Italian gem

One of the best parts of backpacking is the element of surprise; nothing is written completely in stone, the schedule is flexible, so you never know where exactly the train will take you on your next leg of the trip.

Nic told me that I absolutely had to visit Italy; and she wasn't referring to Venice, Florence, and Rome, instead to a small north coastal locality that I'd never heard of before: Cinque Terre.

Needless to say, I didn't insert Cinque Terre into my rough traveling route - until Salzburg.  Here, I chatted with an American backpacker who pleaded with me, showing me all of his pictures on his camera, to go to Cinque Terre.  It was his favourite part of Europe so far, and I was surely going to love it as well.  He had me sold.

After Naples, I took a train to Rome, Genova, La Spezia, and finally, to Rioimaggiore.  Cinque Terre is not a city; it's a "rugged portion of coast on the Italian Riviera."  It is composed of five tiny villages built on the coastline, on high mountains, and make up the Cinque Terre National Park.  It's completely overrun with tourists (Americans, Aussies, and a noticeable number of Swedes!) but has a delightful charm due to the fact that there are no fast-food chains, coffee shops, etc. It appears to be as natural as it might have been hundreds of years ago, and is just plain old cute.

Most backpackers just spend a few days here, with the goal of completing the famous Cinque Terre hike, from the first village to the last village. It takes 6-8 hours, depending on your physical ability and amount of time you stop at each village along the way (come on, you have an opportunity to have five gelatos in one day!), but it really is a hike!

I stayed at a strange hostel, one that operates private apartments throughout the village of Riomaggiore.  Luckily, my apartment room was near the bottom of the huge mountain hill, so I didn't have to climb for so long every day.  It was a bit cramped, with 6 of us sharing a small space, but the benefit was that I got to meet some nice fellow travellers and explore the villages with them.

Julie, from Germany, and I tackled the hike together. We started off with the shortest and easiest of the four trails, from Riomaggiore to Manarola.  This is called Via Dell'Amore, or "Lover's Walk."  I forgot to mention that if you have a tough time dealing with being alone while traveling, then don't come to Cinque Terre! Almost every tourist here is with his or her spouse.  Anyway, this trail was flat and took only 15 minutes to walk.  Then, Manarola to Corniglia.  The popular, "easy" trail was blocked because of a landslide, so Julie and I had to make a decision: wait 1 hour for the next train to come to bring us to Corniglia and then continue the hike to the next village, or take on the longer, more difficult trail to Corniglia that was open.  And we chose the latter, which was the best decision we made that day!

Climbing higher up the mountain gave spectacular views of the water and of the villages nearby. We walked through magnificent olive gardens, vineyards, and lemon trees.  It was so beautiful, so breathtaking.  After 2 hours, we nearly collapsed when we finally arrived in Corniglia.  But, it was only 11 a.m., not yet time for lunch. So we figured we might as well finish 3/4 of the hike before lunchtime. Onwards to Vernazza.  This was also difficult, but shorter, and we were pumped.  We had a great lunch in Vernazza; I got to taste the famous Pasta Genovese (Genova is famous for its pesto) and we had a well-deserved after-lunch nap on the rocks, hearing the sounds of the waves in front of us.

Our last trail to Monterosso was steep and for me, difficult, probably because I was tired from our earlier trails.  But with steep climbing, you are rewarded with views of the entire region. Eight hours later, we finally reached Monterosso, the largest of the villages, and dove straight into the water for a refreshing swim. Not bad for one day!

During the rest of my stay in Riomaggiore (3 days total), I explored the villages and mostly soaked up the sun. Apart from the hike, the best thing to do here is find a nice spot (anywhere) close to the water, read a good book, and relax.  The sunset isn't too shabby here, too.

I do not regret stopping in Cinque Terre, and highly, highly, highly recommend going here. It's gorgeous, and you'll remember this little gem forever.  

Napoli

Following Dad's departure, I headed further south to Napoli to meet with Angie.

Situated along the west coast of Italy, Napoli has some gorgeous views of the sea and is close to the Amalfi Coast.  When you're walking on the hills and along the water, you feel a wonderful cool breeze that makes you momentarily forget the hot and humid sun that makes you pretty much sticky throughout the day.

Despite the fact that, at 38 degrees, this was the hottest week yet in Naples, Angie showed me a good portion of the city and I had a real Italian experience here!  We stayed inside for a good part of the day, not leaving the house until the early evening, when the heat had cooled down.  In addition to seeing the city's main sites, she took me out for authentic Naples pizza.  It was pretty cool, because it was Angie's boyfriend's sister's husband's friend's restaurant (get it?), as he is a pizza chef.  Since he's a family friend, he showed us how he makes his pizza and tosses it in the gorgeous wood-fired oven.  For me, Angie and her boyfriend said that I had to try the calzone, which had prociutto, cheese, onions, basil and a few other ingredients I can't remember.  All I remember was that this pizza was the best I'd had in Italy.  It was so crispy on the outside, but soft and oozing with melted mozzarella inside.  I also had arancini, delicious mini rice balls that are filled with cheese, then fried till crisp.

One of my highlights of the trip was meeting the grandparents in the family.  They were so sweet and exactly what I'd expect in an Italian family: wanting me to eat until I exploded! Angie's grandmother and grandfather were very sweet, and invited us for lunch that included fresh olives, prosciutto, cheeses, braised lamb shanks, and pasta.  And by the way, when an Italian offers you "coffee," note that this actually means espresso!

Angie, though I was absolutely stuffed from being constantly fed delicious food, also made sure that I tried baba, which is a cake soaked in rhum, and very popular here.  It was pretty good, and can have different fruit or cream flavours.

One thing that I will never forget about Napoli are the crazy drivers here and the garbage.  Narrow streets, cars and mopeds weaving in and out and in every which way - it really is comparable to my experience in Ningbo, China.  It's like suicide trying to cross the street! Luckily, I was in the hands of an awesome driver, though she was pretty crazy herself when driving us around!  Unfortunately, Naples, is very dirty.  Garbage and trash is strewn everywhere, throughout the streets.  It's as if no one cares.  

One day, I took a train to Sorrento, which is located on the famous Amalfi Coast.  It's a resort town, with beaches and nice shops.  However, I didn't actually go to the beach since you have to pay 8 euros to go! And they weren't even that nice, just some umbrellas and chairs squished together on some sparse sand.  The beach.  

I'm not entirely sure if I'd choose to live here; I think I'm a bit too used to living in a low-populated area with a bit more fresh air.  Still, I've very glad that I visited.  Arrivederci, Angela, and see you in three years!

Take me home, country roads

Home is where my heart will always be, even if I have been away for almost a year.  It was such a wonderful feeling descending in Vancouver, seeing the mountains I've missed for so long, and the city I love.

I'm back home now, and enjoying this much-awaited doing-nothing-important break.  In a way, it almost feels as if I never left, since everything is pretty much the same as I left it - apart from the slight rearrangement of furniture in the living room and my parents' new glitzy coffee machine, microwave, and desktop computer.  It's possible I'm going to notice more changes (mostly in myself) in time.

My homecoming turned out well.  Nicola and Kailee, with signs, greeted me at YVR, and also surprised me two boxes of Samurai Sushi. YUM.  My surprise early arrival for my mom also turned out rather well, when the next afternoon she and my dad came to Nic's apartment for lunch; the door opened, and seeing her gaping mouth and shocked look on her face was pretty priceless.  

I'm about seven trips behind on my blog - whoops!  It turned out to be more difficult than I thought to stay on top of things, once my dad headed back to Canada with all of my things, including my laptop.  And of course, laziness also prevailed.  So over the next little while I'll try to write up belated postings on each place, and hopefully I won't leave anything out that I've forgotten.

In the meantime, it's back to the "normal life."  For me, an unemployed grad, that means looking for a job and figuring out where I will live.  Ah, the joys of being out of school (for now)!

When in Rome

Time flies!  It's been one month (- 1 day) since I left for Prague.  That feels so long ago.  Though I've had more than one instance of homesickness ("K.T. go home..."), I've been enjoying exploring Europe.

In fact, time has gone by so quickly that I haven't had time to write about my most recent ravels in Italy.  That's right, Tuscany was not the end of the Italian Experience. Dad and I headed further south to a hotter, more humid, and even busier (if busier than Venice and Florence is even possible) Roma.  One woman at the train station told us to be prepared to be exhausted, and she couldn't have been more correct.  That said, we saw some pretty cool things!

I asked Dad what he would like to visit first, and without hesitation, "The Colosseum!!"  Of course, blood and gore.  One thing about the Colosseum is that it's huge.  Massive.  It's impressive how people, AD 72, were capable of building such an amphitheater.  We learned on a tour inside that not only were gladiator fights performed here, but also animal fights and some water-related events.  Capacity of the Colosseum: 70,000!!

On our third day, we visited the Vatican City.  Technically, it is within the city of Rome, but given its size and the amount of time needed to get through the entire vicinity, we considered this almost like a day trip and did, indeed, spend the day there.

Luckily we booked a tour, which allowed us to bypass the 2-hour wait (standing in a loooong line, no shade) to get into the Vatican Museums. Our tour guide had a major in art history and philosophy, so we learned a lot!  Highlights included the Raphael Loggia (artwork done by Raphael), ceilings paintings that look 3-D (picture above) and the Sistine Chapel.  Michaelangelo was a very important contributor to the artwork in the chapel, notably, the ceiling, which we were not allowed to photograph.  The ceiling artwork contains a lot of hidden symbolism, and political and personal messages from Michaelangelo.  Did you know that he lived to 87 years and was homosexual?

St. Peter's Basilica was also spectacular.  Even for me, the one who often sees churches as looking the same, appreciated the artwork in this church.

Other things that we saw were the Pantheon, the best-preserved structure in the city, and an important site in Angels and Demons (so of course we had to go!), the Trevi Fountain, the Spanish Steps, and countless piazzas.

In terms of food, a lot of gelato, pasta carbonara, and Roma pizza.  Yum  yum.  But let me tell you something, the best pizza I had was somewhere else, and this is the place I'll talk about in my next posting. Hint: Angela :)

Under the Tuscan sun

Three days in Tuscany was enough to understand why one would live there.  The landscape, good food, good wine - what more could you need?  Oh right, cheesy photoshoots.  More on that later.

Dad and I stayed in Florence, the capital of the province of Tuscany.  Unlike Venice, which seems to have more canals than streets, Florence is structured a bit more "normally."  That is, we could navigate around much more easily and appear slightly less obviously like tourists (unless you include the times Dad would stop in the middle of the sidewalk, scratch his head, and look at the map, concerned).

We spent the first day walking throughout the city.  The architecture is simply beautiful.  Everything from the Duomo (huge cathedral that looks over the city), to the Palazzo Vecchio, and to the Ponte Vecchio (oldest surviving bridge in Florence across the River Arno), is just gorgeous and reminds you of the long history that this country dates back to.  Walking on the uneven cobblestones on the streets, and sitting inside the old cathedrals takes you back in the Renaissance time. 

The next day, we went to the Boboli and Bardini Gardens, located behind the Palazzo Pitti (palace belonging to some rich banker).  I was a bit unimpressed with the fact that we had to pay to enter the gardens, which were nothing out of the ordinary (aside from a lot of strange statues and stairs to climb).   In the afternoon, we climbed some steep hills to reach the Piazzale Michaelangelo, where we treated our tired and sweaty selves to gelato.  Dad then managed to be persuaded by a vendor to buy a poster of the Mona Lisa ("of all posters, Dad, why did you pick her?!) which he said we could put up on the walls of our house - did you hear that, Mom?

One thing that I've noticed upon leaving Sweden, is that I'm able to spot a Swede even before he or she speaks.  It's really weird.  First, I when I noticed blonde hair, I have suspicions.  Then I look at how the person is dressed - looking more or less well-kempt and dressed, hair not messy, and most of all, Converses, then I'm almost 100% sure that this tourist is from Sweden.  And almost 100% of the time, when he or she starts speaking, I hear "ja-ha!"

Anyway, back to Firenze.  The last day was really the highlight of the entire trip: a tour of the region surrounding Florence.  In other words, a tour of Tuscany and a hunt for Chianti!

Siena is a historic (though which part of Italy isn't historic?) city about 1.5 hours south of Florence.  As expected, it's overridden with tourists, and is home to the world's oldest bank (or so they told us on the tour).  Siena is most known for being the site of the famous Palio, a horse race that takes place twice a year, July 2nd and August 16th, in the Piazza del Campo.  We happened to arrive two days after the recent race, so the clay and mud that is smeared over the piazza ground was still present, and a lot of chatter amongst locals could be heard regarding the race.  The Palio heavily centred around religion, and the 17 horses in the race are considered chosen by fate.  The race lasts just over a minute, yet, people spend hours arriving early to stand in the sweltering heat, waiting for it to begin.

What's a tour of Tuscany without good food and wine?  San Gimignano, a medieval town, is located close to Siena.  Near San Gimignano, we visited an organic farm and vineyard.  My initial assumptions, hearing that it's a family-run farm, was that it would be small and cute and personable.  It turns out that this is a huge farm, and really runs like a business.  I still enjoyed it, though; the view from the farm down to San Gimignano was incredible.  The farm even has its own cows for meat production (t-bone steak).  I didn't have a chance to speak with the farm owners/workers directly because the tour was so rushed, but it was still nice to be able to see the vintage grape vines and olive trees. 

95% of the food that we ate at the farm was produced on-site.  We started with bruschetta (drizzled with good extra-virgin olive oil), salad with fresh and ripe red tomatoes, handmade taglietelle with beef ragout, a selection of prosciutto, salami, and cheeses, and finally an almond biscotti.  We also tried four kind of Chianti wine, including a dessert wine that was similar to ice wine (though I prefer ice wine). Stuffed to the brim with food.  Thankfully, the dark shadow in the picture above masks the works of the lack of asian enzymes..

Though I was full, I absolutely had to try the 2009-2010 world champion gelateria in San Gimignano.  The best I'd tasted in Italy so far.

And then the moment we'd all be waiting for: Pisa!  Yes, we spent all our time in front of the tower, perfecting our stances.  But the best part of it all was seeing thousands of others around us doing the exact same poses - kind of looks like a cult, don't you think?

So there you go, my tour of Tuscany.  I have a feeling that from now until the end of this trip, I'm going to be massively behind on my blogging, since I won't always have access to Internet and I'm sending my laptop home with Dad.  We've just spent four days in Rome, and tomorrow Dad's heading back to Vancity, and very much looking forward to eating "normal food."  As for me, more adventures to come!