Italia

I must apologize for completely neglecting my blog. A combination of traveling without guaranteed internet access and computer troubles has postponed my most important post yet. I am referring of course to my spring break adventures in the beautiful country of Italy.

The adventures began with a delayed flight out of Alicante to Milan with my friend Sarah from California who is studying here in Murcia with me. We were flying on the budget airline Ryanair that is notorious for mishaps. We flew into an airport in Bergamo which is actually a 45 bus ride into the center of Milan, but everything went fairly smoothly. Upon arrival, Sarah begged a member of the Civil Guard for a stamp in our passports which were originally denied because we were only traveling between two Schengen countries, but when he saw our American passports, he asked his friend in customs to stamp them for us. (Victory!!) We had a few hours to kill in Milan before we met a few of Sarah’s friends in the train station to head on our way to Verona; so, Sarah and I took the metro to the center of town to tour the Duomo. We actually had the opportunity to climb to the top and see the city from the roof: it was expansive. After all the climbing (with luggage still in tow), we were ready for some real Italian food. We also had out first encounter with “coffee” which in Italy is synonymous with espresso: it took some getting used to.

We took a late train into Verona and checked into our hotel that we found on the awesome website www.hostelbookers.com. The way the site works is by promotion so you could end up in a really nice hotel for the same price as staying in a plain hostel. This happened to be our case! There was a free continental breakfast, and the hotel gave us bikes to ride around the town the next day. We couldn’t have asked for more! Riding a bike amongst crazy Italian drivers was a little nerve-wracking, but we managed just fine. We rode to the famous Verona sights such as Juliet’s house, Tore dei Lamberti, and the fresh fruit market. We also walked up the side of a hill to a sanctuary from where you could see the Alps. For dinner, Sarah had arranged for us to meet one of her parents' business partners who took us to the best pizza restaurant in Verona with his wife and two daughters. They enjoyed practicing their English, and we enjoyed the pizza and testing some red wine.

Early the next morning, we were off to Venice where we enjoyed the day exploring canals and doing touristy things in general. Fortunately, we were five total; so, it was affordable for us to take a gondola ride! We got some amazing pictures. Of course, it’s almost difficult to take a bad picture in Venice. Every square inch looks like a page from a travel book. I guess that explains the sky-high prices! We didn’t stay long (which is okay because I’m not sure I could afford staying there for a week). By evening, we were on our way to Florence.

Florence was probably my favorite city in Italy that we visited. We saw so many masterpieces and beautiful architecture around every corner. Here, we also tried Couch Surfing for the first time. The website www.couchsurfing.com hooks up people that are traveling with those that have a couch to spare. Well, we got a little more than a couch: try a real Tuscan dinner with homemade Ragu and each our own bed! Our host could not have been more hospitable, and the apartment where we stayed was a short walk from the tram that took us to the center of town. Before I left Spain, I bought a short tour book on Florence. It was pretty helpful in getting us to the sights, but it took a little effort sometimes because it was in Spanish of course. We spent two full days in Florence. There, I must say, I ate the best food of the whole trip. We went to a famous Panini shop where we had to wait on line for a good half an hour, but it was so worth it! After all the fun, we were on our way to Rome.

A word about our accommodations in Rome: I guess we couldn’t always be as lucky as we were in Verona. This “hostel” was actually a campground and our beds were in small cabins. Hey, at least the bathrooms were clean! It was a little ways from the center of Rome, but we took the bus without incident. We were pretty tired from so much traveling; so, we decided to take it a little bit easier on ourselves and take the double-decker tour bus. It turned out to be a great way to see the city! Rome is not as compact as the cities we had previously visited. We started at St. Peter’s Basilica and continued to the Vittonano, the Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon, the Roman Forum , and got out to tour the Coliseum. It was pretty warm—so we decided on an afternoon snack of gelato. In Rome, I fell in love with the gelato flavor nocciola (hazelnut). [I may have had it again the next day ;)] The hostel was next to a grocery store which was perfect for saving a little cash and making a picnic dinner to take back to the camp. The next morning we were off to the Vatican. It was so enormous! There is so much to see between all the museums and chapels…even the hallways are gorgeous. Unfortunately, one of the girls and I got separated from the rest of the group in the Sistine Chapel. It was last I saw of them because they were on to Naples and then Switzerland, but it worked out fine. We eventually found our way to our respective destinations: I was headed to another hotel because my flight left the next day from Ciampino, another Ryanair destination. My hotel accommodation was in a shared room with four single beds. I shared it with a girl from England and two from China. The girl from England had actually arrived before her friends; so, we spent the next day continuing to explore Rome. We did a little window shopping and ended up at a market where we bought a delicious lunch of bread, strawberries, and grapes: perfect for a picnic on the Tiber. After lunch I started my journey back to Murcia: a bus to Ciampino, a flight to Madrid, a night on the airport floor, a metro ride to bus station, a bus ride to Murcia, and a long walk back to my apartment after a long week of traveling. I was exhausted, but Italy was definitely worth every penny and minute!

Beautiful pictures here: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1692453796808.2075968.1401660433