APRIL 6 - 7, 2011
WELL! Where do I even begin?! The Italy trip, as a whole, was AWESOME. Just what I needed: world travel, lots of sun, and beautiful sights. London's been great, but I was definitely looking forward to experiencing an entirely new country for eight days! Plus, it was my first visit to Continental Europe. Love it.
First things first: there's something about Italy that is just so.. Italian. After flying over the Alps, which was sweet by the way, all of sudden - you're in a new world. You watch the green landscape fly by as the mist lifts in the early morning and makes it's way north to the mountains, but it's not a landscape you feel you've seen before. Where the American midwest and the British countryside are unique in their own ways, there's something about the Italian countryside that transports you back to the days of 'The Godfather' and classic Spaghetti Westerns. The red roofs and white adobe houses scattered through acre upon acre of olive fields and oddly-shaped farmland, with their pale arches and well-kept gardens, have seemingly been around for decades. And that's the main thing about Italy: it's so OLD. Even before you get to Rome, with it's 2000-year-old ruins and ancient monuments, there's a feeling of age - that everything around you probably outlived you several times over; that the people, at least the older ones, are still probably upholding traditions passed down several generations. It's a strange and exciting feeling.
But it's still completely overshadowed by the wonderful feeling of being somewhere entirely new, which I hope will seep through some of my lame commentary! While I ended up taking over 400 pictures throughout the entire trip, I'll try to make this a bit more than a picture book, or an exhibition of 'Look where I am!'. The adventures were great, the sights beautiful, and I hope anyone reading this one day gets to experience the same things I did. Or just do some traveling in general: it's an amazing experience.
Well, I might as well start with the trip! This post is going to be just Venice, as one post for the whole trip would probably kill your computer processors.
The adventure really began Tuesday night even though our flight was early Wednesday morning. My two fellow travelers, Mary and Yuliya, and I hopped one of the last tubes up to Baker Street to catch a bus to the airport. We got there around 2am, planning to find a nice spot to hang out in and maybe catch a little shut-eye. We were three of maybe 1000 with the same idea; it was nuts! Stansted Airport, while known for being a hub for the cheaper airlines, is also apparently known for hosting all of those cheap flyers overnight! Almost every chair in the huge check-in desk area was taken by sleepy passengers waiting for the desks to open around 4am; after that, all along the walls, lying on the floors, were more flyers curled up in sleeping bags or blankets that they brought themselves (obviously much more prepared - or experienced - than us!). Anyway, we found an empty spot along one of walls and tucked in for a couple hours until the desks began opening, and the flyers began waking up to queue, around 4:30am. After that, it was off to a new land!
And so the pictures begin..
Heading to Italy!
The Alps!
Landing at Treviso Airport a couple kilometers north of Venice
Our hostel in Venice! Well, not really in Venice, since the city is on an 'island' and all the hotels there are pretty expensive for college students.. This was back on the mainland, in the town of Mestre - only a 10 minute train into venice! The hostel was pretty good - clean, close to the station, and safe.
On the train - first view of Venice! And so the sunny days and blue skies began..
Venezia Santa Lucia Train Station in Venice
The tourist-packed streets of Venice frequenting the hundreds of souvenir shops. A bit sad how overrun it gets.. but even beneath that layer of touristy glitter, there's still a magic vibe about a floating city in the warm waters of the Mediterranean.
First look at the canal, and first time I've ever dipped my hand into the waters of the Mediterranean.
At this point, wandering around the very walkable city was the best way to explore. So expect a bunch of random pictures of neat stuff that I saw!
Another shot of the busy canal
SO many bridges in this place and I loved every one of them - such beautiful construction, even for something so simple.
One of several bell towers.
Neat building along the canal
So this happened to us a couple times: we go exploring through the hundreds of skinny alleyways, and all of sudden, one will just throw you right into the canal. It just ends, no warning or rail or nothing. One minute you're on land, and the next, you're looking right down into the canal!
More cool buildings along the canal.
Loving the weather. 70s and sunny!
More canal, and a cool bridge!
Then we caught a ride on one of the Vaporetti - one of the main methods of transportation around the canals; kind of like buses on water! Basically the same route as those extremely overpriced and tourist-laden gondolas for only a tiny portion of the cost!
Just more cool shots along the canal.
No idea. Probably just one of the hundreds of really old, really neat churches
Cool buildings
First look at the Rialto Bridge! A really cool-looking bridge, though most of the time pretty packed with tourists.
Gondolas on the canal
Another neat building
So pretty riding along the water, just looking at the buildings
Santa Maria della Salute Church.
What a neat building
Inside
The domed ceiling
We found a spot along the canal..
.. and my travel-worn partners decided to take a quick nap! Such sleepyheads.. on the first day!
Loving that blue water
Looking back at the Salute
Across the water, the San Giorgio Maggiore church.
The Doge's Palace, where the ruling families in Venice lived!
St. Mark's Basilica
The bell tower, or Campanile
Outside Doge's Palace
The doorway to St. Mark's
Neat clock
Ferrari stores are EVERYWHERE in Italy. Crazy.
I doubt they're selling these right out of the store.. plus, how'd they get it here?! There aren't really roads, just alleyways. And it's all bridges and water!
Another look at St. Mark's. Very neat building.
The view from St. Mark's Square
Gondolas winding through the many offshoot canals eventually flowing back to the Grand Canal
Rialto Bridge
What a view
.. but this is how busy the Rialto Bridge gets..
Old buildings
Rooftop garden and a bell tower
Another bridge
A couple fun musicians!
Another square - Italians love these!
Then we randomly stumbled upon a University or something.. Pretty
Lots of random people though. And a couple musicians just wandering through the crowd
Ocarinas!
And a guitar! Neat old music store
Yay Venice! Missed walking around in jeans and a t-shirt!
Then we visited Doge's Palace, which was pretty neat! The view of St. Mark's from inside the main courtyard
The 'Golden Staircase', which led up to the apartments. Gilded with 24-carat gold. Man, crazy how rich the royalty was.
A sneaky picture of one of the rooms, since they didn't like cameras!
The domes of St. Mark's from a window
So pretty
Another neat room with a couple globes and a bunch of maps
Old weapons down in the armory
Apparently, one of the largest rooms in Europe. Don't really remember what it was though..
Another view outside from a window
Then the palace began leading down into an old prison!
First delicious pizza in Italy! When tasked with finding a pizza place that we had passed hours earlier, I was a little doubtful of my abilities, though my sense of direction, I've found, is quite strong. You see, Venice and practically a maze of alleyways and canals, with no real system - basically, maps are pretty much only are useful for pointing out a direction. But I totally found it. It was nuts.
I'll get more into the food later, but suffice to say: it was awesome. Not one bad meal.
I don't know if you can see, but we found a random football (soccer) field in the middle of the city!
Venice lit up in the evening.
Pretty.
Near our hostel, a neat fountain lit up in Italian colors!
As awesome as Venice, there's not a lot of actual 'attractions'. The whole city is the attraction, which is why it gets so overrun with tourists and gimmicky souvenirs. It's a bit of a bummer, but like I said, the beauty of Venice, especially under blue skies, isn't diminished at all. The canals are pretty, the architecture is amazing, and the sinking city won't be around forever!
By Thursday night, the first leg of our trip was coming to a close; the only thing left was the morning train south to the next destination: Florence, or Firenze to the Italians. We were leaving a floating city of beautiful sights for the art and food of Florence - so exciting!
Good music for exploring Venice:
Beirut - 'Venice', off their double EP 'March of the Zapotec/Holland'
Love Beirut. Such a unique band, focused around main man Zach Condon. One of the most unique voices in indie/folk. Like their first album best, but the EP's pretty good.
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First of probably three posts - one for each city! I'll probably retro-actively update this post with a couple pictures from my phone, but we'll see.
Cheers!
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