Italy
Trip Start
Sep 26, 2007
1
Trip End
Oct 06, 2007
Venice-milan-florence-pisa-rome, Italy
Friday, October 12, 2007
We went to the tourist information to purchase our venice card. According to the staff, she recommended us to purchase rolling venice card instead of the venice blue or orange card because with only 3 days, we might not have enough time to visit most of the museums listed in the map which will be free with venice blue or orange card. Also, most churches are free anyway. (rolling venice cost 22 Euro for 3 days)
Our first destination is the Academia. According to forums, a lot of people suggest renting an audio guide and so we did. Well, my personal experience with Academia is not as pleasant as what the forums said. First of all, I don't really find the paintings as nice as those in national gallery in London. Next, I don't know if we are too unlucky to visit the academia at this time because a lot of the museum's rooms were closed for some work. There is no need for an audio guide also because each room has a set of explaination in paper format where you can take and read while admiring the paintings. The audio guide only explain a few paintings only. What a waste of money (audio guide cost 4 Euro for one person and 6 Euro for double). One thing that you might want to take note when visiting Academia next time is that there is virtually no discount at all unless you are EU students or have studied or am studying architechture. Not even rolling or venice card have discount.
After that, we went to find cheap food/dinner. We walked along the canal and found that the whole stretch is very quiet and empty at night. In the end, we decided to take the water bus (free with rolling venice card) back to Pizzale Roma. We found a place which has similar concept as the Marche in Singapore where you order and take whatever you want and pay at the cashier. This way, we don't have to pay for service charge. We had pasta at around 3-4.50 Euro and a big bowl of salad which we shared. The food is alright for that kind of money.
Oh yes, before I forgot, something to take note of, Remember to validate your ticket because the conductor really do check for the validation. October is the high water season and it can get quite cold at around 13 degree celcius in the morning and afternnoon and reached single digit at night so do remember ot bring some warm clothing.
Well, night fall and it started to rain again. Don't think tommorrow weather will be superb. Sigh...
27th Sept (Venice) - Woke up to a good morning today. All of us had a very good night sleep yesterday because the bedroom is ideal. After having a good breakfast (we had italian coffee. Italian coffee is quite similar to Greek coffee but not as bitter and powdery as Greek coffee. Our host said that Italians usually had italian coffee in the morning because it is strong and it help to keep them awake the whole morning. Seems like the espresso that Americans drank.), we went to town to board the water bus to San Marco Square. This place is a MUST SEE place. It is unique in architecture and it provide a lot of lovely view. I thought that October is not the peak season but I was wrong! There are tourists everywhere and we had to queue for some time to get into the Basilica Church. Going in is free. I would suggest renting the audio guide on the 2nd floor which cover the church as well as the museums in the church. The price should worth the money. The museum entrance cost 3 Euro. Alternatively I think it might be good to engage in a tour guide. The church actually have free tour but will need to book in advance. This church is different from what I have seen so far. It has the "wow" factor. Majority of the ceiling is made of mosaic and each mosaic tells a story from bible. This place is really worth the time and money.
We had wanted to go to the Doge's palace after the museum but due to time constraint (we only had one hour before it close) so we decided to go back again tomorrow. Its a pity that I didn't manage to get the secret itinery tour. I believe I will be back for that tour. We walked along the street and saw a lot of souvenir shops selling mostly venice masks and murano glass. After a stroll, we decided to take the gondola (after being approached by a few 'rower') at a price of 16 Euro per person for 40 minutes ride. Since it is the peak season, they normally start off with high price. Our first price is 120 Euro for 5 person. Than we turned him down and after a while a few others came to us offering a cheaper price. My advice is not to accept the ride too fast or without a good bargain because if they know that you are interested, they will try to bargain and you might get lucky. But of course, if you think that they are worth the money, by all means, go ahead without a bargain. After all, they only earned substantial amount during the peak season to cover the offpeak season. The one that we had does not seem too happy with the price but I must say that he is still professional enough to introduce us to the scenery. The short Gondola trip included San Marco, Bridge of Sigh etc. I find the ride good but I don't find it romantic at all. A lot of buildings in the alley which can reached by gondola or speed boat only are old and abandoned.
It started to rain again in the evening. Since we have our own kitchen in the BB, we decided to buy raw materials from a supermarket. We had bread and ham for lunch tomorrow and some pasta and soup. The food are tasty!! I intend to buy a few more packets back to Birmingham. There are a few brand and "know" is one of it. Its instant pasta. Try to find it the next time you go.
Alright, time to sleep now. Hopefully the weather will be lovely tomorrow.
28th Sept (Venice) - This morning we went to Doge's Palace. With the rolling Venice card, we only pay 7.50 Euro instead of the usual 13 Euro. Two regrets that I have for this Venice trip is that we did not prebook a guided tour for this Doge's Palace and I didn't manage to get the secret itinery tour (http://www.tickitaly.com/). This palace is amazing. One advice, I strongly recommend renting audio guide if you do not have a guide tour. At least the audio guide is very structured and detailed. It cost 5 Euro for one person and 8 Euro for double. The architecture and paintings in the palace are very nice. I realised that Venice is strongly affected or influenced by ancient greek god and goddess (Neptune, Venice, Hercules etc). Along the way, we walked into the bridge of sigh which connect the Doge's prisons, or Prigioni, with the inquisitor's rooms in the main palace. The bridge's name was inspired by the sighs of condemned prisoners as they were led through it to the executioner. Heard that Casanova escaped from that prison before. Not sure if it is true though. Anyway, be prepared to spend at least 3 hours in there because the palace is so rich in its history, paintings and architecture. We spent so much time there that we had to rush back to our BB to get our stuffs in order to catch our train to Milan. Venice is really pretty if the weather is good.
Italy has strict transportation rules and it is a MUST to validate your ticket before you board any public transport. There are a lot of validating machines in the stations so there is no need to worry too much about that. Just for information, Venice train station has a luggage deposit station but that is normally a long queue (unless you visit italy during the offpeak season). Alternatively, it is possible to use the lockers located outside of the station. Most likely the price of a locker is around 4 Euro for 4-5 hours. We took a slow train to Milano at almost half price of the normal price. We were lucky that the train stopped a while at a station called Leumbrat because it is where we need to go to our hotel (saved us the metro trip).
We stayed in Hotel Vienna. Just outside of the train station, there is a burger mobile stall which sell very tasty burger at a reasonable price of around 2.80 Euro. A short walk away is a chinese restaurant which sell very nice chinese food and the price is not too expensive. I think there are only one chinese restaurant nearby so you should have no trouble going into the wrong one. At first for this trip, I intend to stay another night in Venice while my friends travelled to Milan. But due to the bad weather in Venice, I decided to follow my friends to Milan as well. Luckily for me, the owner of hotel Vienna is kind enough to let us have a double room for 3 people. We are heading to Florence tomorrow. Hopefully the weather will turn for the better now.
29th Sept (Milan) - This morning we went for our breakfast in the hotel and due to the fact that we don't quite understand their italian breakfast include what, we took the extra breakfast menu and had to pay 4 Euro per person. But lucky the lady was kind enough to only charge us 2 Euro. I think she must have seen our surprised faces when we knew that we had to pay for what we had. Italian breakfast is so different from the normal English breakfast. They only had crossoints and coffee.
After breakfast, we went to Duomo Cathedral. This cathedral is nice and rich in its architecture. It is almost similar to Cologne Cathedral in Germany. The similar gothic building. However, if you were to ask me, I would prefer Cologne Cathedral. It is more majestic and grand from the outside.
Pardon my short detail this day. I guess I am too tired to take note of the days event. Hopefully tomorrow will be better.
30th Sept (Florence) - We went to the Uffizi Gallery in the morning. Luckily we have booked the ticket beforehand because there is a super long queue at around 9am. You can imagine how early the first batch of people started their queue!! Here, I would strongly suggest engaging a tour guide or get an audio guide because the paintings and sculptures are too many. For us, with an audio guide, we took around 6 hours for everything! We had seen so many paintings that we told ourselves that we are not going for another museums today eventhough today is the EU day where all people (inclusing international) are allowed to go into public museums for free (Mark this date).
Afternoon for us is quite relax. We walked around the piazza, took photos, walked to the gold smith bridge where there are a lot of jewellery shop before going for dinner. Dinner is sumptious today. We had pasta, salads in a restaurant by the piazza. Although its a little pricy to us but sometime people need to pamper ownself right? Afterall, we are on holiday!!
After dinner, we walked along the street. There are a lot of sellers selling fake branded goods on the street and there are a few street performerswho are really artistic. There is a particular one who uses spray to make pictures on the spot. While we were looking at some souvenirs, we suddenly heard shoutings and scoldings and I noticed the spray painter was not at his place. Many people crowded at an area and ambulance with the police arrived. I being the noisy one, went to take a look at what had happened. I saw the painter on the floor with a broken nose I think because it was bleeding and he was holding on to it. I think someone tried to steal his painting and he gave chase. In the end, that thief broke his nose. Poor thing. Its hard being a street artist and now still have to pay for the hospital fee.
That's just some story we met in Florence. Back to the destination, Florence is an ice cream and pizza paradise. The gelato is so delicious! Also, take note that if you want to go to supermart, be prepared not to find one. I think the locals go to market instead. Tomorrow we will make our way to their market. I am down with flu so got to sleep early. Good night!! AHHHhh... CHOOOoooo... oppss.. sorry.. :)
1st Oct (Florence) - Early morning we went to the market and bought some fruits. I feel that their market and "Pasa-Malam" are very clean and neat. Well, as a girl and travelling with a group of girls, the moment we start our shopping spree, we could not stop. It took hard work to make everyone focus on attractions again.
Afternoon, we went to Santa Maria Cathedral. Interior is nothing special but it is worth to climb the 463 steps to the top of the dome at a price of 6 Euro. The view is fantastic. Up there, you can notice how big is Florence. Its really nice.
We had wanted to go to Boboli Garden but it is closed on monday together with the museum. In the end, we went straight for our dinner which is wood oven pizza in a lovely and unique restaurant. People really have late dinner here. We are the first customer to go into the restaurant at around 7pm. Tomorrow will be the journey to Boboli Garden and Pisa!
2nd Oct (Florence/Pisa) - This morning we went to Boboli Garden (Admission fee is 9 Euro). This garden has a good view of part of the city and I think you can even see a bit of Tuscany style of landscape with one house surrounded by flowers from here. There are a few museums in here in which the ticket has included. As time is precious to us, we only went to the costumes museum. I feel that this museum could have done more. They only showcase a few costumes of each period. However, my friend do find it interesting so I guess depend on what do you like.
After this, we have to take the train to Pisa which cost us 5.40 Euro one way. I don't know if we are considered lucky or not because we had strong and very hot sun when we are in Pisa. The local slow train is so hot! There are windows which open at alternate seats of 4 and because of the direction of the wind and the moving train, 4 of us could not get any wind at all! Furthurmore, the whole train is packed. I guess thats how it goes for cheaper train. Luckily we reached Pisa within 2.5 hours. We would have been roasted inside the train.
The stayed in a caravan type of accomodation in Pisa. Its very cosy though small. It has a private bathroom, 2 bedrooms, kitchen and living room combined. I would recommend this accomodation because its only 15mins walk to the famous leaning tower, Pisa (http://www.campingtorrependente.it/eng/default.htm). They even have the swimming pool. One thing to take note for anyone going in summer is to bring along insect repellent. There are mosquitoes here. The weather here made me thought of Singapore. Although its hot, but I do miss the hotness. Oh, another thing to take note is that the internet is expensive here at a rate of 3 Euro for half an hour and 5 Euro for 1 hour. Those who going to stay in this accomodation have to take note that if you intend to cook in the house, be prepared to bring your own matches and detergent (we had to borrow from neighbours).
After settling down, we proceed to the leaning tower. Boy, there are so many tourists! The view is fantastic! It is different seeing it on picture and seeing it with own eyes. Cannot really believe that I am looking at the tower! Its fantastic! However, I must say that Pisa is not really worth staying for too long. I think 1 day is quite enough because there is nothing much else there except for this leaning pisa and the surrounding architectures. I believe that Rome will be much nicer and worth staying for longer than 3 days.
3rd Oct (Pisa/Rome) - 3 of us woke up before the sun rises to catch Pisa again. The view is fantastic when you see the sun shone on the leaning tower. Furthurmore, there are no TOURISTS except us heee.. I am so glad that we woke up early to see pisa in the morning. The lack of sleep is all worth it.
We took the fast train (Eurostar) from Pisa to Rome and along the way we passed by the sea, italians residential buildings etc. Combining the sea and the sun, the view is scenic. The sea gave me a dreamy feeling (maybe its due to my lack of sleep also heee). The sea looks calm but it is sea not lake. I believe if there are fog in the early morning over the sea, it should be more dreamy and beautiful. Ever since the trip to Poros island in Greece in March, this is the 2nd time that I have seen such beautiful sea. I guess the harvest must be just over because there are a few bare land and one glance over the land with a few trees, I feel as if I am in Africa. The buildings are very mediterrean like with strong colours. I heard from somewhere long time ago saying that bright colours can reflect sunlight so the house will be cooler during summer. Is it true??
Finally reached our destination, ROME. The first thing we do was to purchase the Roman Pass. The tourist information staffs are very unfriendly. They are not very helpful afterall and yet they are in the service line! They just sit there and give that kind of cannot be bothered look. I can still remember their faces!! Bad service really leave deep impression!!
Our hostel is called RetRome B&B (http://www.retrome.net/RetRome.html). This place is really retro feel. The owner is a young chap who is only 2 years younger than me! Already a boss in Rome! I think that is his side job though because he rushed down from another place which I assumed his workplace to help us open the door. Oh yes, things to take note, this hostel do not have any reception so better call him to let him know what time you will be arriving. From internet, you can easily notice that most hostel in Rome has their own creative themes which make it so interesting. The one that I intended to stay in have a old car theme (http://www.legendshostel.com/index.html). Very unique.
After settling down in the hostel, we went straight to those places that are recommended like Trevi Fountain, Rebublica, Colosseum, Roman Forum, Palatine. I guess the story of all these places I do not have to go into details because internet have tons of information about them. The thing that I want to brought out from this trip is that in the Colosseum, I strongly suggest getting a tour guide. Even with audio, I find it hard to follow it as the place itself are mostly ruins now and it really need lots of imagination to picture how it is like in the past. With a tour guide its much easier to form the pictures in your head. It is a pity actually because we went during the high season time hence everywhere there are tourists. Taking photos and memory seemed harder and more inconvenient. However, I am still glad that I skipped my first week of school to come to see this manificent and wonderful Rome. Well, that's all for today. Have a good night sleep!!
4th Oct (Rome) - Early in the morning we made our way to the St Peter Cathedral. When we are there at around 9am, there is already a loooong queue!! Even the Rome pass is not able to let us "cut" queue so in the end we have to join in the queue. Luckily the queue goes very fast. In around an hour or so we are inside the cathedral. Oh yes, before I continue, it is worth noticing something. Outside at the piazza, if you stand right in front of the monument during noon time, you will be able to get a glimpse of the two rows of pillars on each side coming together as one. The pillars are one in and one out kind. Its a pity that we did not see it because we are still admiring the sculpture inside the cathedral during noon time.
This is the place which house one of Michealangelo famous sculpture "Pieta". It is the sculpture of Mary holding on to Jesus body. You can see the sadness on her face and I believe that anyone regardless of religion must agree that this sculpture is a masterpiece. It just move your heart as you look at it. Michealangelo was such a talented person. Not only he was a superb painter, he also made a few outstanding sculptures. Apart from that, he was also an architecture. We will be seeing one of his amazing work in the sistine chapel tomorrow. Everything in the cathedral is amazing especially all the sculptures. I am captured by how beautiful all the sculptures were. No wonder it is one of the MUST visit place in Rome. We are lucky to met the day where the cathedral is "welcoming" new priests so got a glimpse of some of the new priests. There is a sculpture which has a skeleton holding on to the time, a priest/pope, a lady with a child, according to my friend, the catholic believed in end of the world to free their souls. The skeleton with the time means end of the world and the lady with the child symbolise new life. I hope I did not interpret the sculpture wrongly but that is what I have gathered.
There is this door before going into the cathedral which is called the "Holy" door which only open once in every 25 year. The last time it was open was in 2005 I think. All believers will walked through the holy door to reach their god. There is another door called "Death" Door, the sculpture on the door tells story of death or funerals. It is opened when there is a funeral and the coffin would only pass through this particular door. I am quite amazed by how the past people worked on the sculptures and painting.
On this day, we met a few royalties (we supposed they are because the area was blocked for them). All of them were dressed in black and there are two young pretty kids. They were giggling when people are trying to take photos of them. I was thinking they must be feeling funny that people aka tourists are taking photos of them. Maybe they are invited to attend the new priests celebration or something like that.
Anyway, after walking around the cathedral, we bought ticket to go up to the top of the dome. There are two ways of getting up. One is take the lift than climb another 200+ steps. Another is climb 400+ steps I think. We of course opted for the lift. Haha.. The view up at the dome is again amazing. We had a glimpse of the surrounding area. I would recommend this climb. It is lovely. However, do go during off-season with lesser tourists and the weather not that hot.
After the St Peter Cathedral, we went to the spanish steps. Oh man, it was full of tourists! We can't even have a decent photo with the fountain with no tourists in it. Tomorrow will be the gem of the trip. To the Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel. I hope the chapel do not fail me. :)
5th Oct (Rome) - We made our journey late this morning because we were so tired and took a bit time off to check the internet. In the end, we reached Vatican Museum at around 10am. Guess what?? The forums are true, the queue was so long, it takes two corner turns to reach the ticket office! Nonetheless, it only took us 1.5 hours or slightly less for the wait and not the usual 3 hours. I think if you are prepared to wait, don't be swayed by those people who tried to psycho you not to wait in the queue for 3 hours, instead, take up their tour which allow you to go in in less than half an hour. The usual rate is 29 Euro for guide and 13 Euro for the entrance fee. I am not saying that you should not engage in a tour guide, instead, I think that anyone should engage in a tour guide as long as you have the extra cash to spare. The whole area is huge! There are so many treasures (Scupltures and paintings) in the museum. I think 2-3 hours in there is definitely not enough. They only have one way for everyone so its quite nice actually. However, one bad thing is that you cannot really enjoy the painting that much because there are so many people or rather tourists around you. It does make me awkward to stay too long in front of a sculpture.
Sistine chapel is amazing!! Listen to the audio guide, I get to know how Michaelangelo finish this master piece and the story behind his painting. From god made man with the fingers almost touching to the story of hell and heaven. It is astounishing to know how a man can paint that. He painted this master piece with his head looking upward all the time! It must be so hard on him! Looking at photos and pictures can never never compare to looking at the real thing! Believe me, its worth the time and effort!
After that, we walk around the surrounding and found the S. Maria Del Popolo. This is a church. I would call it a "church of death". Why? because I noticed that in this particular church, there are a lot more skeletons (scultures or paintings) than any other church that I have visited before. On the floor, on the walls. I have yet to find out why is this church contained more skeletons symbols than anywhere else. If you know, you might want to tell me.:)
Tomorrow will be the time to say good bye to Italy. That is the end of my Italy journey. I feel that overall, I have enjoyed myself a lot and I believe I will be back for more because 3 days in Rome is really not enough! I have so many places ,like Pompeii, that I have yet to visit. ITALY, I WILL BE BACK!!:)
Hope you guys enjoy the italy trip as much as I do. Take care and till next time!! Time to earn for next trip.....;)
