This was my second time to Venice, but it has yet to lose its magical feeling. A fully pedestrian city, it is composed of hundreds of tiny islands connected by bridges. Venice has been sinking over the years, and it is evident as you look up and down the canals, and see the water level right at the doors leading into the houses. As you walk into some of the buildings, the first floors are abandoned, as high tides sometimes flood the streets and city. We stayed at a guesthouse situated just a couple minutes from Rialto Bridge, the main pedestrian bridge that crosses over the Grand Canal (there are only three of them). St. Mark’s Square is less than ten minutes away. We grabbed a quick lunch consisting of pizza and wandered between Rialto and St. Mark’s Square. The square is enormous, with a beautiful cathedral and tower. The square leads out to the ocean side of Venice, where you can see a few of the smaller islands outside of Venice. After a quick viewing of the cathedral, we headed to the northeast corner of Venice to catch a ferry to the island of Murano, known for its glass blowing factories. We walked around most of the island in a couple of hours, popping in and out of shops to look at glass items, much of it beautiful and handmade right on the island. The highlight of Murano was receiving a glass blowing demonstration from a local shop. Starting from what looks to be a hot molten ball, a man using a glass blowing technique and some pliers-like tool formed a small vase and also a figure of a horse. Afterwards, we took a ferry back to Venice and looked for a Venetian meal.
We had dinner at a place called Alla Botte. The menu is scribbled up on a chalkboard, but as with the rest of Italy, the waiter was more than helpful in explaining the menu options to us to the best of his ability. I ordered fresh pasta with shredded crab meat and Naber got a tuna steak accompanied by grilled vegetables, both which were excellent. For dessert, the best tiramisu I have had to date. And of course, a sufficient amount of wine which was hardly more expensive than bottled water.
We saw more of Venice itself our second day. After another quick lunch, we set off to explore more of the San Marco district of Venice, the southern section that contains St. Mark’s Square. We more or less hopped from one square to another to see all the churches and bridges of the district. The walkways are very narrow and eerily quiet, as there are actually a very low number of inhabitants of the islands part of Venice. A lot of the buildings are completely abandoned. Being off the more touristic paths makes you feel very isolated. We made our way back to St. Mark’s square to catch a vaparetto through the Grand Canal. Originally, we had wanted to take one of the many cool wooden taxi boats up and to down the canal, but the idea was quickly shot down by the 100 euro price tag associated with it. We settled for the waterbus at 6.50 euro. A bit more reasonable. Anyhow, the ride was pleasant, and we got to see all the old mansions and buildings alongside the canal. We rode the waterbus up to the train station, where we made our reservations to get to Munich. We walked along the northern section of Venice afterwards, stopping by the Ghetto Nuevo, the old Jewish ghetto, before crossing another bridge back over the Grand Canal to explore the San Polo district, or the middle area of Venice. After getting back to the Rialto Bridge, we got dinner on the go from a pizza place, which sold large slices of excellent pizza for cheap, topped off by some gelato.
I had wanted to go back to St. Mark’s to take some pictures at night, but needed to charge my camera up a bit. When I got to St. Mark’s, I noticed several large puddles of water in the square. Upon closer inspection, I saw that the water was coming up from holes in the ground. As the tide is highest at new and full moons, and there was close to a full moon out, the rising tide was higher than the lower points of St. Mark’s square, so effectively the square was being flooded. There were elevated planks and walkways lining in front of the basilica leading up to the edge of the island for people to walk. Walking up to the water, I noticed that the wakes from passing boats and waterbuses were splashing up onto the walkways, and the steps that would normally lead from a docked gondola were already covered with water. In the next two hours, almost all of the square became flooded, and the water level of the sea covered up a few feet of the walkway. It was a very cool experience to see the tide so high, and the square full of water.
Venice is a unique city to see, even though there aren’t a whole lot of exciting things to do. The city shuts down very early, so nightlife isn’t as popular here. It’s also expensive, and there is plenty of shopping on the islands. The experience of all the canals and bridges and walkways make it a worthwhile trip.
Friday, March 27, 2009
Italian Mini Road Trip
Our original plan for the trip was to take a train from Florence to Venice, stopping in Modena, where the Galleria Ferrari is. Unfortunately, we found that the museum is actually located in a smaller town called Maranello which is south of Modena, and there were no forms of public transportation to get us from Modena to Maranello. Not be daunted by this obstacle, we found another solution to get us to Maranello: rent a car. Why not, right? So we went and found an area in Florence with a handful of car rental companies and began the inquiries as to how to procure a car to get to Venice. We found out that technically, to legally drive, you need to have an international driver’s license in addition to your regular US State issued license. However, for a car company to loan you a vehicle, you only have to provide a passport and a US State issued driver’s license. Just don’t get pulled over. And even if you do, a lot of the time, it’s just an additional fine on top of whatever traffic violation you may have committed.
So the next morning, we picked up a gray Fiat Punto, a small five speed manual Italian four-door hatchback. We loaded our bags into the car, and with our Googlemaps directions that didn’t properly print out, we hit the road, hoping not to get overly lost somewhere in northern Italy. I drove the first leg of the trip to Maranello. About Italian drivers, they drive fast and aggressively. However, they’re rather polite. No one passes on the right, and they flash their lights at you if they think you’re too slow rather than tailgate or honk the horn. The Italian countryside is beautiful, with smaller towns on hillsides. So beautiful in fact, that Naber felt the need to lean out the passenger side window to try to get an unobstructed picture. Smartly, he forgot that he had his sweet Prada sunglasses on top of his head. So here I am driving, and I hear, “Oh, my god,” loudly as part of Naber’s body is out the window. He brings himself into the car. “Oh. My. God.” Touching the top of his head, he informs me his sunglasses fell off and instructs me to pull over. We’re now in a narrow shoulder with a guardrail with a creek on the other side on a two lane road with cars whizzing by and honking. Naber opens the door and begins sprinting down the shoulder in his Cole Haan loafers, against traffic. The Fiat is so small that every passing car creates a wind that buffets the car. We hoped the police would not drive by to the crazy American running down the highway. Shortly enough, Naber hops back in the car, sunglasses in hand and intact, minus a few scratches, and we’re on our way again.
Getting to Maranello, we found the Ferrari museum, and also several Ferraris driving around on the roads. Naber was on cloud nine for the afternoon, as we toured the museum. Unfortunately, we could not tour the actual Ferrari factory, as you have to personally own a Ferrari to receive that tour. I think we’re just a tad shy of reaching pay grades to afford one.
Naber drove from Maranello to Venice, a two and a half hour drive. The drive was a bit flatter than the first half, except that as we got further north, the view of the Alps started becoming more and more clear. Up until this point, the google directions had been pretty accurate, but we reached a point where the exit didn’t seem to existe. Looking on google maps on my phone, it seems that we were north of Venice and driving too far east. Luckily, we got off at the next possible exits to find there were other signs leading to Venice using smaller roads. The next issue was to fill the car up with gas before returning it to the car rental service. No one works at gas stations on Sundays, and because of that, you can’t use credit cards to pay for gas, even though they have the automated machines similar to the States. It was quite the annoyance as gas is expensive in Europe, about 1 euro per liter, a rough approximation of 5 dollars a gallon. Another little hiccup was that while in Florence, we were told we could drop the car off at the rental place in Venice and put the keys in a dropbox, the store was closed and we have to drive back onto the mainland and to the airport to return the car. We hopped on the bus to get us back to the islands, and then the vaparettos, or waterbuses, to take us down the canal to our hostel.
So the next morning, we picked up a gray Fiat Punto, a small five speed manual Italian four-door hatchback. We loaded our bags into the car, and with our Googlemaps directions that didn’t properly print out, we hit the road, hoping not to get overly lost somewhere in northern Italy. I drove the first leg of the trip to Maranello. About Italian drivers, they drive fast and aggressively. However, they’re rather polite. No one passes on the right, and they flash their lights at you if they think you’re too slow rather than tailgate or honk the horn. The Italian countryside is beautiful, with smaller towns on hillsides. So beautiful in fact, that Naber felt the need to lean out the passenger side window to try to get an unobstructed picture. Smartly, he forgot that he had his sweet Prada sunglasses on top of his head. So here I am driving, and I hear, “Oh, my god,” loudly as part of Naber’s body is out the window. He brings himself into the car. “Oh. My. God.” Touching the top of his head, he informs me his sunglasses fell off and instructs me to pull over. We’re now in a narrow shoulder with a guardrail with a creek on the other side on a two lane road with cars whizzing by and honking. Naber opens the door and begins sprinting down the shoulder in his Cole Haan loafers, against traffic. The Fiat is so small that every passing car creates a wind that buffets the car. We hoped the police would not drive by to the crazy American running down the highway. Shortly enough, Naber hops back in the car, sunglasses in hand and intact, minus a few scratches, and we’re on our way again.
Getting to Maranello, we found the Ferrari museum, and also several Ferraris driving around on the roads. Naber was on cloud nine for the afternoon, as we toured the museum. Unfortunately, we could not tour the actual Ferrari factory, as you have to personally own a Ferrari to receive that tour. I think we’re just a tad shy of reaching pay grades to afford one.
Naber drove from Maranello to Venice, a two and a half hour drive. The drive was a bit flatter than the first half, except that as we got further north, the view of the Alps started becoming more and more clear. Up until this point, the google directions had been pretty accurate, but we reached a point where the exit didn’t seem to existe. Looking on google maps on my phone, it seems that we were north of Venice and driving too far east. Luckily, we got off at the next possible exits to find there were other signs leading to Venice using smaller roads. The next issue was to fill the car up with gas before returning it to the car rental service. No one works at gas stations on Sundays, and because of that, you can’t use credit cards to pay for gas, even though they have the automated machines similar to the States. It was quite the annoyance as gas is expensive in Europe, about 1 euro per liter, a rough approximation of 5 dollars a gallon. Another little hiccup was that while in Florence, we were told we could drop the car off at the rental place in Venice and put the keys in a dropbox, the store was closed and we have to drive back onto the mainland and to the airport to return the car. We hopped on the bus to get us back to the islands, and then the vaparettos, or waterbuses, to take us down the canal to our hostel.
Florence
We arrived in Florence in the early afternoon and the weather was less than ideal. From the train station we had to walk a few blocks to our hostel. Trying to carry our backpacks and suitcases through the city after some solid rain proved to be a slightly taxing experience for me. Let’s just say I got a little wet from the waist down by the time we got to the hostel. Wang and I hadn’t eaten lunch yet so we asked for a quick rec from the front desk and went out. Ending up at a completely different place than was suggested we sat down at Cellini’s for some pizza. It was the best pizza I had had to date in Italy and the wait staff was hilariously Italian. After lunch which was very near or hostel we couldn’t help but browse the market that was around the corner. We spent about an hour perusing the leather goods and other items for sale. Wang having been to Florence before and myself who had heard about the great leather markets knew it was only a matter of time until we would find ourselves shopping in one. Some of the stuff was crap but other things were very beautiful. We walked through stopping at several stands checking out mostly leather goods but decided we should shop around before making any quick decisions. Once through the market we walked around the city getting a feel for the layout and helping us create a game plan for the next two days. The city was small and we actually covered a lot of ground that evening. We headed back towards the hostel and had dinner at a very nice, very Italian place called Trattoria Enzo Piero. I was very full from our late lunch still so I had a salad, bread and some wine. Florence is full of English speaking servers so getting what you want to eat is extremely easy. After dinner we went back and hung out at our hostel. The hostel was great with a very helpful staff and exceptional services for the price you pay including a free hot breakfast and pasta for dinner which we never utilized. Our room was a 6 man in which I swear they put all of the Asians and me. The entire three nights we were there the room was filled with Asians and myself with the exception of one Italian guy the first night. I thought it was very interesting as it was the only time this had happened the entire trip. Either way I tend to love Asian culture so it was cool with me.
The next day started with our complementary hot breakfast which was very good considering the price. After breakfast we waited in the lobby for our 10 am free walking tour. The hostel does two different free walking tours every other day. Today’s was the more ‘off the beaten path’ tour guided by a blonde Italian woman. Yes I said blonde. You could tell she had an attitude and it was a great source of entertainment throughout our two hour excursion. This was the first walking tour we had done while in Europe and it was very worth our time because the things the guides tell you are things the average person might miss when just walking around. We learned all about the Medici family, the richest family in Florence and got to tour one of their palaces. All and all a very enjoyable tour. After we walked to the Michael Angelo plaza which overlooked the city and on this particular sunny day provided some amazing photos and the warmth on your body was also a welcome experience.
We walked down from the Michael Angelo plaza which was situated in a beautiful park on the south east side of the city, to the downtown area to look for food. I was getting hungry so time was of the essence as I didn’t want to get too irritable. So we picked a place that was self service and I ordered a pizza and Wang a small sandwich. They messed up Wang’s order and only charged him slightly over two euro and mine which was awful about 6.50 euro. You can’t always pick a great place. After lunch we headed out to find the Galleria Accademia where the statue of David is on display. It was an unbelievably large, perfect statue created out of marble by Michael Angelo. It was a pleasantly small museum so we didn’t spend too much time there and headed to the Duomo, the third largest Cathedral in Europe (we had already seen number one and will see number two before returning to the states). Once we walked into the Duomo with free admission to the main church and we very impressed with is size and decoration. Wang wanted to climb to the top of the dome and after my little bout of claustrophobia at the Vatican I decided to wait at the bottom for him. He snapped some shots and climbed the stairs back down so we could go buy some things at the leather market.
When we got to the leather market I knew exactly what I was going to buy. The first day we wandered into this guys shop that was full of beautiful leather goods from purses, wallets, messenger bags, etc. I was in the market for a leather messenger bag I can take to work. He had the perfect one that I couldn’t leave Florence without. I we talked price and I got him to come down to something I felt was reasonable and a price that I also knew was about half what you would pay in the states for something of similar quality but definitely mass produced. I was thrilled to not only have purchased a bag I had been wanting for months, but that it was from Florence and I had met the man who had made it for me. Wang was in the market for a portfolio he could use at work but soon fell in love with a leather travel tie holder. Wang purchased the tie holder from the same guy and completely excited about our buys we went out to find Wang two Italian silk ties to fill his new leather travel pack. The ties were very inexpensive buy any American standards so Wang bought three and I bought one too. With a few new items we were all shopped out, dropped off our stuff in our room and tried to figure out where to eat for dinner. Wang wanted a traditional Florentine steak so with the help of wikitravel (an amazing free travel guide online) we found a great place with low prices Florentine steak. It was called Trattoria Le Mossacce. It was a tiny little hole in the wall place and we were seated at a four person table with two people already sitting there. They pack people in and there is no seat unused. It was very cosy and we were seated right next to the open kitchen and were able to watch the chefs cook the food. The meal was delicious and after a great day and a great meal we decided to grab a drink before heading back. We stopped at an Irish pub and had a beer. The crowd was sparce and the music was terrible so we went back and hit the sack.
Our last day started again with free breakfast and a free walking tour starting again at 10 am. This time our tour guide was a much more typical Italian woman. I just loved her. She laughed constantly, talked very quickly, was extremely nice but I couldn’t help but notice her terrible cough and yet she still sucked down a few smokes… a true European. All guides carry some type of item to help their group keep an eye on their guide and hers was a large stuffed flower. In retrospect her locating beacon embodied her personality quite well. She suggested looking at another local market for leather so Wang could maybe find that perfect portfolio he was holding out for. We quickly looked through the goods and didn’t find anything better than what we had already seen.
Our next city was to be Venice and I wanted to stop at the Ferrari museum between these two places in Italy. Well as it turns out, there is no train to Maranello, Italy to see the museum so we racked our brains for a way to get there. Well… why not rent a car!?!? So after the leather market we went to the area of town with multiple car rental places and found the cheapest place and booked a little Italian Fiat for the next morning to drive to Maranello and then leave in Venice.
We wanted a fast lunch because we still wanted to fit in Pisa for the afternoon. Lunch was at a kebab place and was delicious. We then walked to the very near train station to book a ticket to the one hour away location of Pisa to see the leaning tower. There isnt a whole hell of a lot in the little town of Pisa, Italy. Some shopping between the train station and the leaning tower and that’s about it. We spent about an hour in Pisa and headed back to Florence on the train.
Once back in Florence we were hungry and were craving Cellinis again so we went back to visit our girlfriend. Not to disappoint, the meal was outstanding and we went back to the hostel to get a good night sleep for our next day.
That next morning we headed out to an internet café to print off directions to the Ferrari Museum and onto Venice. After directions were printed Wang and I split up so he could find postcards and so I could pick up our little car. Wang’s task proved to be slightly less taxing. It took me only 7 minutes to walk to the car rental pick-up and over 25 to drive back. This was due to an excessive amount of one way roads, excessive construction with Italian signs directing traffic and probably also because I had never driven in Italy. I finally met Wang at the hostel, we loaded up the car and headed off onto the A-1.
The next day started with our complementary hot breakfast which was very good considering the price. After breakfast we waited in the lobby for our 10 am free walking tour. The hostel does two different free walking tours every other day. Today’s was the more ‘off the beaten path’ tour guided by a blonde Italian woman. Yes I said blonde. You could tell she had an attitude and it was a great source of entertainment throughout our two hour excursion. This was the first walking tour we had done while in Europe and it was very worth our time because the things the guides tell you are things the average person might miss when just walking around. We learned all about the Medici family, the richest family in Florence and got to tour one of their palaces. All and all a very enjoyable tour. After we walked to the Michael Angelo plaza which overlooked the city and on this particular sunny day provided some amazing photos and the warmth on your body was also a welcome experience.
We walked down from the Michael Angelo plaza which was situated in a beautiful park on the south east side of the city, to the downtown area to look for food. I was getting hungry so time was of the essence as I didn’t want to get too irritable. So we picked a place that was self service and I ordered a pizza and Wang a small sandwich. They messed up Wang’s order and only charged him slightly over two euro and mine which was awful about 6.50 euro. You can’t always pick a great place. After lunch we headed out to find the Galleria Accademia where the statue of David is on display. It was an unbelievably large, perfect statue created out of marble by Michael Angelo. It was a pleasantly small museum so we didn’t spend too much time there and headed to the Duomo, the third largest Cathedral in Europe (we had already seen number one and will see number two before returning to the states). Once we walked into the Duomo with free admission to the main church and we very impressed with is size and decoration. Wang wanted to climb to the top of the dome and after my little bout of claustrophobia at the Vatican I decided to wait at the bottom for him. He snapped some shots and climbed the stairs back down so we could go buy some things at the leather market.
When we got to the leather market I knew exactly what I was going to buy. The first day we wandered into this guys shop that was full of beautiful leather goods from purses, wallets, messenger bags, etc. I was in the market for a leather messenger bag I can take to work. He had the perfect one that I couldn’t leave Florence without. I we talked price and I got him to come down to something I felt was reasonable and a price that I also knew was about half what you would pay in the states for something of similar quality but definitely mass produced. I was thrilled to not only have purchased a bag I had been wanting for months, but that it was from Florence and I had met the man who had made it for me. Wang was in the market for a portfolio he could use at work but soon fell in love with a leather travel tie holder. Wang purchased the tie holder from the same guy and completely excited about our buys we went out to find Wang two Italian silk ties to fill his new leather travel pack. The ties were very inexpensive buy any American standards so Wang bought three and I bought one too. With a few new items we were all shopped out, dropped off our stuff in our room and tried to figure out where to eat for dinner. Wang wanted a traditional Florentine steak so with the help of wikitravel (an amazing free travel guide online) we found a great place with low prices Florentine steak. It was called Trattoria Le Mossacce. It was a tiny little hole in the wall place and we were seated at a four person table with two people already sitting there. They pack people in and there is no seat unused. It was very cosy and we were seated right next to the open kitchen and were able to watch the chefs cook the food. The meal was delicious and after a great day and a great meal we decided to grab a drink before heading back. We stopped at an Irish pub and had a beer. The crowd was sparce and the music was terrible so we went back and hit the sack.
Our last day started again with free breakfast and a free walking tour starting again at 10 am. This time our tour guide was a much more typical Italian woman. I just loved her. She laughed constantly, talked very quickly, was extremely nice but I couldn’t help but notice her terrible cough and yet she still sucked down a few smokes… a true European. All guides carry some type of item to help their group keep an eye on their guide and hers was a large stuffed flower. In retrospect her locating beacon embodied her personality quite well. She suggested looking at another local market for leather so Wang could maybe find that perfect portfolio he was holding out for. We quickly looked through the goods and didn’t find anything better than what we had already seen.
Our next city was to be Venice and I wanted to stop at the Ferrari museum between these two places in Italy. Well as it turns out, there is no train to Maranello, Italy to see the museum so we racked our brains for a way to get there. Well… why not rent a car!?!? So after the leather market we went to the area of town with multiple car rental places and found the cheapest place and booked a little Italian Fiat for the next morning to drive to Maranello and then leave in Venice.
We wanted a fast lunch because we still wanted to fit in Pisa for the afternoon. Lunch was at a kebab place and was delicious. We then walked to the very near train station to book a ticket to the one hour away location of Pisa to see the leaning tower. There isnt a whole hell of a lot in the little town of Pisa, Italy. Some shopping between the train station and the leaning tower and that’s about it. We spent about an hour in Pisa and headed back to Florence on the train.
Once back in Florence we were hungry and were craving Cellinis again so we went back to visit our girlfriend. Not to disappoint, the meal was outstanding and we went back to the hostel to get a good night sleep for our next day.
That next morning we headed out to an internet café to print off directions to the Ferrari Museum and onto Venice. After directions were printed Wang and I split up so he could find postcards and so I could pick up our little car. Wang’s task proved to be slightly less taxing. It took me only 7 minutes to walk to the car rental pick-up and over 25 to drive back. This was due to an excessive amount of one way roads, excessive construction with Italian signs directing traffic and probably also because I had never driven in Italy. I finally met Wang at the hostel, we loaded up the car and headed off onto the A-1.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Rome
We got to Rome by taking a train around Lake Geneva and then through the Swiss Alps. More or less, it’s a day in the train, witnessing nature’s best. The lake, as it had been in Geneva, was clear and calm, and the snow-capped Alps spectacular and majestic. The pictures I tried to capture from the train simply don’t do the water and mountains justice. Rome, like Paris, is a tourist hub. We arrived late in the evening and checked into the Yellow, our hostel. Due to their operational inefficiencies, Naber and I were stuck in separate four-person rooms, which was mildly annoying. We enjoyed a typical Italian pasta dinner across the street, a homely restaurant called Mamma Angelas. Since it was late and we were tired from a full day of travel, we sat ourselves at the bar of our hostel and enjoyed a few drinks, making small talk with two girls from Chicago (well, Naperville and Wheaton) who attended Iowa. They were catching a midnight train back to Torino, so that would be the last of them. I should mention that a full bottle of wine is 7 euros at the bar, compared to the seven dollars it would cost for a single glass in the States.
Following breakfast on our first full day, we set out to the famed Colosseum. Our lucky weather streak came to an end, as we had overcast skies and intermittent rain showers. Could have been much worse though, and the rain never lasted long. But about the Colosseum… it is an amazing structure. The amphitheater is enormous, and it was quite the experience walking through the upper levels, trying to imagine what it was like when it was full, and gladiators were duking it out in the middle. While much of the building has crumbled and been worn by age and weather, it made a lasting impression in my mind. Being in Italy, we quickly came to a consensus that pizza would be our food of choice for lunch. It doesn’t take very long to find a pizza joint in these parts. While Naber decided on a vegetarian pizza, I settled for prosciutto, better known to Americans as ham. The pizza was rather good, as expected, and we moved on to walk around Palatine and the Roman Forums. Both areas are remnants of Ancient Rome, where only parts of walls, columns and temples remain. It’s a beautiful sight. Unfortunately, I’m no history expert, so I can’t give you the intimate details of the ruins and their significance. However, the details are not needed to appreciate the beauty and atmosphere of the place.
After our stroll through the Forums, we walked past the Campidoglio, a large museum with a staircase leading up to it designed by Michelangelo. From there, we walked towards the Trastevere district, considered the “heart of Rome.” We first stopped by to see Saint Mary’s in the Cosmedin, which houses the Mouth of Truth. We stopped for some gelato while crossing the Tiber River. Gelato, or better known to most of you as ice cream, is nothing short of amazing in Italy. We walked the streets of Trastevere, stopping by Saint Mary’s of Trastevere, the oldest basilica in Rome. This district really lives up to its label, as the streets are filled with more locals rather than tourists, and there’s a distinct old city feel. We walked up part of Janiculum Hill, which has various monuments and fountains scattered throughout, as well as panoramic city views. However, the low clouds and rainy day didn’t make the views as notable as they should be.
Following the Trastevere district, we crossed back over the river and into the Aventine district. Saint Alessio Church is located on a hill in this district, but there was no obvious way up from the street we were on, so we just moved on. We walked down to the Pyramid, which holds the tomb of Caius Cestius (really don’t know who that is…) and also saw Porta San Paolo, one of the ancient gates into Rome. As some rain started coming down again, and we had wound up in the southernmost area of Rome, we caught a metro back up to the hostel for dinner at the restaurant next door. While Nick enjoyed the house special seafood pasta dish, I settled for a simple penne with a creamy pesto sauce, with the traditional Italian tiramisu as dessert.
On our second day in Rome, we headed for the Vatican. St. Peter’s Square is the largest square in Rome, and it’s also definitely more of a circle. Someone missed out on that memo, or maybe that’s me. Anyways, after standing in a line that almost went straight out the square, we made our way into the famed St. Peter’s basilica. It is massive on the inside, and impressive, I should add. Taking our obligatory pictures, we moved on to make the climb up the cupola (the dome). The climb involves 500+ stairs, the last half being very narrow and steep. While Nick opted out of the last half of the climb, I should mention it’s really not meant for the claustrophobic. As you reach the dome, the walls slant towards the middle and the passageway is about the width of your shoulders, you kind of have to lean towards the center yourself and shuffle your way up the dome. The last couple stories involve the smallest and very steep spiral stairs case. The middle of the stair case is literally a rope they drop from the top so you can hold up and try to semi-climb your way up to the top. The views are spectacular though, and you can really see that St. Peter’s Square is more of a circle.
After yet another pizza lunch, we walked along the Vatican Wall to go see the Sistine Chapel. What we didn’t know, is that you have to pay for all the Vatican Museums to see the Sistine Chapel, as it was designed in a manner that you had to walk through building after building to actually reach the chapel. It’s kind of like how 90% of the people who go to the Louvre pretty much just to go see the Mona Lisa. At least the Sistine Chapel is a whole room as opposed to a small square picture. Since there’s pretty much only one way to get to the Sistine Chapel, you do end up seeing quite a bit of the other museums, full of sculptures and paintings and beautiful artsy items.
We spent the rest of the afternoon making our way back across the city to our hostel, walking by St. Angelo’s Castle and the Navona Plazza. Unfortunately, the middle of it was under construction, ruining the effect of the huge plaza and its fountains. The middle fountain, Bernini’s masterpiece called the Fountain of Four Rivers is a beautiful work of art and was well worth the walk-through. After making it back to the hostel with sore feet and tired legs, we went to Mamma Angela’s again for dinner. On the subject of Italian food, the rest of the world could stand to take a leaf out of the Italians’ book in the restaurant service industry. Smiling, pleasant, helpful with the menus, not to mention their ability to open a bottle of wine in less than 5 seconds. It’s rather amazing, actually. And this is all before talking about the actual food. Words can’t really describe how much I love the food in Italy so far, and I don’t even eat Italian food all that often back at home (and we’ll just not count pizza at school). In our stay in Rome, never did we have a less than highly satisfactory meal, no matter how simple, cheap or quick it was. A few drinks back at the hostel bar and we called it a day.
The last day was taken at more of a leisurely pace. We set out on foot, per usual, first walking by the Quirinal Palace. The Alpha Romeo police car parked in the plaza was probably the most exciting thing here, granted we didn’t go in. Our next stop was the Trevi Fountain, the famous “Virgin Water” of Rome. It’s fabled that anyone who drinks from it or throws a coin in is destined to return to Rome. So it looks like I’ll be back sometime. We made our way over to the Pantheon, another very cool sight in Rome. Moving on, we walked through Chigi Plaza and the Marcus Aurelius monument, and turned up Via del Corso, more or less the shopping area of Rome. We walked up through Piazza del Popolo, yet another large square (and it really is close to a square this time), then up through a park. We cut through the park and ended up at the top of the Spanish Steps, or Piazza de Spagna. Taking our obligatory pictures at each location, we set out for place mentioned in the all-knowing Lonely Planet book for lunch. You should be able to guess what we had. Pizza, of course. Pizzeria Buffeto provided some of the best pizza I’ve had in a very long while. After the pizza, we crossed town and went down to the Lateran to see St. John’s basilica. Since this was pretty much the 30th church we saw in Rome, I don’t remember what made this one stand out other than it was big. However, the chapel across the plaza held the Scala Santa, the Holy Staircase. Jesus Christ Himself was rumored to have climbed these stairs, and visitors can only ascend these stairs on their knees now.
Rome is truly a great city to visit. It’s full of history, ruins, and architecture, not to forget religion. While it’s a tourist hotspot, parts of the city still retain an authentic feel. It’s a relatively small city with a lot to see. So far it’s been a great start to our stay in Italy. We head to Florence next, followed by Venice.
Following breakfast on our first full day, we set out to the famed Colosseum. Our lucky weather streak came to an end, as we had overcast skies and intermittent rain showers. Could have been much worse though, and the rain never lasted long. But about the Colosseum… it is an amazing structure. The amphitheater is enormous, and it was quite the experience walking through the upper levels, trying to imagine what it was like when it was full, and gladiators were duking it out in the middle. While much of the building has crumbled and been worn by age and weather, it made a lasting impression in my mind. Being in Italy, we quickly came to a consensus that pizza would be our food of choice for lunch. It doesn’t take very long to find a pizza joint in these parts. While Naber decided on a vegetarian pizza, I settled for prosciutto, better known to Americans as ham. The pizza was rather good, as expected, and we moved on to walk around Palatine and the Roman Forums. Both areas are remnants of Ancient Rome, where only parts of walls, columns and temples remain. It’s a beautiful sight. Unfortunately, I’m no history expert, so I can’t give you the intimate details of the ruins and their significance. However, the details are not needed to appreciate the beauty and atmosphere of the place.
After our stroll through the Forums, we walked past the Campidoglio, a large museum with a staircase leading up to it designed by Michelangelo. From there, we walked towards the Trastevere district, considered the “heart of Rome.” We first stopped by to see Saint Mary’s in the Cosmedin, which houses the Mouth of Truth. We stopped for some gelato while crossing the Tiber River. Gelato, or better known to most of you as ice cream, is nothing short of amazing in Italy. We walked the streets of Trastevere, stopping by Saint Mary’s of Trastevere, the oldest basilica in Rome. This district really lives up to its label, as the streets are filled with more locals rather than tourists, and there’s a distinct old city feel. We walked up part of Janiculum Hill, which has various monuments and fountains scattered throughout, as well as panoramic city views. However, the low clouds and rainy day didn’t make the views as notable as they should be.
Following the Trastevere district, we crossed back over the river and into the Aventine district. Saint Alessio Church is located on a hill in this district, but there was no obvious way up from the street we were on, so we just moved on. We walked down to the Pyramid, which holds the tomb of Caius Cestius (really don’t know who that is…) and also saw Porta San Paolo, one of the ancient gates into Rome. As some rain started coming down again, and we had wound up in the southernmost area of Rome, we caught a metro back up to the hostel for dinner at the restaurant next door. While Nick enjoyed the house special seafood pasta dish, I settled for a simple penne with a creamy pesto sauce, with the traditional Italian tiramisu as dessert.
On our second day in Rome, we headed for the Vatican. St. Peter’s Square is the largest square in Rome, and it’s also definitely more of a circle. Someone missed out on that memo, or maybe that’s me. Anyways, after standing in a line that almost went straight out the square, we made our way into the famed St. Peter’s basilica. It is massive on the inside, and impressive, I should add. Taking our obligatory pictures, we moved on to make the climb up the cupola (the dome). The climb involves 500+ stairs, the last half being very narrow and steep. While Nick opted out of the last half of the climb, I should mention it’s really not meant for the claustrophobic. As you reach the dome, the walls slant towards the middle and the passageway is about the width of your shoulders, you kind of have to lean towards the center yourself and shuffle your way up the dome. The last couple stories involve the smallest and very steep spiral stairs case. The middle of the stair case is literally a rope they drop from the top so you can hold up and try to semi-climb your way up to the top. The views are spectacular though, and you can really see that St. Peter’s Square is more of a circle.
After yet another pizza lunch, we walked along the Vatican Wall to go see the Sistine Chapel. What we didn’t know, is that you have to pay for all the Vatican Museums to see the Sistine Chapel, as it was designed in a manner that you had to walk through building after building to actually reach the chapel. It’s kind of like how 90% of the people who go to the Louvre pretty much just to go see the Mona Lisa. At least the Sistine Chapel is a whole room as opposed to a small square picture. Since there’s pretty much only one way to get to the Sistine Chapel, you do end up seeing quite a bit of the other museums, full of sculptures and paintings and beautiful artsy items.
We spent the rest of the afternoon making our way back across the city to our hostel, walking by St. Angelo’s Castle and the Navona Plazza. Unfortunately, the middle of it was under construction, ruining the effect of the huge plaza and its fountains. The middle fountain, Bernini’s masterpiece called the Fountain of Four Rivers is a beautiful work of art and was well worth the walk-through. After making it back to the hostel with sore feet and tired legs, we went to Mamma Angela’s again for dinner. On the subject of Italian food, the rest of the world could stand to take a leaf out of the Italians’ book in the restaurant service industry. Smiling, pleasant, helpful with the menus, not to mention their ability to open a bottle of wine in less than 5 seconds. It’s rather amazing, actually. And this is all before talking about the actual food. Words can’t really describe how much I love the food in Italy so far, and I don’t even eat Italian food all that often back at home (and we’ll just not count pizza at school). In our stay in Rome, never did we have a less than highly satisfactory meal, no matter how simple, cheap or quick it was. A few drinks back at the hostel bar and we called it a day.
The last day was taken at more of a leisurely pace. We set out on foot, per usual, first walking by the Quirinal Palace. The Alpha Romeo police car parked in the plaza was probably the most exciting thing here, granted we didn’t go in. Our next stop was the Trevi Fountain, the famous “Virgin Water” of Rome. It’s fabled that anyone who drinks from it or throws a coin in is destined to return to Rome. So it looks like I’ll be back sometime. We made our way over to the Pantheon, another very cool sight in Rome. Moving on, we walked through Chigi Plaza and the Marcus Aurelius monument, and turned up Via del Corso, more or less the shopping area of Rome. We walked up through Piazza del Popolo, yet another large square (and it really is close to a square this time), then up through a park. We cut through the park and ended up at the top of the Spanish Steps, or Piazza de Spagna. Taking our obligatory pictures at each location, we set out for place mentioned in the all-knowing Lonely Planet book for lunch. You should be able to guess what we had. Pizza, of course. Pizzeria Buffeto provided some of the best pizza I’ve had in a very long while. After the pizza, we crossed town and went down to the Lateran to see St. John’s basilica. Since this was pretty much the 30th church we saw in Rome, I don’t remember what made this one stand out other than it was big. However, the chapel across the plaza held the Scala Santa, the Holy Staircase. Jesus Christ Himself was rumored to have climbed these stairs, and visitors can only ascend these stairs on their knees now.
Rome is truly a great city to visit. It’s full of history, ruins, and architecture, not to forget religion. While it’s a tourist hotspot, parts of the city still retain an authentic feel. It’s a relatively small city with a lot to see. So far it’s been a great start to our stay in Italy. We head to Florence next, followed by Venice.
Monday, March 2, 2009
Geneva
Wang and I planned on traveling to Geneva, Switzerland for two nights only to find out that the only hostel in the city was booked on the 28th the first night of our two nights. We decide to get a hotel for one night as to not spend too much on housing. While a hotel was about twice the cost of a hostel, we figured that on the grand scale of the trip that one night in a hotel was a small price to pay for a stay in Switzerland. Once we had worked out that we were going to go, we planned to take a night train on the 27th arriving in Geneva at 5 am so we had the whole day of the 28th to see the city. When we went to book the ticket it turned out that the train we planned on taking that night was not scheduled to run that night. Yet another difficulty in our trip to Geneva. It almost seemed as if Geneva didn’t want us there. We then asked if there were ways to make connections to get there around the same time the morning of the 28th. We were given an itinerary of three different trains to take to get there. We took the itinerary back to think it over and went back to the train station the next afternoon to book the travel. A major downside of this new itinerary was that we would have to use 2 days of our 15 on our eurail pass and not just one. After all of these additional expenses we decided to go for it anyways. The ticketing agent in Barcelona told us they would be unable to book our last train from Toulouse to Geneva because they didn’t have the French computer system to do it (thinking to myself one more reason not to like France). We would be arriving in Toulouse around 11:40 at night and we were very nervous that the ticket office wouldn’t be open because we would have to purchase the tickets right before we got on the train to Geneva. We figured let’s just go for it and hope it all works out. After traveling the entire afternoon and evening we arrived in Toulouse and there was one ticketing agent available… Finally something had gone right! We took our overnight train to Geneva and arrived with no further issues at 8 am. And as if to offset the hassles of getting to Geneva, no conductor checked our ticket to Geneva, and we didn’t have to use a day on our rail pass. The hotel was cheap and right next to the train station. Even better was that at 8 am our room was available for occupancy so we could get a hot shower before our day in Geneva.
The weather was ideal, sunny and 50. It was just like one of the first warm days after a long winter in the early spring in the Midwest. We decided to walk around the old part of the city first. We walked by the Norte-Dame, around the bay of Geneva to see the Jet d’eau. It is the tallest water fountain in the world and is quite spectacular. We then headed through the streets of old town past Saturday morning markets and some fantastic shopping. It was a very high end city with beautiful cars, stores, and restaurants. It was similar to a European Hong Kong at a slower pace (surprise surprise). Through old town we watched some locals playing checkers and chess with life sized pieces in the park as we walked down the Promenade de Bastions and up to the Cathedrale St Pierre. The city is definitely not full of tourist attractions but the scenery is beautiful. You could admire Lake Geneva all day with its crystal clear water and its backdrop of the snow capped Swiss Alps and Mont Blanc, the tallest peak in Europe. It was a necessity that we get out on the water so we took a tour boat around the lake in the afternoon which took us past some unbelievably beautiful homes on the water. Since we couldn’t both enjoy the luxury of purchasing a Swiss watch we decided to settle for some Swiss chocolate which we enjoyed on the boat. After the boat ride we took PT, which is free to anyone staying in a hotel, to the Red Cross Museum and the former United Nations World Headquarters. Both places were closed for the weekend so we didn’t get to go in. We went back to the city center and decided to walk around a grab some dinner. Food in Geneva is damn expensive and sitting down to any real meal cost at least 25 dollars so we settled on one of the many kebab places which was provides cheap food relative to other local options. After dinner we grabbed a Swiss beer at Les Brasseurs which brewed four different types of beer. It had been a long 36 hours and we wanted to get some rest in the most comfortable bed we had been in since the states. In the morning we grabbed a quick breakfast of café, orange juice, and two croissants. A very fitting breakfast as the main language spoken in Geneva is French.
We couldn’t have enjoyed our stay anymore and were very glad we put up with all the hassels and decided to go. Our train to Rome left at 11 am with a connection in Milan so we were on our way!
The weather was ideal, sunny and 50. It was just like one of the first warm days after a long winter in the early spring in the Midwest. We decided to walk around the old part of the city first. We walked by the Norte-Dame, around the bay of Geneva to see the Jet d’eau. It is the tallest water fountain in the world and is quite spectacular. We then headed through the streets of old town past Saturday morning markets and some fantastic shopping. It was a very high end city with beautiful cars, stores, and restaurants. It was similar to a European Hong Kong at a slower pace (surprise surprise). Through old town we watched some locals playing checkers and chess with life sized pieces in the park as we walked down the Promenade de Bastions and up to the Cathedrale St Pierre. The city is definitely not full of tourist attractions but the scenery is beautiful. You could admire Lake Geneva all day with its crystal clear water and its backdrop of the snow capped Swiss Alps and Mont Blanc, the tallest peak in Europe. It was a necessity that we get out on the water so we took a tour boat around the lake in the afternoon which took us past some unbelievably beautiful homes on the water. Since we couldn’t both enjoy the luxury of purchasing a Swiss watch we decided to settle for some Swiss chocolate which we enjoyed on the boat. After the boat ride we took PT, which is free to anyone staying in a hotel, to the Red Cross Museum and the former United Nations World Headquarters. Both places were closed for the weekend so we didn’t get to go in. We went back to the city center and decided to walk around a grab some dinner. Food in Geneva is damn expensive and sitting down to any real meal cost at least 25 dollars so we settled on one of the many kebab places which was provides cheap food relative to other local options. After dinner we grabbed a Swiss beer at Les Brasseurs which brewed four different types of beer. It had been a long 36 hours and we wanted to get some rest in the most comfortable bed we had been in since the states. In the morning we grabbed a quick breakfast of café, orange juice, and two croissants. A very fitting breakfast as the main language spoken in Geneva is French.
We couldn’t have enjoyed our stay anymore and were very glad we put up with all the hassels and decided to go. Our train to Rome left at 11 am with a connection in Milan so we were on our way!
Barcelona
Barcelona. Very much anticipated by me and hyped up by everyone else who has been there before. We arrived by high speed train in the evening. We checked into our hostel, called Albareda, where we had a bunk in a six-person room. The hostel is tucked away in the southwest corner of Old City Barcelona, more or less the downtown area. The marina and water are only two blocks away, and the famed Montjuic Hill looms overhead. All the rooms and bathrooms are located on the second floor, and the reception area, common room, and kitchenette/dining room, all of which could resemble an IKEA showroom, are on the first floor. We met two of our roommates almost immediately, sisters from Chile. They looked to be about our age, maybe a year or two younger. I’d let you know what their names were, but they were long, Chilean, and somewhat complicated. But they spoke relatively good English, and we found out that one of them had actually gone to school at IU for a short while. Being hungry, we asked the girl working the reception desk where we could find an authentic, cheap, yet good dinner, and we were directed a few blocks away to a hole-in-the-wall bar, called La Barriga. You know when someone orders a lot of food, and someone else at the table jokes that “you just ordered the whole menu?” Well, we ordered every tapa on the menu for dinner this particular night, so literally, the whole tapas menu. We even ordered one dish twice. The best part; every tapa was less than 2 euro, with the exception of their signature dish which came out at a sky-high 2.50, so dinner turned out to be around 12 euro per person with a few beers included. As the FC Barcelona futbol team had a match that night, the bar eventually filled up with fans, and we watched the start of the game of Europe’s premier sport.
We met another one of our roommates the following morning over breakfast. Chris from Austin, Texas, is the most non-Texan-like Texan I have ever met. A mechanical engineer (I remember sort of being one for a bit), he decided that after two years working a job he didn’t enjoy, he would up and travel for a few months. He seemed like good company, so we would try to see if he wanted to grab drinks at some point during our stay in Barcelona.
The day kicked off with a stroll up La Rambla, a large pedestrian street through downtown. Think of a typical large street in a city, but the lanes of traffic are for people and the sidewalk is for cars, and you have La Rambla. Newsstands, vendors of paintings, trinkets, flowers, and all things touristy lined the street. Off La Rambla is the Boqueria Market, a lively market that sells fresh produce, fruit, fish and meat. It was almost like an Asian market, except it was clean, organized, the goods looked much more presentable, and it wasn’t overly crowded. So all in all, nothing like an Asian market. We each grabbed some freshly squeezed fruit juice, strawberry banana orange for me, and mango for Nick, and moved on. The next sighting was Placa Reial, the supposed lively and busy plaza. It’s supposed to be a happening nightlife area, but since it was the middle of the day, it was rather dead. We sort of wandered through the streets downtown, walking through parts of the Barri Gotic, then catching a glimpse of the water, strolling through Parc de la Cuitadella, and walking up to the Els Encants flea market. This was a true flea market. Piles of clothes were strewn over tables, or even the ground, with people rummaging through it. Other stalls sold old and used powertools and various electronics. Not spending much time in that market, we walked towards the Segrada Familia, the signature cathedral designed by Gaudi. The cathedral was quite a sight, the towers rising well over the rest of the city. The cathedral is under construction, and will be until 2020. Opting out of the expensive admission fee, we took our pictures and moved on.
We spent the next part of our day figuring out how to get to Geneva, as the supposed overnight train we were supposed to take wasn’t running the night we needed. At the train station’s information desk, a guy was able to give us an alternative route, consisting of 3 different trains, which seemed to be our only option (Barcelona to Narbonne, Narbonne to Toulouse, and Toulouse overnight to Geneva). As we booked our reservations, we found out they were not able to book our Toulouse to Geneva train, and we would just have to hope for the best when we got to Toulouse (which would be almost 11:30PM, when the ticketing office would be closed). Should be an adventure.
After figuring out of train situation, at least sort of, we headed back downtown for a more thorough exploration. The downtown atmosphere, to me, is what separates Barcelona from Madrid, aside from the obvious geographic difference of Barcelona being on the water. The streets of the downtown area are predominantly pedestrian; narrow with an old town feel. Small boutiques, cafes, restaurants and tapas bars line the neighborhood of alleyways, for lack of a better description. It’s almost maze-like, except it’s small enough that you would eventually walk into a major street, so you can’t get too lost. We started at the Santa Maria del Mar church in the Ribera section, and just meandered our way through the streets, doing some window shopping, eventually making it back to the Barri Gotic and seeing Catedral, a gothic cathedral also under construction, which denied us the beauty of the building.
Back at the hostel, Chris happened to be in the common room, and we invited him along for dinner. He had met this girl, Kelsie, during his travels in Grenada, and she was also in Barcelona at the same time, so she came along too. Kelsie is 18, from Alberta, Canada, and is traveling for 5 months around Europe on her own. I think many of you would agree that takes quite the sense of adventure and wanderlust. Per our hostel recommendation, we had dinner at a restaurant called El Boton Charro, where they had a menu del dia. I’m going to take a few sentences and describe menu del dia for those of you who don’t know what it is. Menu del dia, or menu of the day, is where you get a list of starters and main courses and you simply choose a dish from each list. It also includes bread, dessert, and a drink (which can be alcohol) for a set price. While we discovered menu del dia in Madrid, we fully exploited the joys of it in Barcelona, as it’s usually cheap, at least for the amount of food you get. In this particular instance, dinner was 9 euros per person, and that included a full bottle of wine for the table.
After dinner, we went to the Dow Jones Bar, which I have been waiting to do for years. The bar works almost like a stock market, with the list of drinks on computer monitors that line above the bar. When you order a drink, the price of it goes up, but the price of all the other drinks in that category go down. Every once in a while, there would be a “stock market crash,” and all the prices would drop down for a short period of time. If I start a bar, it will be modeled similarly, but it’ll be a bit more sophisticated and contemporary. I’ll send out the grand opening invites in a decade, give or take a few years, so stay tuned. After a few drinks, I made the wonderful discovery that irish car bombs were 4 euros (this was a set price, not affected by the rest of the ‘stock’), so you should know the rest of the story.
The second day began without the hangover that ensued in Lisbon, so half the day was thankfully not lost. We took the funicular (read: tram) part way up Montjuic Hill, and walked around the museums in the area. The biggest one, Palau Nacional, is a Catalonian museum that, to our dismay, was also under construction. It seems that every good looking piece of architecture in this city is under construction. So sorry if Barcelona doesn’t seem like a good looking place on facebook. Walking up the winding roads, we saw the Olympic stadiums where the ’92 summer Olympics were held. And perched atop the hill was Montjuic Castle, which provided stunning views of both the city and Mediterranean Sea (at least I think that’s the body of water). I should mention that our days in Spain were sun and 60s. Couldn’t have asked for much better. We had planned on taking a gondola from the hill that crossed over Port Vell and to the beach, but it wasn’t running this day due to high winds, a slight hiccup to a great day. Instead, we walked through the marina, where some incredible yachts could be sighted. The one that caught our immediate attention was slightly further away, but a yacht that is roughly 300 feet long is bound to draw attention in a marina, even from a distance. It was too far away to read the name unfortunately. However, another yacht, the Amadeus, at a measly 220 feet, was used by Bono to cruise the world, so that was cool to know. Following the marina, we walked alongside the beaches of Barcelona, enjoying some surf, sand and sun. For those suffering cold winters back in the States, boy… that sucks. Resisting temptation to pop my head into the waterfront casino of Barcelona, we headed back to the hostel to figure out dinner.
We had a nicer dinner off La Rambla at a place called La Fonda. While it was a bit touristy, we enjoyed paella, a popular dish in Spain that more or less contains rice mixed with seafood, a rather tasty dish. Dessert was Crème de Catalona, an amazing pudding. I figured that while we were in Spain, I would have to save some sangria. So we dropped by La Oveja Negra, a bar that served sangria on tap. You should know that the smallest serving is half a liter, so in wine equivalency, over half a bottle. The bar in general was clearly a party bar, and the floor reminded me, for the Purdue-goers or visitors, of Stacks. Except it didn’t have the immediate dirty feel or the smell. But who knows after midnight?
For the last day in Barcelona, we made a trip up to the north-most part of the city to visit Gaudi’s Park. Like the rest of his work, the buildings and structures in the park were very unique and different than traditional buildings you would expect to see in a park. While browsing trinkets that vendors were selling on basically pieces of cloth on the ground, there was a police sighting, and the vendors quickly folded up their sacks, took off running, and scattered. It was a funny sight, except for people who were in mid-transaction and were disappointed they didn’t acquire their wanted items. I figured that since soccer was so big in Spain (and all of Europe, I suppose), I should try to check out a stadium. Naber wasn’t nearly as keen on that, but kindly obliged to tag along. We headed for the FC Barcelona Stadium, big from the outside and seemed cool enough. Too bad admission into an empty stadium was 17 euros. Ridiculous, by my standards. I’m not paying that much to see a field of evenly cut grass. I was a bit bummed out, but don’t try too hard to feel bad for me. A casual sandwich lunch, and we were on the way to Geneva.
We met another one of our roommates the following morning over breakfast. Chris from Austin, Texas, is the most non-Texan-like Texan I have ever met. A mechanical engineer (I remember sort of being one for a bit), he decided that after two years working a job he didn’t enjoy, he would up and travel for a few months. He seemed like good company, so we would try to see if he wanted to grab drinks at some point during our stay in Barcelona.
The day kicked off with a stroll up La Rambla, a large pedestrian street through downtown. Think of a typical large street in a city, but the lanes of traffic are for people and the sidewalk is for cars, and you have La Rambla. Newsstands, vendors of paintings, trinkets, flowers, and all things touristy lined the street. Off La Rambla is the Boqueria Market, a lively market that sells fresh produce, fruit, fish and meat. It was almost like an Asian market, except it was clean, organized, the goods looked much more presentable, and it wasn’t overly crowded. So all in all, nothing like an Asian market. We each grabbed some freshly squeezed fruit juice, strawberry banana orange for me, and mango for Nick, and moved on. The next sighting was Placa Reial, the supposed lively and busy plaza. It’s supposed to be a happening nightlife area, but since it was the middle of the day, it was rather dead. We sort of wandered through the streets downtown, walking through parts of the Barri Gotic, then catching a glimpse of the water, strolling through Parc de la Cuitadella, and walking up to the Els Encants flea market. This was a true flea market. Piles of clothes were strewn over tables, or even the ground, with people rummaging through it. Other stalls sold old and used powertools and various electronics. Not spending much time in that market, we walked towards the Segrada Familia, the signature cathedral designed by Gaudi. The cathedral was quite a sight, the towers rising well over the rest of the city. The cathedral is under construction, and will be until 2020. Opting out of the expensive admission fee, we took our pictures and moved on.
We spent the next part of our day figuring out how to get to Geneva, as the supposed overnight train we were supposed to take wasn’t running the night we needed. At the train station’s information desk, a guy was able to give us an alternative route, consisting of 3 different trains, which seemed to be our only option (Barcelona to Narbonne, Narbonne to Toulouse, and Toulouse overnight to Geneva). As we booked our reservations, we found out they were not able to book our Toulouse to Geneva train, and we would just have to hope for the best when we got to Toulouse (which would be almost 11:30PM, when the ticketing office would be closed). Should be an adventure.
After figuring out of train situation, at least sort of, we headed back downtown for a more thorough exploration. The downtown atmosphere, to me, is what separates Barcelona from Madrid, aside from the obvious geographic difference of Barcelona being on the water. The streets of the downtown area are predominantly pedestrian; narrow with an old town feel. Small boutiques, cafes, restaurants and tapas bars line the neighborhood of alleyways, for lack of a better description. It’s almost maze-like, except it’s small enough that you would eventually walk into a major street, so you can’t get too lost. We started at the Santa Maria del Mar church in the Ribera section, and just meandered our way through the streets, doing some window shopping, eventually making it back to the Barri Gotic and seeing Catedral, a gothic cathedral also under construction, which denied us the beauty of the building.
Back at the hostel, Chris happened to be in the common room, and we invited him along for dinner. He had met this girl, Kelsie, during his travels in Grenada, and she was also in Barcelona at the same time, so she came along too. Kelsie is 18, from Alberta, Canada, and is traveling for 5 months around Europe on her own. I think many of you would agree that takes quite the sense of adventure and wanderlust. Per our hostel recommendation, we had dinner at a restaurant called El Boton Charro, where they had a menu del dia. I’m going to take a few sentences and describe menu del dia for those of you who don’t know what it is. Menu del dia, or menu of the day, is where you get a list of starters and main courses and you simply choose a dish from each list. It also includes bread, dessert, and a drink (which can be alcohol) for a set price. While we discovered menu del dia in Madrid, we fully exploited the joys of it in Barcelona, as it’s usually cheap, at least for the amount of food you get. In this particular instance, dinner was 9 euros per person, and that included a full bottle of wine for the table.
After dinner, we went to the Dow Jones Bar, which I have been waiting to do for years. The bar works almost like a stock market, with the list of drinks on computer monitors that line above the bar. When you order a drink, the price of it goes up, but the price of all the other drinks in that category go down. Every once in a while, there would be a “stock market crash,” and all the prices would drop down for a short period of time. If I start a bar, it will be modeled similarly, but it’ll be a bit more sophisticated and contemporary. I’ll send out the grand opening invites in a decade, give or take a few years, so stay tuned. After a few drinks, I made the wonderful discovery that irish car bombs were 4 euros (this was a set price, not affected by the rest of the ‘stock’), so you should know the rest of the story.
The second day began without the hangover that ensued in Lisbon, so half the day was thankfully not lost. We took the funicular (read: tram) part way up Montjuic Hill, and walked around the museums in the area. The biggest one, Palau Nacional, is a Catalonian museum that, to our dismay, was also under construction. It seems that every good looking piece of architecture in this city is under construction. So sorry if Barcelona doesn’t seem like a good looking place on facebook. Walking up the winding roads, we saw the Olympic stadiums where the ’92 summer Olympics were held. And perched atop the hill was Montjuic Castle, which provided stunning views of both the city and Mediterranean Sea (at least I think that’s the body of water). I should mention that our days in Spain were sun and 60s. Couldn’t have asked for much better. We had planned on taking a gondola from the hill that crossed over Port Vell and to the beach, but it wasn’t running this day due to high winds, a slight hiccup to a great day. Instead, we walked through the marina, where some incredible yachts could be sighted. The one that caught our immediate attention was slightly further away, but a yacht that is roughly 300 feet long is bound to draw attention in a marina, even from a distance. It was too far away to read the name unfortunately. However, another yacht, the Amadeus, at a measly 220 feet, was used by Bono to cruise the world, so that was cool to know. Following the marina, we walked alongside the beaches of Barcelona, enjoying some surf, sand and sun. For those suffering cold winters back in the States, boy… that sucks. Resisting temptation to pop my head into the waterfront casino of Barcelona, we headed back to the hostel to figure out dinner.
We had a nicer dinner off La Rambla at a place called La Fonda. While it was a bit touristy, we enjoyed paella, a popular dish in Spain that more or less contains rice mixed with seafood, a rather tasty dish. Dessert was Crème de Catalona, an amazing pudding. I figured that while we were in Spain, I would have to save some sangria. So we dropped by La Oveja Negra, a bar that served sangria on tap. You should know that the smallest serving is half a liter, so in wine equivalency, over half a bottle. The bar in general was clearly a party bar, and the floor reminded me, for the Purdue-goers or visitors, of Stacks. Except it didn’t have the immediate dirty feel or the smell. But who knows after midnight?
For the last day in Barcelona, we made a trip up to the north-most part of the city to visit Gaudi’s Park. Like the rest of his work, the buildings and structures in the park were very unique and different than traditional buildings you would expect to see in a park. While browsing trinkets that vendors were selling on basically pieces of cloth on the ground, there was a police sighting, and the vendors quickly folded up their sacks, took off running, and scattered. It was a funny sight, except for people who were in mid-transaction and were disappointed they didn’t acquire their wanted items. I figured that since soccer was so big in Spain (and all of Europe, I suppose), I should try to check out a stadium. Naber wasn’t nearly as keen on that, but kindly obliged to tag along. We headed for the FC Barcelona Stadium, big from the outside and seemed cool enough. Too bad admission into an empty stadium was 17 euros. Ridiculous, by my standards. I’m not paying that much to see a field of evenly cut grass. I was a bit bummed out, but don’t try too hard to feel bad for me. A casual sandwich lunch, and we were on the way to Geneva.
Madrid
Our train to Mardrid was a night train which departed at 10:30 pm and arrived the next morning in Madrid around 9 am. Our night train had four bed rooms and we were paired up with two guys from Singapore. Like us, they had just graduated from school (they went to college in Australia) and were traveling all over. For those of you who don’t know, I didn’t, the primary language in Singapore is English so communication was easy. We exchanged our travel stories and we hit the sack as to be rested for our first full day in Madrid.
Once in Madrid the weather was just as wonderful as it had been in Lisbon, sunny and 60’s. We took the metro to our exit for the Hostel and checked in. Our room wasn’t ready so we left our bags and headed out to see the city. We were hungry and tired and Starbucks sounded absolutely delicious so we stopped next door, grabbed a drink, and sat down to plan out our day.
Our first stop was Plaza Mayor which was an 18th century square that was filled with coin and stamp collectors on that particular day. The plaza was filled with tourists but we didn’t stay long as we had set our sights on the Rastro Sunday flea market which sells everything from caged birds, to books, leather goods, and clothes. This was the first market since Asia that we had been cramped and pushed around. It was a slight flashback but we enjoyed the hustle and bustle and all of the colorful vendors.
After the market we were getting hungry quickly so we found the closest restaurant that was of reasonable cost at the time. It was a diner and we sat down upstairs and were served by an older Spanish man who, to say the least, didn’t love his job. We ordered what seemed to be popular items on the menu, ate and quickly continued on with our day.
After lunch we headed down Ronda de Atocha towards the Centro Reina Sofia, the large temporary art museum in Madrid. It was Sunday which was free museum day so we were admitted for free and spent about an hour there. I actually enjoyed this museum more than the Pompidou in Paris so it was a nice contemporary art redemption. Given that it was Sunday we were shuffled out very early because the museum was closing and so we decided to head to the Prado Museum just down the road. When we arrived at the Prado it was around 4:30 and the free admittance didn’t take place until 5:30. Since we didn’t want to wait around we headed back to the hostel to take a shower and clean up. On the way back we strolled through the Puerto del Sol which is considered the heart of the city and which was conveniently close to our hostel.
A quick note on this hostel… We stayed in the RC Miguel Angel which was clean and well located and that’s about it for the positives. We were in a 6 person room and at any given hour one of our 4 other strange roommates would be sleeping. This would ordinarily not be a problem however this particular hostel didn’t have any common room for which to just sit and relax. Wang and I were also the youngest people in the hostel and not to be age discriminatory but if you are 26 or older, it’s time to splurge and put yourself up in hotel for people with fulltime jobs. We were slightly creeped out by all of this so after the second night we weren’t too sad to be leaving. We did have a somewhat normal roommate though. His name was Andy, and he was from Liverpool, taking some time off to come to Madrid for a football (read: soccer) match. It was fun talking to him because he said, “Brilliant!” pretty often, making us think of the old school Guiness commercials.
We took our shower and walked down Grand Via road with all of its shipping and bright lights and ended up at the Palacio de Comunicationes, an extremely beautiful building and a very photo friendly square. After the walked down Grand Via we headed back to Plaza Mayor and had dinner at an outdoor tapas restaurant right in the square. The food was delicious but we were tires so we decided to call it a night and head back to the hostel for some needed rest.
Day 2 began with lunch at Museo de Jamon which was another diner very near our hostel. In Spain they have many restaurants with both a standup bar and then a sit down section where you can eat a meal. It is slightly less expensive to stand and eat at the bar so given we had sat the day previous we decided to stand and eat. Our waiter was very short with us and expressed his disinterest in our inability to speak Spanish with his body language. Once we ordered or food was ordered up quickly and our meals didn’t last long as we were very hungry.
The first place on our day two agenda was the Palacio Real museum. It was the Royal Palace in Madrid and the museum allows for the pubic to walk through several of the buildings 2000+ rooms. We spent quite a lot of time here because the structure truly was breathtaking in both its size and beauty. After the museum we headed to Chueca a very ‘colorful’ part of town. There were extremely cool shops and restaurants lining the streets in this popular area among the youths in Madrid. After walking around Chueca and doing a little window shopping we headed down to the Parque del Retiro. It is Madrid’s equivalent to Central park and is quite beautiful. Wang and I sat down and enjoyed the hot sun and some coffee at an outdoor café on the pond. We spent several hours in this park until it was time to head back and get ready for dinner.
We contacted Patrick Dykes, a fraternity brother currently studying in Madrid, to see if he wanted to grab dinner and a drink. He met us up in Puerto del Sol and we headed back to Chueca for a drink before dinner. Dinner doesn’t really start until around 9 pm in Spain so we had a little time to kill before we grabbed some dinner. After a beer way walked around looking for a place to eat and we stumbled on a little restaurant called Vivares 37. They had a menu del dia that was only 9 euro. The menu del dia is a brilliant Spanish idea that includes choice of a starter from a list of about 5 items, choice of an entrée from a list of about 5 other items, and the inclusion of bread, a drink and dessert all for 9 euro. Our meal was great and extremely filling for 9 euro so we were very satisfied. After dinner we wanted to grab a few more drinks so we headed to the Dubliner to drink some Spanish beer. We threw a few back and we called it a night.
Day 3 started at Café y Te for breakfast and then booked a few hostels for our upcoming stays. Our train to Barcelona was early and we headed to the station.
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