And... my Venice update.
We had quite the interesting time finding our hostel. It was on the mainland (and pretty far in), so we had to take a bus, but the directions from the hostel were really bad, so we ended up at the Marco Polo airport. We found the street on the way back (after asking in two different pizza parlors), but then the street address didn't exist. We found a building that had the same name as our hostel, but when we buzzed, no one answered. So we were out there for about an hour before this Italian woman came in her car and let us in. And she only spoke Italian so we couldn't be like, "where the heck were you? We've been here for an exceptionally long time." But we got it all figured out (we just didn't end up going back into Venice because we were so tired of trying to figure out travel situations). The hostel was really pretty; it was more like a mini-apartment, which was great. We did wake up to a rooster crowing, though...
We also just walked around in Venice, since we only had one day to explore. We went to Saint Mark's Square (but I wasn't nearly as impressed as I thought I was going to be because it was just the cathedral and then a big open space with a bunch of shops all around it). We also took a boat to Murano and got to see a blown glass demonstration, and it was phenomenal. He made this little glass horse in like five minutes. The only thing is that when he finished, as people were leaving, he took it and just pitched it! It was crazy that he didn't just sell it to someone.
But Venice was really pretty. We did get lost like four or five times because a lot of the streets ended at a canal, or just ended for no apparent reason.
We were all pretty ready to head back to Granada, though. We did have one heck of a travel day. To save the unnecessary words, I'll just list our itinerary:
411 bus from hostel to island of Venice
Arrive 430ish
540 shuttle from Venice to Treviso Airport
Arrive 640ish
8am flight from Venice to Rome
Arrive 9am
115pm flight from Rome to Madrid
Arrive 330ish
530 bus from Madrid to Granada
Arrive 1030
Home.
It was SUCH a long day. We did keep ourselves occupied in the early morning hours (the first two buses) by discussing (in GREAT detail) what we would do if zombies attacked. No joke. The conversation lasted probably around two hours.
But I am glad to be home, and will be posting another update immediately following this one documenting my new situation!
Showing posts with label Italy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Italy. Show all posts
Monday, October 27, 2008
Florence!!
So... this is my Florence update. : )
Florence is such a beautiful city; I actually spent most of my time here just walking around and looking at the city, rather than doing anything in it (because everything costs a lot to get in). We didn't have very good weather on Tuesday or Thursday (the days I was actually in the city), but that's okay.
On Wednesday, we did this bike tour through the Tuscan countryside and it was a B-E-A-Utiful day (you should check out my pictures to see just how amazing it was)! It was quite interesting to re-learn to ride a bike (I'd only ridden once in the last eight years...), but I had a really good time. We got to see how they make and ferment and bottle the wine (and we got to taste it, of course) in this absolutely gorgeous castle. Our guide, Mary, was also pretty amazing; she had a great sense of humor and definitely knew what she was talking about. Basically, the countryside was beautiful, the wine was good, the weather was perfect, and the people were fun. It was just a great day all around.
Then I went and watched the sunset up at Piazzale Michelangelo, and it was wonderful (even more so because I found a sunset setting on my camera).
Thursday I hit up the Duomo, and I was pretty impressed. The inside of the church itself wasn't that cool, but the outside and the cupola and the dome were amazing. I walked all 467 steps to the top, and just relaxed up there for a little bit. It wasn't busy at all, so that was wonderful.
I also visited the Santa Croce basilica, which (unfortunately) was under some sort of construction, so there was lots of not pretty stuff covering all of the pretty stuff, but I still thought it was a wonderful building.
Yeah, even though I didn't see too much, I really enjoyed my time here (especially in the Tuscan countryside), and I am going to post my next update immediately following posting this one documenting my time in Venice.
Florence is such a beautiful city; I actually spent most of my time here just walking around and looking at the city, rather than doing anything in it (because everything costs a lot to get in). We didn't have very good weather on Tuesday or Thursday (the days I was actually in the city), but that's okay.
On Wednesday, we did this bike tour through the Tuscan countryside and it was a B-E-A-Utiful day (you should check out my pictures to see just how amazing it was)! It was quite interesting to re-learn to ride a bike (I'd only ridden once in the last eight years...), but I had a really good time. We got to see how they make and ferment and bottle the wine (and we got to taste it, of course) in this absolutely gorgeous castle. Our guide, Mary, was also pretty amazing; she had a great sense of humor and definitely knew what she was talking about. Basically, the countryside was beautiful, the wine was good, the weather was perfect, and the people were fun. It was just a great day all around.
Then I went and watched the sunset up at Piazzale Michelangelo, and it was wonderful (even more so because I found a sunset setting on my camera).
Thursday I hit up the Duomo, and I was pretty impressed. The inside of the church itself wasn't that cool, but the outside and the cupola and the dome were amazing. I walked all 467 steps to the top, and just relaxed up there for a little bit. It wasn't busy at all, so that was wonderful.
I also visited the Santa Croce basilica, which (unfortunately) was under some sort of construction, so there was lots of not pretty stuff covering all of the pretty stuff, but I still thought it was a wonderful building.
Yeah, even though I didn't see too much, I really enjoyed my time here (especially in the Tuscan countryside), and I am going to post my next update immediately following posting this one documenting my time in Venice.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
ROME!
Holy cow, I'm in Italy!!!
I'll try to be as concise as possible to save you all the boredom of my impossibly long stories.
So we got to Rome on Friday without a hitch (yay!), and didn't end up doing too much. We met some Australians who were staying in our hostel and recommended this pizza place that charged you by the weight (and it was fantastic, by the way). We also visited the Piazza della Repubblica, which was really pretty at night. Unfortunately, I couldn't get really good pictures of it because I couldn't get my hand to stay still.
Saturday we went with the Australians to see the Vatican city. We didn't get there until ten because one of them (Dan) thought there was this free tour at 1030 (but this wasn't true), so we ended up getting in this HUGE line to see St. Peter's Basilica. We had a bunch of tour guides come up to us and ask us if we wanted a guided tour, but they were all really expensive, so we kept saying no. But then we found out that the pope (for whatever reason) decided he wanted to close the Sistine Chapel at one and that we weren't going to get in to see it if we stayed in that line. We eventually haggled this one tour guide down to 20 euro (including admission fee when everyone else on the tour paid 25 euro and then the 14 euro admission fee; it was pretty sweet). I really liked our tour guide, and what's more, I LOVED the Vatican Museum and the Sistine Chapel (we got in JUST in time to see it), and St. Peter's Basilica. I felt like I was walking around with my mouth wide open the entire time.
Then on Friday night, we took ourselves on a walking tour through Rome. We saw the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, the Roman Forum, the Coliseum, the Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, adn the Spanish Steps. I got some pretty sweet night shots of them (which you should check out on my pictures page).
Saturday, four of us went to the Villa Borghese, specifically the Galleria Borghese. Oh. My. Goodness. It was absolutely amazing. The walls and ceilings and even the floors were just COVERED in all of this fabulous art. AND I got to see Bernini's David, Apollo and Daphne, adn Rape of Persephone. I was completely blown away. We also got to check out the Villa itself for a little while and it was just so pretty; it was like this giant part with all of these sculptures and fountains, and it was just wonderful.
We got to see the Coliseum and the Roman Forum on Saturday, and they were both SUPER cool. The Roman Forum was actually a lot cooler than I thought it was going to be (it helped that we had a really good tour guide). I was just really excited to have gotten to see both of those things at night and then again during the day. I felt like I learned a lot, too, so that was a bonus.
Sunday we took ourselves on a tour of Rome, and we actually walked across the entire main part of the city throughout the day. We visited Santa Maria degli Angeli (has the MOST beautiful stained glass I've ever seen), the Trevi fountain (which wasn't on because they were working on it), the Pantheon (amazing dome!!), St. Ignacio di Loyola (BEST CEILING EVER!!), Piazza Navona (sad that the fountain was under construction), Castel Sant' Angelo, and then just walked down the Tiber River. It was a fantastic day.
So... I think everyone should visit my Picasa page and look at all of the wonderful pictures that I took. And I will update again after Florence!!
I'll try to be as concise as possible to save you all the boredom of my impossibly long stories.
So we got to Rome on Friday without a hitch (yay!), and didn't end up doing too much. We met some Australians who were staying in our hostel and recommended this pizza place that charged you by the weight (and it was fantastic, by the way). We also visited the Piazza della Repubblica, which was really pretty at night. Unfortunately, I couldn't get really good pictures of it because I couldn't get my hand to stay still.
Saturday we went with the Australians to see the Vatican city. We didn't get there until ten because one of them (Dan) thought there was this free tour at 1030 (but this wasn't true), so we ended up getting in this HUGE line to see St. Peter's Basilica. We had a bunch of tour guides come up to us and ask us if we wanted a guided tour, but they were all really expensive, so we kept saying no. But then we found out that the pope (for whatever reason) decided he wanted to close the Sistine Chapel at one and that we weren't going to get in to see it if we stayed in that line. We eventually haggled this one tour guide down to 20 euro (including admission fee when everyone else on the tour paid 25 euro and then the 14 euro admission fee; it was pretty sweet). I really liked our tour guide, and what's more, I LOVED the Vatican Museum and the Sistine Chapel (we got in JUST in time to see it), and St. Peter's Basilica. I felt like I was walking around with my mouth wide open the entire time.
Then on Friday night, we took ourselves on a walking tour through Rome. We saw the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, the Roman Forum, the Coliseum, the Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, adn the Spanish Steps. I got some pretty sweet night shots of them (which you should check out on my pictures page).
Saturday, four of us went to the Villa Borghese, specifically the Galleria Borghese. Oh. My. Goodness. It was absolutely amazing. The walls and ceilings and even the floors were just COVERED in all of this fabulous art. AND I got to see Bernini's David, Apollo and Daphne, adn Rape of Persephone. I was completely blown away. We also got to check out the Villa itself for a little while and it was just so pretty; it was like this giant part with all of these sculptures and fountains, and it was just wonderful.
We got to see the Coliseum and the Roman Forum on Saturday, and they were both SUPER cool. The Roman Forum was actually a lot cooler than I thought it was going to be (it helped that we had a really good tour guide). I was just really excited to have gotten to see both of those things at night and then again during the day. I felt like I learned a lot, too, so that was a bonus.
Sunday we took ourselves on a tour of Rome, and we actually walked across the entire main part of the city throughout the day. We visited Santa Maria degli Angeli (has the MOST beautiful stained glass I've ever seen), the Trevi fountain (which wasn't on because they were working on it), the Pantheon (amazing dome!!), St. Ignacio di Loyola (BEST CEILING EVER!!), Piazza Navona (sad that the fountain was under construction), Castel Sant' Angelo, and then just walked down the Tiber River. It was a fantastic day.
So... I think everyone should visit my Picasa page and look at all of the wonderful pictures that I took. And I will update again after Florence!!
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Italy!!
Hi Everyone!
Starting tomorrow, I am going to be traveling through the fabulous country of Italy for the next ten days! I will try to update during the trip, but I'm not sure how often I'll be able to get online.
Right now, I need to go home and pack (and try to figure out how to fit ten days' worth of stuff plus a laptop into my backpack without it exceeding 10kg or the weird dimension requirements... yay?)
If nothing else, I will let you all know how it goes when I get back!
Italy, here I come!!!
Starting tomorrow, I am going to be traveling through the fabulous country of Italy for the next ten days! I will try to update during the trip, but I'm not sure how often I'll be able to get online.
Right now, I need to go home and pack (and try to figure out how to fit ten days' worth of stuff plus a laptop into my backpack without it exceeding 10kg or the weird dimension requirements... yay?)
If nothing else, I will let you all know how it goes when I get back!
Italy, here I come!!!
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