Italy: Pompeii

Tags

fog, Italy, Pompeii, ruins, Vesuvius

No one else I know who went to Italy visited Pompeii, but it was one place I definitely wanted to go. This is for several reasons. One, I wanted to see the ruins. Two, I love the Doctor Who episode where the Doctor and Donna go to Pompeii the day Vesuvius explodes (I know…).

So my friends agreed to make a detour south before going to Rome for Catholic Easter Fest. (Although they did enjoy Pompeii as well.)

So on Wednesday afternoon we arrived in Pompeii and realized that we had come in at a different train station than the hostel recommended, and so the directions we had were useless. Deciding to keep walking anyway, we asked directions from several people who vaguely pointed ‘that way’ and followed their advice. Well, bad idea. We ended up on the corner of a street by an on ramp with no where to really go from there.

At this point, we decided to call the hostel. My friend rang them up, and tried to describe where we were. Once the guy from the hostel understood where we were, he said “You are so far. I come pick you up.” This was possibly the funniest thing that any of us had ever heard. So we waited on the corner and he arrived a few minutes later. It turns out that we weren’t all that far away, but there was no way to walk from where we were.

We stayed at Easy Bed Hostel which is relatively small, but clean and comfortable, and the staff are very nice (especially picking us up when we were lost!). They also have a great dinner you can buy for about 10€ and a very nice included breakfast.

After dropping our things off, we went to catch the bus for a tour to the top of Vesuvius. After a very bumpy, and slightly nauseating ride to the top, we were there. Except for the 20 minute hike to the real top, the crater. All of this through a bunch of fog. Or it might have been a cloud, since we were so high up. Nonetheless, it was actually cool, although disconcerting to know that we were walking over a thousand meters in the air without being able to see how high up we were.

We weren’t able to see much of the crater because of the fog. Apparently it’s rather epic when you can see the entire thing, although I did manage to snap a few partial pictures when the fog shifted.

Despite the fog, it was kind of amazing realizing that I was on top of Mt. Vesuvius.

The next day we woke early and walked to the ruins of ancient Pompeii, which were very close to our hostel.

Based on a recommendation we rented the audio guide. This was a good move because there are literally no signs in the entire place. It is vastly more interesting to learn about the ruins as you walk through the city. The audio guide was fairly well done too, and even had some humor in it.

..and of course we went to the brothel.

Walking through the ruins of this city evokes mixed feelings. It was a beautiful day, and some of the architecture was amazing despite the deterioration. You could imagine people living there, especially with the guide in your ear explaining what daily life would have been like. On the other hand, you know how it all ended. That the entire population of this city was wiped out in one day.

Pompeii shouldn’t be missed, especially if you are interested in history or archeology. It is worth the detour if you’re ever in Italy, and the ruins can be seen (in a pinch) in one day, like we did.

Only one more stop in Italy!

Ciao till Roma!

Italy: Firenze (a.k.a. Florence)

Tags

Firenze, Florence, Italy, Uffizi, waiting in line

From Riomaggiore we took the train to Florence.

Only we almost didn’t, because when I was booking the train tickets, Florence did not appear as one of many possible destinations. I was convinced that Florence simply lacked a train station, which is absurd because it isn’t a small city.

A sudden epiphany led me to google “Florence in Italian”, and, voilà, Florence is called Firenze, which immediately popped up in the trenitalia search box.

I’m certainly happy that it did, because Florence was magnificent, despite the cold and rain, which persisted in following us southwards.

We arrived in the afternoon and made our way to Tasso Hostel. It was quite cool inside, having been repurposed from an old school building. My favorite was the common area, although I didn’t get to spend much time there.

We set out right away to make the most of our afternoon. Walking along the river, we crossed one of Florence’s many beautiful bridges.

With surprisingly few detours (getting better at map reading!) we made it to the cathedral, the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore. I have to say, it trumps Milan as the most beautiful cathedral façade I’ve ever seen.

After taking a turn through the piazza and the cathedral, we went to the associated museum, where many of the original fixtures of the cathedral are housed.

By far the most impressive was “La Porta del Paradiso del Ghiberti”, originally hung on the Baptistry across from the cathedral.

After finishing up at the museum and resisting the gift shop (yay will power!) we hastily made our way across town to the Piazzale Michelangelo, one of the best look out points in Florence. After climbing several nearly vertical streets, we arrived just in time to grab a good spot on the steps and a bottle of wine before the sun began to set. Florence is a beautiful city from street level, but it becomes something else entirely from this angle. I highly recommend a visit here if you’re ever in Florence.

The next morning, we got an early start and attempted to visit Uffizi Gallery. When I say attempted, I don’t mean that we didn’t get in, but rather that getting in was proceeded by three hours of waiting in line, hungry and in the cold. For the love of God, if you go to Uffizi, purchase tickets before hand! They only let a certain number of people in per time slot, and there are a lot of people who want to visit.

We were slightly pathetic in line, and had to resort to eating a loaf of bread (don’t ask) that I had in my shoulder bag.

Needles to say, the first thing we saw in Uffizi was a lovely cafeteria. Despite all this, I would recommend a visit (with pre-bought tickets), because it was a very good museum.

The weather continued to be rather horrible, and although we tried to do a little shopping, the leather market just wasn’t any fun in the rain. We decided that we should probably try to see David, so we walked over to the gallery where he’s housed, and encountered the same problem as at Uffizi. Because it was raining, and because we’d had our fill of lines, we left, slightly defeated, and started walking back towards the river. I don’t know if it was an accumulation of the entire day’s events or what, but then we did something I’m not at all proud of. We at at an Italian McDonald’s. Sitting there, we all looked at each other and started laughing, because this was obviously kind of sad.

On top of that, some teenaged girls next to us kept looking over at us, giggling and talking. I don’t think there’s anything ruder than talking about someone in front of them, because regardless of the language, you can tell. And I don’t know why we were so laughable either, because they were eating McDonald’s right next to us. Just because we don’t speak Italian doesn’t mean we’re stupid, or that we don’t speak another language. I think it’s the assumption that’s insulting, more than anything else.

Sorry for the ranting…tangent’s over.

So as you can see, Florence had some ups and downs. Despite this, I didn’t feel down about it, because that’s all part of traveling. Sometimes things don’t work out perfectly well, and sometimes people make fun of the ‘stupid’ Americans. You’ve got to take the bad things along with the good, because you won’t remember the bad ten years from now.

Or, you’ll get a good story out of it. Like, “We waited three hours to get into Uffizi, in the rain, and had to resort to white sandwich bread!” (I feel like that’s kind of a ‘walked up hill both ways in the snow’ story.)

That’s it for Florence, although I wish that we’d had more time there. I know that there’s a lot more to Florence then we were able to see in those two days. It’s one of those places I’d like to get back to someday. (Preferably in the summer!)

Ciao till Pompeii!

Italy: Riomaggiore

Tags

Cinque Terre, cooking, hiking, Italy, Riomaggiore

Prior to planning my semana santa Italy extravaganza, I had never heard of the five cities of Cinque Terra, or Riomaggiore. My roommate had heard good things about it from friends, however, and so we booked it into our trip, right after Milan. I’m certainly glad we did, because even in that awkward winter/spring period at the end of March, it was a beautiful and relaxing place to be.

Cinque Terre is famous because you can hike between the five towns along beautiful trails over-looking the Mediterranean and up in the mountains. (Here’s the Lonely Planet Guide for more information.) We did attempt to do a small hike on our first full day, although after hiking essentially upwards for 30 minutes, we decided to appreciate the view and make our way back down. I would say that this view was worth the struggle.

After making our way down, we decided to take the metro to another of the five towns, Monterroso, where we saw the ocean (up close), my friend salsa danced with a gelato vendor, and I ate the best pizza of my life.

I should apologize in advance, because around half of my pictures from Italy are of food. Try not to get drool on your keyboard.

Anyway. After returning from Monterroso, we thought that it would be fun (and cheap, we’re college students) to make ourselves dinner. Now, to take a slight tangent…

When we arrived in Riomaggiore and went to check in at our hostel, the woman at the desk offered the four of us an apartment instead, for the same price (25€ per person, per night). We, of course, said YES. I suppose we didn’t look like crazy partiers (we’re not) who would trash the place. What was even cooler, though, is that after we got back I found this on a Business Insider article titled, 100 Trips You Must Take in Your Lifetime, which featured Riomaggiore and this picture

Now, here’s a picture I took

The coolest part? The apartment we stayed in is IN this picture (the pink building next to the white building). I would highly recommend both a visit to Cinque Terre and the Caribana hostel/guesthouse.

Let’s go back to what’s important though, the food.

Cooking on vacation might not seem like the most fun thing to do, but it saves a lot of €/$. Also, it CAN get quite fun with good friends, a bottle of red wine and a bottle of Limoncello thrown in

And that was how we spent our last night in Riomaggiore. Like I said, Cinque Terre was amazing, even in the off season (apart from a bit of rain). I can only imagine how nice it is in summer!

That’s it for this leg of the trip! See you next in Florence!

Ciao, Amy

Italy: A Day in Milan

Tags

couchsurfing, hostel, Italy, Last Supper, metro strike, Milan, pizza, surfing, traveling

I can’t believe I haven’t posted since February! There are so many trips to document, but I think I’m going to skip ahead and talk about Italy, because that’s where I am now. Yes! I’m in Italy. It’s all very exciting. Even more so because as this train I’m on speeds southwards, the rain clouds that have been hanging over our heads since we arrived are finally disappearing.

I’m getting a head of myself, however. Let’s start last Friday.

We flew in to Milan on Friday (22), and after a long, hot bus ride to the city center, wee began to walk, lugging our bags around. As much as I love my leather duffle bag (purchased at the El Rastro market in Madrid), with every mile it became obvious that a backpacking backpack would have been better suited to all this budget travel I’m doing. Despite that, we got to explore a lot of the city walking, eat our first Italian pizza, and see Leonardo da Vinci’s “La ultimate cena” (The Last Supper).

I snuck a really bad picture of it (bad Amy!), but it’s half covered by my finger so I won’t subject you to it. Here’s my first Italian pizza though (and if this looks good wait, because they just keep getting better the further south you go!)

We also walked by the Duomo. Inside and out, it is a fabulous piece of architecture.

After exploring for a bit we decided to start making our way towards our lodging for the night. However, we soon realized that there was a problem. We had arranged to couchsurf for our only night in Milan a small way outside the city, easily accessible by a combination of metro and bus. Italy, though, decided to be having a country-wide metro worker strike the day we arrived. (Which only took us 45 minutes to figure out, since there were no signs whatsoever.) With no way to get to our hosts, we began to wander around Milan, toting our bags and semi-desperatly searching for wifi so we could find a hostel. Luckily, we managed to find a place with room for us (after a fair bit of walking to and fro). Crisis averted!

We felt really bad that couchsurfing didn’t work out, especially since our hosts had been nice enough to agree to have us. When we called to tell them the bad news, however, they suggested getting together for breakfast the next morning. They came and met us at our hostel and we sat and talked with them for a while over croissants.

They also had an adorable dog who came in the cafe with us. Off topic for a minute…that’s one thing I’ve noticed in Italy, that people bring their dogs into restaurants and shops, and its totally ok. That doesn’t happen in the US, but as long as the dogs are well behaved, I think it’s kind of nice that they’re not relegated to being tied up to street signs.

Anyway…Despite the hectic start to our tour of Italy, everything worked out in the end. Even our failed first couchsurfing experience ended well, and we had the chance to meet our would-be hosts for breakfast. (They were really nice, and, bonus, they bought the poor college students breakfast!)

I think that’s all for Milan.

Ciao till the next one! (Sooner than a month, I promise!)

Amy in Translation…Is that my coffee?

Tags

Madrid, Pronunciation, Spain, Spanish, Starbucks

When I told them my name at Starbucks yesterday, it didn’t quite go through. Somehow ‘Amy’ became ‘Iny’ with the English-Spanish vowel differences…ah well, at least I got my latte.

Salamanca, with a chance of showers…

Tags

Rain, Salamanca, Spain, Travel

Yesterday I went on a day trip through my school to Salamanca. I had been looking forward to it since before last weekend when I purchased the trip, but I unfortunately have been sick all weekend (ugh). Additionally, while Friday’s weather was beautiful (for January) yesterday’s forecast was a solid block of rain and wind. 

So that kind of sucked. But this is not meant to be a whiney post! Keep reading! (Please? ) Despite the weather and my poorly timed infirmity, Salamanca was a very cool place to visit. 

It was a dark and stormy morning when my roommate and I left the apartment to catch the metro. It wasn’t raining hard, only sprinkling a bit and so we were fine with umbrellas. When we got off the metro, however, it was an entirely different story. All of a sudden there were seemingly gale-force winds and buckets of cold rain. The umbrellas popped out. We made a run for it. By the time we made it to the bus, my hair was soaked through and my glasses were completely obscured by fog and water. Luckily, we had an over two hour ride in which to dry out. 

The first thing we saw upon reaching Salamanca was a bridge. A Roman bridge. As in, thousands of years old. Very cool.

One of the Spanish teachers was along as our guide, and after showing us the bridge (and relating a semi-relevant story about a boy who stole wine) he let us go get coffee. As a caffeine addict, I greatly appreciated this. We walked to a restaurant (Cuatro Gatos, cool name) and had café con leche. Then we spotted a bakery across the way. I had the best chocolate filled croissant of my life.

We met up again to go through the cathedral. 

The cathedral was giant inside and had amazing stonework. The façades on the outsides of the doors were very detailed. I can’t imagine how long they took to carve.

Interestingly, one part of the exterior was restored in the 1950s, and the restorers had a sense of humor and current events…spaceman anyone?

After the cathedral we visited el Convento de San. Esteban (Dominicos). Up in the choir loft there were several old song books. These were very cool to see, especially the old music notation!

It was cold and raining but worth it. There was an incredible sense of history just walking through the streets.

 

It really was amazing, and I’d like to go back someday when the sun is shining so I can explore a bit more.

All in all, I don’t mind the rain, although it is annoying when it disrupts your travel plans. We still managed to make a great day out of it though!

Fui a compras…

Tags

Madrid, Plaza Mayor, Puerta del Sol, rebajas, shopping

Went shopping today in Sol. It was fun, especially with the rebajas (sales) right now. I bought a few really cute things at Zara and Topshop on sale, and ate some yummy helado! We also walked through Plaza Mayor on the way home, although I need to go back when I’m not freezing so I can enjoy it more. (I decided not to wear a coat this morning because it was nice, but it got cold quite quickly this afternoon!)

 

El Museo del Prado y un paseo por Madrid

Tags

El Museo del Prado, El Palacio Real, Madrid, puerto del sol, shopping, walking, winter sales

Today my roommate and I met up with another friend at El Museo del Prado. We were running a bit late off the metro, but when we arrived our friend was sitting on a bench outside the museum being sketched for 5€. It was a fairly accurate representation…better than I could draw anyway! (The limit of my drawing talents is a stick figure.)

While waiting for us, our friend had met a Russian girl who goes to college in the US and is also studying abroad here in Madrid. We were all hungry, so we decided to go together for some lunch, after which we spent several hours in the museum.

Unfortunately, pictures aren’t allowed in the museum, but it is very extensive and was fun to walk through. I know I didn’t see everything, so I’m definitely planning on going back again. (Which is feasible because the museum is free for students!)

After exploring the museum, we decided to walk to Palacio Real. It took less than a half an hour, and we were able to walk through El Puerto del Sol and see a bunch of shops and restaurants. I even located a Topshop, which I am completely obsessed with after visiting the one in Soho this past summer.

El Palacio Real

We made plans to go shopping tomorrow, so I’m going to be sure to get back there! It is also a good time to shop here in Madrid because almost every store has huge winter sales (rebajas) going on.

Perhaps I should have packed less so I could buy more?? Ah well. Probably best to save my money up for trips anyway!

And this is a random blue building I thought was cool…

Hasta luego!

Primer día…una orientación

Tags

coffee, jet lag, Madrid, metro system, orientation, Palacio Real, Spain, Starbucks

Hola!

So today is my first full day in España. We began the morning with a very light breakfast before braving the metro system to get to campus for our orientation. I have to say, the metro was not hard to navigate, and it is much cleaner than the subway I used in New York this summer. We live five metro stops away from school, not far at all.

The campus is actually made up of only a few buildings, although they are cool because they are older architecture mixed with some modern updates. (I totally failed on the picture taking front here)

We sat through a long, slightly boring orientation from 10 to about 12:45, had lunch and then walked around the streets near campus for about half an hour.

My friend and I then decided to take the metro back to where we’re staying and walk around here. It’s always good to know the area you’re living in. I had also remembered seeing a Starbucks from the taxi on the way from the airport yesterday, and I definitely wanted to find that.

We walked around for a while and I found my Starbucks. This might seem silly, but I was thinking for several weeks before departure about how to order coffee in Spanish. It was apparently a valid concern. I asked for a tall café, but I suppose that wasn’t specific enough, because the girl at Starbucks asked what type of café. I must have looked confused because then she asked ‘with milk?’ in English…needless to say, the first thing I did when we got back an hour or so ago was to google ‘how to order coffee in Spanish’. The menu list on the Spanish Starbucks website was helpful to that end.

I’m realizing that we don’t learn a lot of practical expressions in Spanish classes. I can discuss the rhyme structure of a poem en español, but I can’t order coffee…

I did get a tall black coffee in the end, and we decided to head back to the apartment.

There was a slight problem with that as well. We got back and our señora was out. That was ok because we have keys. Or so we thought. It turns out that door locks are different in Spain than the ones we’re used to. We tried for several minutes to open the door before giving up and going back outside.

Luckily, Palacio Real and the surrounding park are right across the street, and so we decided to walk through the gardens for a while.

Here’s me in front of Palacio Real

And the path

We wandered in the park for a bit, then decided to try the apartment again. We encountered the same problem with the key, sat in the stairwell for several minutes, then decided to try the lock for a third time. Mary successfully opened the door. There was much rejoicing. Turns out that you need to turn the key three times because the bolt only retracts a third of the way for every full turn of the key. I would never think to try that, but now we can open the door!

The first day has gone well, although I’m still tired. I think it will take a few more days to be completely over the jet lag.

Hasta luego,

Amy

¡Estoy en Madrid!

Tags

international flights, Madrid, madrid barajas airport, packing, transportation

I am finally in Madrid! After a rather smooth (but sleepless) flight mi amiga y yo made it to our host’s house and are almost done settling in.

The flight went off with few hitches, and the landing was one of the coolest I’ve ever experienced. The pilot announced that there was a bit of fog on the ground, and so I was expecting to fly through some of it. We were flying through what I thought was a cloud when suddenly the ground appeared and we touched down. It was certainly a surprise landing!

I said the flight was sleepless, which is a result of the fact that I can never seem to sleep on any forms of transportation. Not planes, trains, or automobiles (or buses…you get the idea). I think that’s something that I’m going to have to work on if I don’t want to be sleep deprived when taking all the weekend trips I’m planning on.

At any rate, we arrived, got our bags (the Madrid-Barajas Airport is beautifully designed), and found a taxi to our home stay. The woman we’re staying with, Mercedes, has a beautiful apartment right across the street from Palacio Real near the city center. My friend Mary and I share our own room with a big closet (yay!). 

As soon a we arrived, we were bombarded with Spanish. (Yes, that was the point of choosing a host that doesn’t speak English, though it was a bit overwhelming on zero sleep). She sat us down and made café, then we talked for about three hours. Well, she talked rapid fire Spanish and we listened, nodded, said ‘vale’ y ‘sí’, and contributed bits and pieces. I’m happy to report that I did catch most of what she was saying and was able to follow the conversation. Perhaps in a few days, once I’ve had some sleep and acclimated a bit, I’ll do a bit more responding.

We then went back to the room to sleep, although Mary started to unpack, which made me want to unpack as well. 

I am a notorious over-packer. I took two suitcases, 49 lbs each, the contents of which were subject to critical debate with my mother until 3am the night before we left. Nonetheless, the unpacking was fairly quick.

That was the point when I collapsed. I slept for 3-4 hours while Mary wandered around the house, read, etc. She was able to sleep on the plane, so she wasn’t quite as exhausted as me (although I know she didn’t get the best sleep on the plane either). 

She was able to drag me out of bed for dinner, which involved more talking (listing) and café. 

Tomorrow we have orientation at school, which will hopefully be fun, and maybe a chance to explore the area around our place a bit.

Any suggestions for exploring a new city (without a data plan…the horror!)?

I’m going to say buenas noches y adios hasta mañana!