Italia! Perugia - Florence - Venice - Milan

*If you missed my first post about the beginning of our trip (Naples, Vatican City and Rome), and wish to read it, you can do so here.

Both Hallie and I had friends from school studying in Perugia. Hallie's friend Adam had spent the weekend in the South with some friends, so met us at the train station for our ride north. Visiting Perugia was arguably the best decision we made all week. We had debated it, knowing that there wasn't much there in the way of big-ticket sights and tourist attractions, which, ironically, made it as great as it was. When we arrived, we met my friend, Rebecca, and the four of us went on a brief tour of town. Perugia is called the city on a hill, which is very apt. We were very high up, making for great fews and MANY steps. There are even escalators in some parts of the city to make it accessible. It also had a "mini metro" which was a tiny metro car on a small track that went to a few places in the town. Here's a photo I grabbed from google (I was trying my hardest not to look touristy in this town, so no original photos...)

Cute, right? Anyway, one of the first views we saw was this:

The city at the base of the hill in the background is Assisi. By the end of the evening, we were becoming a bit jaded by the expansive, green, fairy tale views. Here is an aqueduct that was converted into a foot path, we used it on our tour.

Here is the other side of Perugia - I believe this is the more residential area.

That evening we (okay, Adam) cooked dinner at Adam's house - homemade pasta from his family, with pancetta and a delicious homemade spicy marinara sauce he made, with salad and bread on the side. Amazing! We were lucky to have some really good home cooked food during our break, we don't make the effort enough in Istanbul...

The next morning Hallie and I woke up and did some exploring while Rebecca and Adam were in class. Here's a photo of some of the stairs in Perugia. I forgot to mention, Adam had to climb something like 250   steps to get to class... A lot of work, but they'll all have amazing legs by the end of the semester!

Adam had told us to find this museum complex on the edge of town. Below is a small church that we found on the way. Rebecca told us that Martin Luther (father of Lutheran Church) preached here once on a journey.

Next to the church, there was a small castle-like building that held a museum of Perugia. The museum was interesting, but the best part was that you could climb to the roof and soak in a view of the entire city. Here are some shots:

That was about all the time we had in Perugia. We grabbed sandwiches and cannolis for the train ride to Florence and headed to the train station... We were on our way again!

We arrived in Florence around 4pm. Our hostel was within walking distance of the train station, and not too far from the major sights, so we dropped our luggage and headed out. Our first stop was Il Duomo - the famous cathedral that steals the skyline of Florence. Here's a photo from the outside:

You climb 463 steps to the cupola for a panoramic view of the city.

We then continued our exploration by crossing the river on the Ponte Vecchio. It's one of four bridges in the world with buildings built across the entire length. Another is in Bursa, Turkey! I believe the other two are both in Sofya, Bulgaria. Anyway, the bridge is filled with gold and silver shops, so we ogled a bit before moving on. After a long day and a long climb at the Duomo, we decided it was time for dinner. We headed back into the center of town and grabbed some pasta (shocker!) at a little bistro. Here's the Ponte Vecchio from the next bridge:

The next morning we woke up and got in line (in the rain...) at the Galleria dell'Accademia to see Michelangelo's David. The line took about an hour, but we'd made a lot of our goals for Florence the day before, so we didn't mind waiting. It was worth it - everything in the gallery was interesting and worthwhile, but David was truly amazing. The statue was about three times the size I thought it would be, and unbelievably realistic. The hands especially were crazy detailed. Unfortunately, no cameras in the gallery!

That afternoon we shopped our way through Florence, had lunch at the Piazza della'Republica and climbed to Michelangelo's Piazza. The piazza is a public terrace on the edge of the city that most people told us had the best view in Florence. It had rained on and off all day, but mother earth was nice enough to break up the clouds when we reached the top! It was a great way to end our stay in Florence!

We had dinner that evening at a restaurant that Adam had recommended, before grabbing some gelato and heading to bed. The next morning we had breakfast, did some last minute shopping, and headed to the train station - We were off to Venice!

When we arrived at the train station, we needed to take the water bus to our hostel. It was so neat!

When only had about 24 hours in Venice, so we dropped out bags and headed out. We immediately headed to the Grand Canal, finding Piazza San Marco, and the Cathedral of Venice. Here's a view from the Piazza out over the grand canal:

I would guess about half of the streets in Venice are canals, like in the photo below. As a person who loves boats and water, I was in love. I could see how difficult it could be to live there without a boat however, especially as the water bus is 6.50 euros, about 9-10 dollars, per ride. It could get expensive!

Our evening in Venice was a bit of a roller coaster. We found a restaurant on our Lonely Planet Italy App (yes, there's an app for that...) that looked promising on paper. However, when we arrived, we were the only ones in the whole place, and the family who owned it was sitting in the back half of the restaurant, looking as though they were having a family meal. We were told we could choose a table, and this woman in a dirty t-shirt came out and asked us a few questions. "Ravioli o Tagliatelle? Pollo o Carne? Salata? Vino?" We were a little concerned, especially when our wine came and tasted watered down and old, but our fears were allayed when a man came back out with two steaming dishes of delicious and fresh looking pasta. It was amazing - I don't think I've ever had a more fresh marinara sauce. The rest of dinner was not quite as good, the chicken (we both had the pollo) came on a huge plate with just a small piece of unflavored chicken in the middle. The restaurant itself was decorated with (I can't make this up) what looked like happy meal toys, and one corner had a display of cellphones hanging from the ceiling. I wish we had taken a photo, but it was really awkward with the family staring at us in silence throughout the entire meal. We quickly grabbed the check and headed out when we were done. Throughout the whole meal we kept looking at each other trying desperately not to laugh or crack an awkward smile so as not to be disrespectful to the family. The rest of the evening was a great  success - we walked around a bit before grabbing some wine and cannolis to enjoy on one of the gondola docks (don't worry, there's no open bottle policy in Venice - or Italy, I believe...). We just relaxed and admired the city lit up at night.

The next day it was pouring, so when we woke up and checked out of the hostel, we bolted to a cafe and settled there for a bit. When we left, we visited a museum and grabbed some lunch for the train before heading to Santa Lucia Station. I would have loved to have spent more time (in the sun!) in Venice, but I think we did a good job with the time we had! Here I am right before we left, during a break in the rain.

After Venice, we were headed to Milan - our last city. Our train to Milan was the longest, about 3.5 hours, so we didn't arrive until about 7pm. When we arrived we dropped our luggage and headed out in hopes of finding the Cathedral of Milan. After walking a long way in the rain and darkness, we realized that we were heading in the wrong direction... Funny now, but not amusing after a long day (week!) of traveling and rain. It was fine, we just headed back and stopped for dinner. We got back to the hostel around 11 and decided to go to bed.

The next morning we slept in, then headed to a cafe for breakfast. We had, what we'd been having all week, an Italian breakfast - cappuccino and a pastry. For some reason, it was the best breakfast we'd had all week. The cappuccino was amazing, and we both had nutella croissants (yum!). After breakfast, we headed to the Duomo (to which we had excellent directions this time). I didn't take too many photos because it was raining, but this gives you an idea of how ornate the Cathedral is. Beautiful! It was free to go inside, and raining, so we decided to explore. It was gorgeous inside - large stone pillars and dark wood made it very warm and relaxing.

After the Duomo, we headed to a gallery nearby. We were able to see an exhibit of Di Vinci's Atlantic Codex - primarily including his sketches of wings and flying devices. The man really wanted to fly! There was also the famous fruit bowl still life (I don't know the title or the artist... for shame!), and a few other interesting pieces. Hallie and I agreed that, while we enjoyed Italian art, we were done with Madonna and child and awkward renaissance babies by the end of the week...

After the gallery, it had cleared off a bit, so we grabbed some lunch at an outside cafe. We then walked through a large park, arriving at the Arch of Peace, below.

There is a small plaza around the arch (as you can see), and there was a group of people gathering there to have a giant pillow fight. If I remember, the kids in the photo above were heading over with their pillows to join. We would have stayed to watch, but we had to head to our big finale - an AC Milano soccer game! We hopped on the metro, found the stadium, bought our AC Milano scarves, bought our beer with the rest of the Italian men, and picked up our tickets - we were ready to go!

We found our seats, a little early, but we did some people watching.

This was the loud section - we're guessing they're season ticket holders... We were ecstatic - we'd heard stories about how awesome Italian soccer games are, and we couldn't wait to experience it first hand. I think that Italians could give Turks a run for their money in regards to loyalty to and excitement for their soccer teams.

And then... guess what? The match was postponed. Apparently something had happened on another team and the umbrella soccer organization had ordered that all matches be cancelled that weekend. We were bummed. Not only that, but it was raining, and we had to wait outside to see about refunds. After about an hour or so, they handed out slips of paper with a number to call. Right now we're working on proving to them that we were at the game so that we can be refunded... Not a great way to end a fabulous week, but it didn't darken any of the wonderful memories!

We found some dinner quickly that night and headed back to the hostel (after we'd navigated the hoards of people leaving the stadium). The next morning we slept in, had breakfast, then headed to the Airport. Aside from the 2 hour delay, everything else went smoothly. We were in our rooms in Sariyer by midnight.

I honestly think that we couldn't have done it better if we'd tried. It was the first time that Hallie and I both had planned and executed a trip like that by ourselves, and I'm really proud of us! We named our trip "A Taste of Italy" - which is exactly what it was. We didn't want to leave and wanted more time in all of the cities, but we saw so much, and are both dying to go back.

This weekend, CIEE is going to Ankara, Turkey's capital, and then spending a night at a Sufi Lodge in Konya, where the whirling dervishes originated. Wish me luck - I'm almost travelled out!

Italia! Naples and Rome

Hallie and I began our trip to Italy the Friday before Spring Break. We flew into Naples for just one night, intending only to walk around, eat pizza, and drink some Italian wine. We did just that! After dropping out luggage at the hostel, we headed out to explore the city. Everyone we'd spoken to assured us we wouldn't like Naples, that it was the armpit of Italy - dirty, ugly, etc... We found it quite the contrary! Whether it is truly a great place or we were just on an "oh man, we're in Italy" high (we kept looking at each other and saying that), I don't know. Although you probably wouldn't want to spend much more than a weekend there, we had a very pleasant afternoon. Our first stop was a pizzeria. We were so bent on getting pizza here because it originated in Naples (Napoli). Here's a photo of Hallie with our first pizza - it was delicious!

We took the rest of the afternoon (it was about 5pm when we left the restaurant) to walk around the city. We found a bench where we just relaxed and people-watched for a bit. The America's Cup was also happening (some sort of sail races) and the American and Chinese teams were out practicing. It was really fun to watch! Here is me on the coast! In the back is Egg Castle, we didn't get there, but it looked neat!

After relaxing for a bit, we walked around and through a street market. I bought a little ring - it was cheap and cute! It was getting a bit late, and we were tired and a little jet lagged (it's only an hour but after traveling that becomes a bigger deal...), so we headed home, stopping for some Italian coffee on the way home. It's awesome, because it's just like Turkish coffee without the grounds! 

In my last post, I mentioned that we were briefly stuck in an elevator... It was on our first night, and our hostel was on the 7th floor of the building. We were confronted with the machine below, and no idea how to use it. No directions, either. We stood there for a while, until a man came in, looked at our suitcases, threw a coin into the machine, pressed the number seven, closed the door and left without saying a word. Before we knew what was happening the elevator started moving. Normally this would have been completely terrifying, something out of a horror movie, but we were just really happy at the prospect of not carrying our suitcases up 7 flights of stairs. Luckily, we weren't being kidnapped or murdered, just helped out by a kind stranger.

The next day we were on the way to Rome. We woke up rather early and had breakfast in the hostel. We met a man who was traveling through Europe, eventually hitting Istanbul. We gave him some tips, before heading to the train station. Because so many people were going to Rome for Easter (Pasqua), there was standing room only on the train. Not as fun as it sounds on a two and a half hour ride to Rome. Here's a photo of me, in the part of the train that connects one car to another, sitting on my suitcase. 

We were informed that, because it was Easter Weekend, the only way we would be able to get into the Vatican was to book a tour. WHAT a good idea that was! The tour picked us up out our hostel (BEST one of the week) and brought us to the Vatican City walls, where we were able to skip the line (literally almost a half of a mile long - I'm honestly not exaggerating) and see the museums. Here is the entrance - not as extravagant as you thought, eh?

It was great to have a guide, too, because there was so much to see that we surely would have missed some of it. I was unaware, but most of the Vatican City is a museum of art, historical items and buildings of importance. Here I am with my headset, super excited (somewhat sarcastically...)

The most exciting piece in the museum, for me, was Raphael's "School of Athens." It was on the cover of a really good history of philosophy book, called "Aristotle's Children," that I loved, and I just love the piece. Because of the large number of people, and the small room the piece is in, this is the best photo I could get...

Our last stop was Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel. It was beautiful, but literally jam packed. In my previous post I mentioned getting stuck behind a guard, because they were only letting a certain number of people pass through at a time... It was so crowded that we couldn't take photos of each other more than about 8 inches from our faces... Anyway, here is a photo of the ceiling, and of the famous creation painting. The chapel itself was beautiful, but much smaller and darker than I thought it would be. 

 The one place in the Vatican that we did not get to see was St. Peter's Basilica. The line was way too long, and it was closing about 20 minutes after we got there. They were also preparing for the Easter Mass that would be held the next morning, which made visiting the Basilica that much more difficult. Here is a photo of me in front of it, though, with the line behind me.

After the Vatican tour we were wiped and it was about 7pm (remember we started the day in Naples...) So we headed back to the hostel to take a shower and freshen up. One of Hallie's best friends is studying abroad in Rome and was nice enough to meet us and take us out for dinner. Our hostel was very close to the Trevi Fountain, so we decided to meet Ben there at 8:30. Here's a photo of me in front of the fountain. It was crowded, but absolutely beautiful at night. 

After meeting Ben, we walked to the restaurant, getting lost several times on the way. This wasn't a problem, though, because it was really neat to explore the city at night. Here are the Spanish Steps:

And the Pantheon:

Ben took us to this adorable wine bar where we had our first Italian pasta! Hallie and I both had this tomato-based sauce with pancetta - SO delicious. After we finally ate, it was about midnight, so we headed to the hostel, calling it a night. 

The next morning we woke up and headed out to see the Colosseum. On our way, we stopped at the Il Vittoriano, where the Italian tomb of the unknown soldier is, and where you can take an outdoor elevator to the roof and see all of Rome. Here's a photo that a Canadian family took of Hallie and I. For some reason, they kept thinking I was from New Hampshire! 

Anyway, we made our way to the Colosseum and managed to make it through the line-less mob that was the ticket booth. It took about 2 hours, but we eventually made it in! It really is one of the most impressive things I've ever seen. It was indescribably huge and perfectly constructed. Here are just a few photos: 

I took a panoramic photo with the 360 degree app on my phone, but I can't seem to get it to upload... Hopefully I can post it soon! Afterward, we met up with Ben for lunch. He is a classics major, and so was able to point out some other important sights in the ancient city area. We saw parts of the Forum, where Caesar was stabbed, and some other neat sights. Then we set out into the more modern part of Rome to find a gelateria that Monica, the hostel owner and sweetest woman EVER, told us sold the best gelato in Rome. It was called Giolitti's, and it was the best gelato I've ever had (sorry, Gelato Fiasco). I had Hazlenut, Tiramisu and Nutella flavors with home made whipped cream. Amazing.

Full from gelato and a day of sightseeing, we shopped our way back to our hostel, via the Spanish Steps in the daylight, to freshen up. That evening Ben had invited us to his house to make dinner, a traditional Italian dish called a "California Burrito." (joking) He and Hallie have both been missing their favorite food, so when he found some good avocados, he grabbed them and saved them for our visit. I love (and have missed) avocado, too, so it was great! It was nice to cook and just hang out for a bit, especially after 3 full days. Here's Hallie ecstatically making her precious guac for the burritos.

The next day we woke up and headed out for a morning of shopping. We were painfully underdressed for many of the stores we entered - Gucci, Prada, etc... but it was fun to gawk. We then had lunch and headed to the train station for our next city - Perugia. With three and a half days and three cities (counting the Vatican) under our belt, we were looking forward to the next four cities with weary excitement. Can't wait to share! Coming soon! :) 

Spring Break, the Italian Way

Last week was Spring Break! I'm still playing catch-up with work and sleep, but I thought I'd post something quickly because it's been a while! My friend Hallie and I have both always wanted to go to Italy, so we took break as an opportunity to give ourselves a taste! Our schedule was crazy and hectic, but we made it home alive, and it was an amazing week. Here was our itinerary:

Friday: Fly to Naples
Saturday: Naples - Vatican City - Rome
Sunday: Rome (tip: there's this thing called Easter that shuts everything down in Italy, Buona Pasqua!)
Monday: Rome - Perugia
Tuesday: Perugia - Florence
Wednesday: Florence
Thursday: Florence - Venice
Friday: Venice - Milan
Saturday: Milan
Sunday: ISTANBUL!

We flew in to Naples, then took the train between the cities, finally landing in Milan to fly home. Hallie had a friend in Rome, and we both had friends in Perugia, all of whom made great tour guides!

There's more to come, but here's a taste of the week:

We were temporarily stuck in an elevator in Naples:

We tried not to get squished by the doors on the train to Rome. (By the way, standing room only for 2.25 hours isn't as doable as it sounds)

We became incredibly familiar with the TrenItalia system, although we couldn't seem to fully master the art of remembering to validate our tickets...

I got stuck behind a guard at the Sistine Chapel. Hallie just laughed and took a photo...

The week was absolutely wonderful, I can't wait to share more... Hopefully soon, I just have to get a Turkish presentation out of the way! Hope everyone at home is having a great Spring!

"Welcome to Bodrum!"

This phrase was uttered to us at least 10 times in the two days we stayed in Bodrum. We even had people who we just passed on the street stop and say, "Welcome to Bodrum!" I'm choosing to take this reaction as a function of the kindness of the people, rather than because we are so obviously not from Bodrum... Anyway, we ended up in Bodrum because we found really cheap flights at the last minute. It's on the Aegean coast, a little south of Izmir. The city is beautiful, mostly because of its white buildings and gorgeous coastline, and is apparently a huge vacation spot for many Turks and Europeans.

We flew in Friday morning, checked into our hostel, and headed almost immediately to brunch on the beach. A lot of the restaurants have tables set up all the way to the water, since it is barely tidal. Here's me at the table! It was a bit chilly, as the sun was in hiding, so the restaurant provided us with some blankets.

Photo Credit: Amy Rasmussen 

Next we headed to explore the city a bit. It is pretty much just a vacation city, so there are a lot of nice restaurants and shopping, but not too much else. During our exploration, we stumbled upon Bodrum Castle, which proved to be one of the most beautiful sights of the weekend.

Here's the view of about half of Bodrum from the castle grounds.

The castle is a fortress on the Aegean Sea, which, as you can see below, is absolutely beautiful. I stood in this cut out for about ten minutes and just let the wind and sea air hit me. It felt really good!

This is the cat outside our hostel. She really wanted to play with us, or (more likely) steal some food, but couldn't get up on the balcony, and so she just sat there and whined. Amy and I tried to coax her up, but it was simply too high...

We went to a tapas bar for dinner the first night, after an afternoon of walking around town. It was lovely but empty, like the rest of the city. The waiter, however, was wonderful. He lived in Istanbul for a long time, so we chatted about that. The tapas were also really authentic and delicious, and not too expensive. We visited about 3-4 weeks before tourist season really begins, so there wasn't much going on while we were there. It was still a great trip, and the weather was warm enough to still enjoy the beaches and water.

Here's a dog on the beach at brunch on Saturday. Isn't he cute? I took a picture because he reminds me of my dog, Otis. I miss him!

After brunch, we headed to the ruins of the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus. In its glory days, the Mausoleum was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. It was really neat to see, but consisted mainly of scattered pillar pieces.

Here's a model of what the Mausoleum looked like before it was destroyed by a flood centuries ago...

We concluded the trip with an afternoon cruise around the area. We were trying to find a boat ride of any sort, but the only available boats are ones that you rent privately. So, we worked out an acceptable price with the captain, and got on board! They took us to an island nearby where there's a natural hot spring. It wasn't super hot, but supposedly Cleopatra swam there, so it was worth the trip! I just dipped my toes in - it was too cold to swim, even for me.

Here's a photo of the water - it was so clear and such a beautiful turquoise color. It was like nothing I've ever seen!

Here's a photo (stolen from Amy's camera) of some of us on the boat. We sat up front the whole time, even though it was windy and chilly. It was definitely worth it! We were afforded great views of the harbor and other local towns, as well as some relaxing time on the sea.

All in all it was a great weekend, and a nice quick getaway from campus. Sorry for the short post, and the inevitable spelling and grammar mistakes, I was rushing to write!

Now, I'm officially on Spring Break. A friend, Hallie, and I are headed to Italy, hoping to tackle 6 cities in 10 days! Do you think we can do it?