Greetings from Austria! As I mentioned in my last post, my first week of class was cut short so I had the opportunity to travel over to Italy for a few days. I had never really been to Italy before but I've heard only good things so I was very excited for my journey.
Tuesday morning, Adam, Jacob (my friends from Cal Poly) and I set out to Italy. Our first travels included two bus rides and about 6 hours worth of driving(not bad at all, especially in comparison to what it would be from back home in the States). The drive over was rather nice, as I got a chance to see the Austrian country side and all the beauty along the way. It really is very different and certainly had a peaceful, tranquil aspect to it. Driving through here was a breeze and the bus was comfortable enough, so the 6 hours went by in a heartbeat. Before we knew it, we were dropped off in the heart of Venice, Italy.
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| Our rainy departure |
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| Our sunny arrival in Venice |
Now I'm assuming mostly everybody knows about Venice, but for those who don't, a quick overview: Venice is a city that sits on an island on the Adriatic Sea in North-Eastern Italy, and is over a dozen centuries old. The city is purely canal based, making it so that there are no cars in the streets and the only mode of transportation (outside of walking) is to travel by boat in the canals. After our bus dropped us off and we dropped our bags off at our hostel, we headed to the island to walk around for a bit. Now I had known beforehand that city was beautiful from the canals, etc., but I had no idea just how beautiful it was.The entire time we stayed in Venice, I simply could not get over the canals. There was seemingly a picture perfect moment at every bridge, and I could certainly understand why it's been described as "undoubtedly the most beautiful city built by man". The people were welcoming (it's a huge tourist city), the city was pretty clean and of course, there is tradition and history everywhere.
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| My first view of Venice |
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| The City of Canals |
While there were plenty museums and tourist attractions to see, we were perfectly content just to walk around the island and check out the buildings, canals, shops and of course, restaurants. We grabbed a late lunch before walking around, and my introduction to Italian food was splendid. After a nice little plate of Spaghetti Carbonara, we explored the city. As I said before, the sites around Venice were breathtaking. We found ourselves stopping at almost every bridge to snap a few picture and gaze at the canals. After walking around for a few hours and checking out a lot of the sites (Venice is pretty small and can be explored fairly quickly), it was time for another Italian meal, of course! This time we decided to wander off the main path to find a more authentic, less commercialized place. Turned out to be an excellent idea, as we stumbled upon a really nice little pizza joint. I got an amazing pizza and no less than 1 liter of beer (in a boot-shaped glass, naturally.) We had a wonderful time in Venice and headed to sleep for the night.
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| Incredibly beautiful! |
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| The canals |
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| See why it's already one of my favorite cities? |
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| Chillin by the canals |
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| Das boot and an amazing pizza |
On Wednesday, we decided to make our way over to Florence. After one more good Venetian meal and a few more photos of the canals, we caught a train over to Florence. I had a friend from Cal Poly studying in Florence so I was able to crash at her place for the few days we were there. Upon our mid-day arrival in Florence, we trekked across the city trying to find a place for my friends to stay, while checking out as much as we could along the way. Just before we got to the hostel, we ran into the Duomo of Florence. I literally stopped in my tracks when I saw it. It is far and away one of the most impressive and captivating structures I've seen to date. First, it's god damn enormous. Second, it's beautiful. Third, even if you don't care much for architecture, you can still appreciate the enormous slabs of marble that cover the entire outside of the cathedral and the incredibly ornate detailing. After gazing at the building for a few minutes, I caught up to my friends and we checked them into their hostel. We grabbed a quick pick-me-up in the form of liquid gold (a pint of beer, of course) since we were finally done sprinting around the city with our bags. My friend Lanie met up with us and showed us one of her favorite local restaurants. Unsurprisingly, I got pasta and even more unsurprisingly, it was delicious. We were pretty tired from travelling around so we got some gelato (amazing) and headed in for the evening.
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| The Duomo at night |
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| Chillin with Dante at the Santa Croce |
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| The Duomo...is really big. |
Thursday was some more tourist stuff. We headed back over to the Duomo and checked out the inside. It's much more bare than it used to be, as most of the items from the inside have been preserved in a museum (considering the building is over 700 years old). We took the trip up to the top of the Dome, which towers over every building in the city. The view from the top was absolutely gorgeous. It offered a 360 degree view of all of Florence and the sites from up there were simply indescribable. It was a beautiful day and the sun was shining strong, making for a pretty incredible experience 375 feet above the streets of Florence. So we headed down and grabbed another amazing lunch (more pasta, if I remember correctly) and checked out the leather market of Florence, a huge market they have every day with a bunch of local vendors are artists coming out to con us tourists into buying goods we don't need (just jokin', it was really cool). I'm proud to say I didn't buy anything, though I was close to buying a sweet pair of loafers. We continued our tourist ways and walked around the city more. Another one of the main sites of Florence is the Ponte Vecchio, which is literally over a thousand years old. It's supposedly the oldest bridge of it's kind in all of Europe. The bridge is decorated with a few dozen shops (which used to be occupied by butchers and vendors back in Medieval time) and offers a great view of the Arno River. We went over to the bridge next to the Ponte Vecchio and hopped over the wall onto the columns to get a better view. Amazing, of course. Afterwards we grabbed some dinner (surprise! It was awesome) with one of Jacob's friends and headed out to a club for the rest of the night. Shenanigans ensued, of course.
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| The Duomo |
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| Inside |
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| The Fresca on the ceiling... |
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| The view from the top |
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| Oh what up, Florence? |
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| The Ponte Vecchio |
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| Looking at the Ponte Vecchio |
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| Florence at sunset |
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| Florence at night |
Friday was our last day in Florence so we made the most of it. We made a quick little hike up to San Miniato al Monte, a basilica which sits on one of the highest points in the city of Florence. According to the good people at Wikipedia, it "has been described as the finest Romanesque structure in Tuscany and one of the most beautiful churches in Italy". They weren't joking, this place was impressive. Nearly every inch of the place was decorated with something and the craftsmanship was absolutely unbelievable. Adam and I sat on one the pews and gazed around, trying to figure out how the heck they could have built something so beautiful. We toured the inside and hung outside for a while, looking at the amazing view the church offers. After more walking/eating/being tourists etc., we went to a local trattoria and grabbed our last Italian meal. It. Was. Good. Enough said. We all gathered round at Lanie's apartment and then headed out for a night on the town. Shenanigans ensued again, and let's just say we had a great last evening in Florence.
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| San Miniato al Monte |
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| The inside was gorgeous |
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| Like really gorgeous |
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| Firenze, Italia |
After about an hour and a half of sleep, we managed to drag ourselves out of bed and head over to the train station. After a few days of good fun, we departed Italia with high spirits, full bellies, empty wallets, hangovers and great experiences. It was a wonderful trip and Italy was absolutely beautiful. The cities of Venice and Florence certainly rank in the top cities I've visited this far. The architecture and natural beauty were awe-inspiring and I had a magnificent time checking out some of the oldest and most historical sites in Europe. Our trip to Italy was another perfect excursion, and I'm already looking forward to my next trip.
Stay tuned until next time, America (and whoever else is reading this)
Yours,
Eric
