Italy

So, we continue our tour in Europe. Italy is a very charming country, with so many iconic landmarks to its name. Dearie and I enjoyed our time in Italy very much despite the summer heat and the ever bothersome mosquitoes. As usual, we were wary of pickpockets throughout the trip and indeed we had a close encounter. We were really thankful that everything went smoothly as planned. We travelled from city to city, from the north down south, via train. Indeed, the Italians are the best at spaghetti.

8 July 2018, Chamonix > Milan, Sunny

We entered Italy via the Alps, a rather perfect place to start our travels in Italy. After crossing through the Mont Blanc tunnel, we arrived at Courmayeur. Our Flixbus from Courmayeur to Milan was delayed by more than an hour, so that got us really worried. We were quite hungry, but there was no shops where we could buy takeaway food, so we just survived on fruit bars. We arrived at Lampugnano bus station and took the train to Milan Centrale. We had a scary incident when someone tried to steal from dearie's bag. Thankfully, she reacted fast enough. This incident made us even more wary of our surroundings in Milan. We checked into our hotel and travelled to the oldest shopping mall in Italy, Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II. There, we experienced eating a late lunch in the oldest shopping mall. We then explored the area. The only interesting thing is probably the shopping mall and the majestic Milan Cathedral.

This huge beauty is the only reason why I have decided to make a stop in Milan. The carvings on this cathedral is really intricate. Each of those small spikes are intricately carved out of stone. We also had ice cream here, and it was tasty. I learnt that the flavour straciatella is actually just chocolate chip. We arranged to have dinner together with my friend Cathy. This was prearranged, but was still very coincidental since both of us are travelling, and we both happened to be in the same city on the same day. We have a lighthearted meal, the four of us. I am glad that dearie can get along very well with Cathy. Soon, we said goodbye and we returned to the hotel to rest.

9 July 2018, Milan > Venice, Sunny

We started our day happy with a rather nice breakfast in the hotel. We then made our way to Milano Centrale train station. Here, I bought a pair of Havaianas slippers under the repeated advise from dearie. It was a good decision and I did not regret buying it. Soon, we were on the train towards Venice. I started to annoy dearie by imitating the voice announcements on board the train. Venezia Santa Lucia was quite a mouthful to say indeed. Our first impressions on Venice... We are captivated by the small rivulets. Indeed, there were no tarmac roads, but only rivers running everywhere. There were no cars and buses, but only boats, gondolas and vaporettos (water bus). We checked into the BnB first. The house was really nicely decorated. We then had our late lunch at a random restaurant. The squid ink pasta and the freshly grilled fish tasted nice. After a satisfying lunch, it is time to explore Venice, on foot.

This is the famous Rialto bridge of Venice. We had an enjoyable time walking around Venice, crossing bridges and enjoying some very tasty gelato. We finally made our way to St. Mark's Square, where all the prominent buildings are located. St. Mark's Basilica is majestic, and proved to be very difficult to capture because of the three poles in front of it. Piazza San Marco and Doge's Palace is pretty. The Bridge of Sighs have a very interesting feel to it. We spent some time here enjoying the sea view and snapping many pictures. We had dinner at a local Italian restaurant. Dearie couldn't finish her squid ink risotto, so I had to help her finish it, leaving my pizza for tomorrow's breakfast. We went back to have an early night.

10 July 2018, Venice > Florence, Sunny

We woke up early so that we can visit Burano island. We made it to the Vaporetto station and took an early boat to Burano. Burano is famous for its hand made cloth lace. Its neighbouring island Murano, is famous for its stained glass. In Burano, we were able to find products from both islands, since it is so touristy. Burano is also famous for its colourful houses lining alongside the river channels.

Our hearts were captured by this multi-coloured sight. Since we were early, many shops were not opened yet. We walked one round around the island, stopping by certain souvenir shops. We had lunch on the island itself. The seafood here is indeed more fresh, but the prices are not a lot cheaper. After lunch, we made our way back to Venice, collected our luggage and took the train to Florence. We arrived in Florence in late afternoon, and managed to check into our guesthouse before the staff leave. Florence is a very beautiful city, but we only have limited time to explore it on this evening. We simply went to have dinner after we have unpacked. The seafood spaghetti here turned out to be the tastiest dish that we had in Italy. We went back early to rest. Somehow, dearie enjoyed showering in this guesthouse a lot. I do not comprehend why, however.

11 July 2018, Florence > Pisa > Florence, Sunny

We had the packed bread provided by the guesthouse and left the house in late morning. We took the train to Pisa, and walked to the leaning tower, having our lunch and some gelato along the way there, also crossing a very nice river along the way. Soon, we reached the tower and we allowed ourselves to 'sink' into the leaning tower atmosphere. Just a small nugget of information: the reason why the tower is leaning is because the land below the tower sank while construction of the tower was going on.

We expected to see a crowd, since this was a very popular tourist destination. We expected to see many people posing as if they were supporting something, and we got what we expected. The tower was not as tall as I thought, though it would make sense that it is not too tall, if not a slanting structure like that would topple. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to go into the grass, and we did not expect that. I took a picture of a row of tourists posing as if they were supporting thin air, just for laughs. We also walked around the area to look at Piazza del Duomo de Pisa and Battistero di San Giovanni. When we're finally happy with our pictures, we took the train back to Florence. Since there was some time left to explore, we went to check out Santa Maria del Fiore. We could already see this cathedral from our guesthouse, but going nearer, we were able to see the bell tower beside it properly, and that the paintings on the cathedral were actually very detailed. We had dinner at a fancy restaurant. Dearie had seafood spaghetti again, but it was less nice compared to the one yesterday. I had a calzone, which was basically just a pizza, but folded over on one side. We then went back to rest.

12 July 2018, Florence > Rome, Partly Cloudy
Once again, we ate the packed bread for breakfast. We were deciding whether we wanted to go and find the Soka assiciation in Florence, but since the transport there was tricky, we gave up after some trying. We ate a second better breakfast at McDonalds'. The Italian McDonalds' is very tasty. Our first stop for the day is Piazza della Signoria, where we can find the duplicate of the very famous statue of David by Michelangelo. There were also many marble statues there, and some of them seems to be quite LGBT. We continued our tour by walking towards Santa Croce. Santa Croce looks very similar to Santa Maria del Fiore in design, both having a similar painting style. Next, we went to check out Ponte Vecchio. Just like what we have read, this bridge is not just any bridge. This bridge has houses on top of it, most of which are jewellery shops. From the side view, the bridge sure has its own distinctive style.

We then went back to collect our luggage and took the train to Rome. We arrived in Rome in the afternoon. The room in Rome was booked by dearie, and it was an excellent choice, both in terms of pricing and location. After we have checked in, we went to see the famous Colosseum. 

Well, enough said, right. The picture speaks for itself. You can actually tell that the Colosseum has seen a lot of restoration works in its lifetime, but the sight of it is still simply impressive. I had a close encounter with a guy trying to sell his friendship bands. We tried to visit the Roman Forum nearby, but it was closing and hence we did not have the opportunity to walk in it. I just took a picture of it from afar. Following the advise of the owner of the room we rented, we went to the Trastevere area for dinner. After looking around, we chose a restaurant with outdoor seating and ordered their seafood spaghetti and spaghetti with clams. We sat beside two very friendly girls from Kazakhstan and they kept saying that dearie is beautiful, and I must treasure her. I cannot agree more. We then went back to rest for the night.

13 July 2018, Rome, Sunny

We started our day with the free Italian breakfast, then started our day with the first stop, the Spanish Steps. This place was made famous because of a romantic movie. It is now a tourist attraction and it was simply too crowded, just look at the cover picture of this post. Our next stop was the Trevi Fountain. This water feature is really very pretty. I took a while to capture a nice picture to do this place justice.

After we are done, we made our way to Pantheon. We stopped at a restaurant nearby for a quick lunch. The Pantheon in Rome is a lot older, so the feel of visiting a historical site is a lot stronger here. The first ruler of Italy, Vittorio Emanuele rests here. Interestingly, there is a deliberate gap in the ceiling, and the Pantheon is lighted naturally. After that, we slowly walked towards Vatican City. Along the way, we passed by Piazza Navona and Ponte Sant'Angelo. Only when we were about to reach Vatican City did we finally learn that the water fountains all around Rome is actually drinkable. We finally reached Vatican City and the St. Peter's Basilica.

I spent a very long time trying to take nice pictures of the area, and I feel quite guilty about it. When I have got enough, we went to queue to enter the Basilica. Unfortunately, dearie was wearing a dress, and she was not permitted to enter the Basilica unless she covers her shoulders up. After waiting for a while, we decided that I'll go in myself to take some pictures and then come out. To be honest, I find this 'rule' a bit silly, because when I am inside, I saw many people also wearing dresses that reveal their shoulders. I took a few pictures and came out quickly since I don't want to leave dearie behind for too long. We then left the place and walked towards Janiculum terrace, a small hill. I insisted on coming here because it was a clear day and I know that the sunset over Rome will be very beautiful. Fortunately for us, the climb is not steep and it was not too difficult to get to the place. The views from Janiculum terrace were indeed beautiful. We spent some time here taking pictures and enjoying the beautiful sunset. We then came down, ending our day in Trastevere again. And again, we ate seafood spaghetti because we really like it. A mental note to myself, I need to figure out how to make this dish for dearie. The secret lies in the oil and sauce. After dinner, we went back and packed up for tomorrow's flight.

14 July 2018, Rome > Istanbul, Sunny

We ate the Italian breakfast again, and then took the train from Ostiense to the airport. At the airport, we saw the replica of the mouth of truth, so I took a picture of dearie with it. We then departed Rome. This was also the first time I am actually flying with my dearie, and it meant something special to us. This marks the end of our travels in Italy, but the trip is not over yet since we are making a transit in Istanbul.