Advertisement
Published: October 14th 2013
DSCF0486
Guess where in Rome...I had never been to Italy before but it had always been high on my hit list because I love the food and have some Italian friends (and the wine isn't too bad either!).
So Em and I got a last minute flight and the first step on our trek was Rome. Unfortunately we were travelling during August which is the busiest time to travel in Italy and also means some stuff can be closed, as a lot of Italians take the whole month off.
But most of the attractions in Rome were open. First stop, after grabbing a quick slice of pizza and enjoying my first tasty rice-cheese ball, was the Colosseum, which we walked to from our hotel. In fact Rome is a very easy city to walk around, which was one of the reasons I loved it.
The Colosseum was actually smaller and in worse condition than I imagined. I didn't know its history of being looted for materials used in other buildings across Rome over the years. But for a 2,000 year old
DSCF0515
Inside the Pantheon building, it is not in bad nick!
The line was ridiculous but Em had read a tip online that you can go down the left side of the queue (which is for tours only) and buy an audio tour with a ticket at the same time - this worked a treat and the €5 audio guide probably saved us about 2 hours of queuing!
The audio guide, as I was about to discover was a common feature at Italian sites, was completely useless. For some reason they don't put up markers so you don't know where exactly to go to listen to the correct audio, which then defeats the purpose. However, at least the audio was quite interesting and it did allow us to skip the queue.
I think the outside of the Colosseum is more impressive than the inside. They have lifted the original floor of the stage so you can see all the pulleys and levers they used to get the animals an gladiators in place, however this means you don't really get a feel for what the arena would have been like.
After a couple of hours of exploring and hearing about some
DSCF0553
Sistine Chapel? No just a random Rome Church! of the duels with lions and bears, we left to try and get out the sun for a bit. Right next to the Colosseum is the Palatine - old ruins of a plush ancient Rome neighbourhood - which looked interesting but also extremely open and didn't suit our plan to get out the sun.
So we decided instead to go wondering around some of the alleys and streets in town, making our way to the Pantheon. The Pantheon is also 2,000 years old but looks like it may have been built last week. This is because of its design a large dome roof with a hole in it to let in air and water, with holes on the floor below to drain it. It is really awe inspiring and for me the highlight of Rome (in 3 days in Rome we went into the Pantheon 3 times!).
We also stumbled upon this random stunning church - you might have mistaken it for the Sistine chapel but it was just a random church - not even on the tourist trail!
We then went to the Trevi fountain which is this large, ancient fountain in the centre of town
DSCF0547
Trevi Fountain - it was very busy though. Nearby we grabbed an apperitivo, as is the Italian tradition in the early evening, although I was to later learn how poor and expensive the one we had was (since it was right by the Trevi fountain - one of the busiest tourist spots in Rome - this shouldn't be a big shock!).
We then walked round to the Hard Rock cafe so Em could get a pin for her collection, before wandering round some of the alleys finding somewhere to eat.
The Italian lifestyle appears to be based around coffee and eating. They usually don't eat until late (930) and dinner takes a while, usually accompanied by red wine. The first night I had some gnocchi that was really good. Also gnocchi is also one of many Italian words that I learned we Westerners butcher in both pronunciation and spelling (some others being bruschetta, appertivo, panino).
The next day we decided to do a free walking tour starting at the nice setting of the Spanish steps. We got chatting to a nice Australian guy called Matt and went round with him.
Free city walking tours can be good since
DSCF0580
WW2 Memorial the guides only make money on their tips; this one was not. The girl appeared to be in some sort of hurry and chose the worst (busiest) places to stop the group.
We did see some interesting things though, most notably an impressive and massive museum building that is dedicated to WW2. We walked past many cool sites without the guide explaining what they were! A lot of these were part of the Palatine.
Afterwards Matt, Em and I grabbed some lunch in a little pizza cafe but it wasn't that great - we were still too close to tourist land at this point.
We then decided to do the evening walking tour which took in different sites - around the Trevi fountain and the Pantheon. We had a few beers too and even played walking tour bingo, a new game I invented which involved drinking when the tour guide said certain words!
The tour finished in the large Navarro square, which is probably considered the 'main' square in Rome. My dad had recommended a pizza place near there so we wandered round for a while and eventually found it. I also discovered for the first
DSCF0639
Sunset on the Rome river-front time how cheap (and good) the vino de casa (house wine) carafes are.
Matt had to head off, so we said our goodbyes before we were joined by our friend Melisa (who we met in Shanghai) and her Italian friend. They took us to a good Gelato cafe and then we had a few drinks. Her friend had some great mafia stories about basically going across to Canada (Montreal) and working in her 'cousins' 'shop' over there!
The next day we went to the Vatican, taking the metro there - Rome has a small, efficient two line metro. We took a tour guide of the Vatican museum as the queue was super long and this allowed us to skip the queue. Unlike the last tour guide though, this one was very good though and the guide was very enthusiastic about all things Vatican.
We got a good history lesson on the smallest country in the world (which has its own currency and postal service), as well as St Peters and the Vatican museum (which it is said is the largest in the world). We finished the tour at the highlight of the Vatican museum, the Sistine Chapel.
DSCF0691
Inside St Pauls Cathedral, The Vatican The chapel itself is quite impressive housing billions of pounds of art (mainly Michelangelos) on the roof and walls but the story behind the paintings is better: Michelangelo didn't want to do them but the pope persuaded him, so, in an attempt to finish them as fast as possible, he worked in the chapel basically 24/7, painting the roof by creaking his neck up (instead of lying on his back), everyday painting until he fell asleep on the scaffolding for a total of just over 4 years. The same paintings many, many years later took a team of world experts 25 YEARS to clean! Also, Michelangelo went from never having painted a fresco before to painting the most famous and valuable frescos in the world.
After the chapel, we cut through the back way to St Peters cathedral which is impressive in a different way: its sheer scale and size - the largest church in the world. We went to see the pope tombs in the basement, before wandering around the main chapel.
We left the Vatican city going through St Peters square, which was also impressive and went and grabbed some food at a local place.
DSCF0683
Michaelangelo's works on the roof of the Sistine Chapel - shhh you're not supposed to take photos! Back in town I had a great espresso from a coffee place our guide had recommended near the Pantheon (Em had a iced coffee that she said was unreal) and we went wandering down past Navarro square looking for a place for an apperitivo.
We found this place which had drinks from €6-10, which sounds expensive but in fact they included a free buffet! This is because most good bars include a good selection of foods with an apperitivo, this place went one step further and put on a great little buffet!
We went wandering around these neat little alleys across the river from the Navarro square and at about 10 it started to get really busy with the locals so we got some vino de casa and shared a (very good) pizza (we weren't really that hungry after the buffet!).
The next day we set off for Sorrento on the Amalfi coast, taking the train down to Naples and then on from there. We were staying in Saint D'Agnello just down from the main town, unfortunately we were staying in a really crap hostel called Hostel Sorrento on top of a hill!
Sorrento it
DSCF0805
Colosseum at Pompei seems is a bit of a tourist trap and it is hard to find good, cheap places to eat. The first night was an exception as we found a great little restaurant (1 litre of vino de casa was €4!) where I had a roasted chicken (their specialty). Aside from this, most meals we had in Sorrento were over priced and not that great.
The best part about Sorrento I would say is the places around it. The first of these we visited was Pompei. Once again we got the audio guide; once again it wasn't very good - far too long and rambling. However, Pompei itself was really interesting.
It was different than I expected though as it had more ruins than I had anticipated - I had this impression that the volcano preserved the buildings intact when in reality this is not the case (although a lot of them maybe were destroyed by a large earthquake just before the volcano).
However, the highlight for me was the Colosseum there. It is much smaller than the one in Rome, but amazingly well preserved - the exterior was fully intact which was just unreal to see.
DSCF0904
Sunrise over the Amalfi Coast, from the bus Sadly we spent too much time in Pompei so didn't make it to see the Herculaneum up the road (another city destroyed by Vesuvius) as planned.
The next day we went across to an island near Sorrento called Capris. Its is known as a very posh, plush place which riff-raff like me only visit on day trips!
We wanted to hire a moped to explore the island but they said it was too dangerous if you didn't own a moped and have experience. However, this refusal turned out to be amazing as we met a very nice couple called Mike and Alyssa (Americans) who had also been refused and came up with a plan to hire a boat for a couple of hours!
They will hire boats to anybody but Mike is actually experienced having lived in California so it turned out to be really lucky for us.
So we drove the boat round the island, stopping to go swimming and check out some caves - there were these green lit caves that were particularly cool. Sadly though for Em and Alyssa the jellyfish took a like to them!
So we saw the whole of
DSCF0849
View from the beach front looking up, at Amalfi Town the south side of the island, including driving among some unreal, plush yachts (one had its own helicopter!) before we dropped the boat back.
Back in Sorrento we had a nice dinner with Mike and Alyssa, including some amazing anchovies (which I love).
The next day we took a bus over the hills to Amalfi town. It was an amazing journey over the hills and along the cliff edges, Amalfi is a stunning little town which has been built into the cliffs on the coast - the houses/hotels are literally below you as you drive over. With the sun just rising behind the coast, this was one of the best bus journeys I've ever done. Eventually we stopped for breakfast in their neat little town square, before heading on to Salerno where we could get the train south.
Reggio Calabria, despite being one of the best named towns ever, is not on the tourist trail for most UK visitors. I have a friend called Claudio, who I met in Shanghai, who lives there and who, alongside his brother Antonio, picked us up from the train station.
After dropping by our guesthouse, which was a massive improvement
DSCF0985
Sunset at Scilla Beach on Sorrento, we had a quick car tour of Reggio before heading to the nearby town of Scilla (pronounced 'Sheila'😉 where there is a beautiful beach surrounded by an old castle.
Antonio might just be the most Italian guy I've ever met: tall, long greased back hair, well tanned, a bit of a ladies man and with all the Italian eccentricities - he and Claudio were great company and superb hosts. We also met their other brother Bruno and Bruno's girlfriend Bridget and they were all super nice people.
As I said, this part of Italy doesn't get many UK visitors and nowhere was this more evident than on the beach where the white glare of Em and I stood out considerably! But we enjoyed an amazing beach sunset for our efforts.
After chilling on the beach a bit, we grabbed some grenita - a favourite of Italians - it is a icey, slush-puppie like drink. Antonio informed me that they taste great with cream on top and accompanied by a brioche (which you dip in your grenita). He also gave me a tip that in Italy you never let you girlfriend go to the bathroom unaccompanied
DSCF1067
Claudio and I at the castle in Reggio Calabria - I have my home made Reggio Calabria tourist t-shirt on! - he had so many good lines like this! One cool story they told was about this old man who sat on a bench by the beach, who they suspected of being in the mafia. One day this man kept getting angry that a nearby beach volleyball was coming over and hitting him whilst he sat there. Eventually he stood up and shouted 'no more volleyball!'. So they stopped playing...!
We then took a walk around Scilla, discussing mafia stories and whatnot, walking round these beautiful winding old narrow alleyways up towards the castle, before heading back down and grabbing some pizza by the beach. I ordered bruschetta as a starter and got about 10 pieces that were all amazing - I guess this is what the portions are meant to be off the tourist trail! We also learned some of the many hand gestures that Italians use to express themselves...
Em and I were shattered from a long days travelling, so we had an early night, before Claudio and Antonio picked us up the next morning for a tour of Reggio Calabria. I was wearing an 'I Love Rome' t-shirt which I amended (with a marker pen)
DSCF1040
(Double) Artwork, Reggio Calabria to say 'I Love Reggio Calabria'!
We walked along the beach front, then into the town to check out the main street and cathedral, as well as some artwork on the becah front, before grabbing some cafe and cutting across to see this really cool old castle and some views over the city. Claudio and Antonio told me that summer life in the city is like this - laid back days walking around and chatting to friends...
We had lunch with their whole family which was so nice. I had: bread, salami, meatballs, pickled onions, a plate of pasta, 2 slices of swordfish, sausage and potato, watermelon, peaches and coffee - not bad for lunch!
After that we set off for another nearby beach - with views across to Sicily - where we just chilled and I learnt some Italian card games but I don't remember what they were called! On the way back we drove alongside an amazing sunset, stopping off for some grenita of course.
Back in town, Claudio and Antonio took us to a Scottish themed pub which was pretty good. One of the starters, a selection of meatballs, was unreal. Incidentally, I
DSCF1113
Sunset over Sicily had noticed that all over Italy Tennents Super was available and the Italians were surprised when I told them that is what homeless people on the streets in Scotland drink - apparently it is considered a drink of high esteem in Italy!
At night we went to a few bars along the beachfront and we walked back and forth, learning to walk and talk like a proper Italian...! After some late night gelato we had to head back due to an early flight the next day.
Claudio and Antonio, despite staying out, still made it to pick us up at 6am the next day - this sums up what amazing hosts they were.
But we were not heading home just yet, we still had time to see the sights of Pisa as we had a long stopover there.
Without the leaning tower I doubt many people would visit Pisa. Sadly, it is a HUGE tourist trap and the locals exploit this by ripping you off at every opportunity, such as the €5 euro service charge we paid on a €10 meal. Such things would never happen in Reggio Calabria!
The main square of Pisa is
DSCF1124
Main square, Pisa stunning though, not just with the leaning tower but also a beautiful cathedral and domed government building. But it was absolutely sweltering, so we spent most of our time in the shade.
Of course Em had to get the customary tourist picture of pretending to hold up the leaning tower, whilst I enjoyed watching and laughing at all the people doing this - at one point I counted around 30!
It was only a short visit to Pisa but, given how big a tourist trap it is, a few hours are all that is necessary. I had my final Italian pizza, with some vino de casa of course, before we jetted off home.
Italy had been near the top of my places to visit for a while and it didn't disappoint. Sorrento and Pisa were very touristy but everywhere else was amazing, Rome being particularly amazing (and probably now very close to Barcelona as my favourite European city) but the highlight of the trip for me was the local custom, insights and fun we had in Reggio Calabria.
(Few more photos at the bottom!)
Advertisement
Tot: 0.146s; Tpl: 0.015s; cc: 9; qc: 59; dbt: 0.0544s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.3mb
