the Palatino and Foro Romano. It is quite amazing to see that a large number of the structures and columns are still in very good condition for their age. But a majority of the original works have collapsed, so you can really appreciate the way that some structures were built to last. This is especially interesting considering it has been several hundred years since their initiation into the back drops of Rome.

After a few hours looking around the gardens and site we took a look at surrounding buildings within the area before heading back to the hostel with a weary traveller by the name of Brett, who’s not used to the rigours of travelling the world and attempting to see all the sights in one day - plus the fact his choice of footwear and minimal eye protection did take its toll on the young pup. That afternoon and evening we spent our time at the drawing board, working out what our plans would be from Rome to Ocktoberfest. After posting a number of group emails that evening we were able to get a rough plan of our attack on Italy and Croatia by the next day which suited our already rough outline at that point in time. So it was tea time and when in Rome what do you eat? Pizza, Pasta and Gelato of course! So we tried to find a good restaurant, and with a Pizza & Pasta restaurant on each corner it was going to be hard to decide. The food was nice, but the overall size of the pasta was a little disappointing, each of us had a list of pasta we were going to try during our 5 day stay in Italy (Carbonara was my first choice of course).
After a good nights sleep we headed out the door to see the weather in a state that I had not seen for quite some time, cloudy and rainy. So for some unknown reason we marched on without considering our attire of shorts, tees and sunnies. Maybe not the most appropriate attire for a day in the rain. Since the heavens had opened, where best to visit in Rome - Vatican City of course. After a number of recommendations to visit there during the afternoon as the crowds would be the smallest, we decided to head there at midday, not sticking to any form of common sense that would allow us to enjoy the day much more. As we turned the corner we saw a line that did not overly excite us and the weather had not really improved since our metro trip from the hostel.

After actually making what we were unsure was going to be a smart or stupid move, we lined up at that point. We actually saved ourselves a great deal of time, which kept us much drier for the day. Well I am not sure what to say about the Vatican Museum. It did contain a large number of religious works of art which surprised me greatly, but the detail and size of the collection was quite amazing, from the statues and carvings, to the amazing piece of works which were either painted all over the walls and ceilings to those hanging in and around the Sistine chapel. It was all quite amazing. Unfortunately like most of these major galleries a number of the works you are unable to photograph, even if your flash has been turned off. This did greatly upset me in the Sistine Chapel as the sheer size, quality and details is far too impressive to describe with my non-vast literary (wow that a big word) knowledge. After over 3 and bit hours wandering the halls of this huge collection we headed outside to be greeted by an unimpressive sky line that had only grown worse whilst we wandered the holy halls of the Vatican museum.

So it’s raining in Rome, what do the Romans do? Not stand in it, run for shelter at the nearest restaurant and eat more Pizza and Pasta. Once again the quantity of the latter was not that appealing, but the quality nearly made up for it. From there we had to brave the rain and get our shots of the Piazza San Pietro where the thousands gather for many of the Popes large masses and speeches over the many years of it existence. It was a massive area and quite beautiful, but I think it may have been the rain that did not make it as enjoyable as some of the other mayor sites of importance that I have visited. From there it was back to the hostel as we could no longer brave the rain in our inappropriate attire and since we refused to spend 5 euro on an umbrella, we found ourselves running from the train station to get to the hostel before every inch of our clothing became soaked. After drying off and studying the Lonely Planet for some tips on accommodation, we headed to the train station to book our ticket to Pisa for the following morning and our train from Florence to Venice. After getting those tickets arranged, we could head to one of the near by restaurants to check out another pasta on our Italian list to cross off. This time it was Lasagne for me and gnocchi for girvo, size an issue once again, but the quality was up there again. We headed back to our little gelato place that we found the night before for another sample before looking over the net for accommodation in Florence and Venice. That out of the way it was time to hit the hay.

Saturday morning we headed to the train station for our 4 hour trip to Pisa. It was not a bad trip and good to have a travel companion to chat with during part of the trip, along with knocking over a few pages of my new book (Angels & Demons by Dan Brown). We planned to just do a day trip to Pisa and after seeing the size of the town we were glad we did. We dumped our bags at left luggage and headed to the only thing we came to see -The Leaning Tower of Pisa. From a distance it was quite an amazing sight, as it is so much taller than anything in the surrounding area. The other thing that I was surprised about was within the barrack wall which encompasses the Leaning tower of Pisa. There is also some amazing other structures, mostly cathedrals, but still quite impressive. After spending hours in Pisa and getting the shots we came for, plus a few more to add to the collection of immature pictures whilst visiting major tourist destinations, we headed for the train station where we planned to jump on a train to Florence, and to where we had booked to stay that evening.

As we got to the train station there was one departing in 10mins, so we grabbed our bags and jumped on with a minute to spare. Girvo being the hilarious man that he is, started to doubt me about being on the right train and that played on my mind until I confirmed the arrival time with the conductor when she came past (since when are train conductors, attractive women in their mid to late twenties?). We got into Florence at half past 5 and made our way to the hostel. It was an impressive place with pool, bar and heaps of other stuff going for it, which meant check in was not that quick as we waited with the 20 or so. After we got to our room, we met Dean who like all good Melbournites I have met on this trip was up for a bit of a chat, as well as a swim and sauna in the hostel. So after, Bretty, Dean and I had towelled down we headed down stairs to the kitchen in the hostel where they were cooking up some nice pasta and pizzas, plus more, but when in Italy why eat anything else, really.

A few beers were enjoyed over tea and we caught up with a few other solo girls and boys who were also keen to enjoy their travels. The night was a bit of fun, but after a group mission to find a good bar or club failed, I headed for the hay, trying to minimise my alcohol consumption for once. The morning was not a slow start, but not a fast one either. We took our time checking out, as we knew it would be slow to check out as it was in. We put our bags in storage and headed down stairs for a good feed. Once obtaining the required nutrients for the day’s sight seeing, we headed out of the hostel door to see our first site of the day. Where better to start than at the most famous nude statue in the world. It’s of a guy called David, don’t know if you have heard of him, but he’s kind of a big deal around the traps in Europe. We went to visit one thing and one thing only in that Museum and for 10 euro some would suspect that you would be a chance of being able to photograph this overly large statue, but that would unfortunately not be the case. The statue itself is quite impressive and well worth visiting and one of the main reason for coming to Florence in the first place, but some kind of photographical evidence would be nice, but thems the breaks (also if any one does plan to make a larger than life size sculpture of me and I know a few of you out there do, could you please be a little bit more generous than Michelangelo did with David’s tackle).

After seeing the disproportions we headed to see the Santa Maria del Fiore Cathedral. It is the 4th largest in the world and quite impressive, but after seeing much of the restorative works being conducted on many of the buildings in Europe I would not mind them just to chuck the presser washer onto a few of the buildings panels, not just the front façade. Well with most of the sights of Florence out of the way, it was Pizza and gelato time once again, and I was not let down. Brett did however have to order two slices as they had thrown one in the oven before he could say that they had picked up the wrong piece as well. 6 euro for his gelato was a little excessive considering the size of the scoop he was given, but unfortunately you have to take the good with the bad, as I am getting quite good at understanding. After chilling at the hostel for an hour with Dean, we jumped on a train to Venice.

The trip to Venice was quite quick. We arrived into town just after 7pm and we headed for our B&B (Hostel). The directions were not that great, but we thought we would not have as much trouble locating the building as we did, considering it was directly across the grand canal from the train station, 10mins walk at the max. After looking over the area for half an hour I sent Brett on a mission to track down the address for the hostel since he did not note it down originally. After obtaining that, it still took us a further 10mins and a phone call to locate the large red door, that was hidden in an obscure corner and was actually in fact painted maroon. Well it was a nice enough place and the location was amazing, as was the cost but we took the hit for the location and ease in which we could access everything. So we headed out for a bite to eat and a brief look around town. Once again the pizzas were huge and tasty, the pasta good but undersized, but we got a bit more value for money here. The next morning it was a bit of a sleep in, till we had to check out at 10 bells, so not much of one, but sufficient for myself. I had a number of text messages and emails to reply, mainly to the two ladies (Ally & Kirsten, who I travelled with in South America) who were staying in the Guestrooms (No longer Mine and Zoe’s) at 6 Vernon Close. After assisting them with location of items within the house and suggestions for their days activities, Brett and I grabbed some breakfast to take on our tough, hour walk, well tough for some not me (maybe Brett), to get to San Marco’s Square. The piazza itself is quite huge. The huge square is in fact a large L shape and is surrounded by several impressive buildings. Thousands of tourists flock here, along with thousands of pigeons. Many people are able to get the pigeons to sit on their shoulders or arms for photographs. The building surrounding are all very different in design, but still work well together in the overall scheme of things. There is the huge bell tower (Torre dell’Orologio) and the Campanile tower which stands nearly 100 metres tall and is positioned at the internal corner of the L shape layout. But by far the greatest piece of works in the area is the Basilica di San Marco, a huge church that from the outside is impressive in itself, with the large domes on the roof of the building and the multiple columns and layers of different coloured marble used on the external front façade. There was a short line to get into the building, which is quite surprising since entry is free and once you enter the building you are taken back by the vast works that covers the domed ceilings. A majority of the works within the building are made from mosaic tiling. Each dome contained a large number of works that due to the detail I would presume that they had to be painted on the tiles, but each set of works was surrounded by millions of golden tiles giving the roof a dramatic appearance. The viewing area had been broken down into a number of sections, some of which you had to pay to enter and a backpackers budget and due to a dwindling interest in internal church architecture, we decided to head out side and take a walk along the busy Canale Di San Marco where there were a few impressive super yachts parked. Also on the promenade a number African and Indian gentlemen were trying to sell replica hand bags and children’s toys. The entertaining part was that once a police officer would walk down the water front you would see them pack up their gear and bolt across a few bridges. I am guessing a number of them were not only not permitted to sell their master piece hand bags, but a number of them may not have been citizens of the EU. So Girvo and I watched this play out a few times whilst enjoying another few flavours of the amazing Italian Gelato scene. After heading from the Piazza San Marco we accidentally ran into the museum of architectural design, which currently had a display on one of the most influential architects of our time, especially in Australia, his name Jorn Utzon. He was the architect from the Sydney Opera house and a number of other amazing works through out the world. The exhibition had many of the design concepts her used to build the Opera House was well as video clips of how he set about designing it and the other works on display. It was quite impressive to see and with no entry fee I was a happy chappy (hopefully as happy as Paul Chappy next weekend). From there we wandered aimlessly back to the train station where we took use of the stairs outside of the station to enjoy the sights of Venice and its afternoon sun. As we still had many more hours to kill we took another extended walk to the Chiesa di Santa Maria della Salute, a church whose name is far more impressive than overall appearance. It may just be the exhaustion of seeing so many churches in the past few days and the fact that it had a number of facades none of which could compare to that of the Basilica di San Marco. The surrounding building are so close to the church itself you cannot stand back and take in the whole building is its entirety, which would probably allow you get a better picture of the architects overall design.

After that we took our time wandering around the stalls and back into the heart of town to pick up some food from the Supermarket for the upcoming train rides to Zagreb and Split in Croatia. After accomplishing that mission it was tea time. Once again when you have found a winner you stick to it, so we headed back to our Pizza and Pasta restaurant for some tea. We grabbed our gear after that and headed to the train station, where we jumped on board for our trip to Croatia.

Well the sites of Italy where all very impressive and I know I rushed through it and could have spent more days in each of the cities I stayed, but time was minimal and I hope to be back here some time in the future and will be able to get a even better understanding of the region. Apart from the areas that I did visit there is still a lot more to see in Italy and I suggest I will attempt to do it with a stronger financial situation to that one I currently hold with my lack of credit card and its cash. If all goes to plan I will in fact be back in Italy before I know it, like the 5th of October, as Joy has put me onto the Italian teacher from her school who is currently trying to arrange a home stay for me in Milan for a month assisting the English teacher at one of the schools in the area. This will mean being able to do a few weekend trips to see the sites of Italy before I even leave Europe in early to mid November. So for this point in time this is Michael Lewis signing off from Italy making his way by train to Split in Croatia.

---